As Abraham Lincoln once said, “Marriage is neither heaven nor hell, it is simply purgatory.” Marriage is not necessarily good or bad; it is somewhere in between with a series of ups and downs. Although the two couples in Julius Caesar both struggle through their purgatory, they differ in the way they treat each other within their households. One way the marriages are similar is that one member of each pair notices an internal conflict their spouse is undergoing. When Portia notices that Brutus is troubled, she questions him: “Dear my lord, make me acquainted with your cause of grief.” She is worried about her husband because he has exhibited strange behaviors such as stealing from their bed and not eating dinner. Caesar also notices Calphurnia’s
