The Influence of Portia and Calphurnia
In a play dominated by male characters and Roman politics, it’s hard to imagine women in the picture of turmoil and bloodshed at that time. But the picture that Shakespeare paints of Portia and Calphurnia in Julius Caesar, is one of both strength of character but weakness of body. It is into this world of bloodshed and turmoil that we now enter.
Enter Portia the wife of Brutus. She senses that Brutus is concealing something from her. Portia beseeches Brutus to confide in her. She tries to prove her reliability by stabbing herself in the thigh, but to no avail.
I grant I am a woman; but withal
A woman well-reputed, Cato's daughter.
Think you I am no stronger than my sex,
Being so fathered and …show more content…
(2.2.80-87)
Unfortunately for Caesar, he did not heed her warnings, he left the safety of his house and underneath his old adversary’s statue he was assassinated. However, Calphurnia’s dream does come true when Caesar’s assassins dipped their hands in his blood as well as Caesar 33 stab which wounds spurted blood like a fountain. Calphurnia then fades away like her dead husband never to be heard from …show more content…
Calphrnia portrays an urgentness to prevent the death of her husband. Caesar did not trust his wife with the truth as one of the conspirators tells Caesar that Calphurnia had misinterpreted her dream. On the other hand, Portia ventured to all levels to get her husband to confide in her. She had nearly accomplished her goal when a fellow conspirator of Brutus’ came to the house. Portia was not so easily brushed aside however, because when Brutus had fled with an army she killed herself leaving him in a sad state for a short while. Still Brutus was a stoic and he did not make a very big deal about it. But you can’t help but wonder if Portia’s death influenced his suicide.
The influence of Calphurnia had a miniscule impact on Caesar’s destiney in the play. But her dream would later symbolize what the Caesar’s murderers had accomplished, chaos, death, and war. Portia had larger influence on Brutus. Her death leads him to a strange emotional turmoil. Brutus may have seemed calm on the outside but on the inside he was probably reeling from the blow that her death gave him. This caused him to make the foolhardy decision to kill himself. Though Calphurnia and Portia had only a few lines their influence carried all the way to the end of the
In a play dominated by male characters and Roman politics, it’s hard to imagine women in the picture of turmoil and bloodshed at that time. But the picture that Shakespeare paints of Portia and Calphurnia in Julius Caesar, is one of both strength of character but weakness of body. It is into this world of bloodshed and turmoil that we now enter.
Enter Portia the wife of Brutus. She senses that Brutus is concealing something from her. Portia beseeches Brutus to confide in her. She tries to prove her reliability by stabbing herself in the thigh, but to no avail.
I grant I am a woman; but withal
A woman well-reputed, Cato's daughter.
Think you I am no stronger than my sex,
Being so fathered and …show more content…
(2.2.80-87)
Unfortunately for Caesar, he did not heed her warnings, he left the safety of his house and underneath his old adversary’s statue he was assassinated. However, Calphurnia’s dream does come true when Caesar’s assassins dipped their hands in his blood as well as Caesar 33 stab which wounds spurted blood like a fountain. Calphurnia then fades away like her dead husband never to be heard from …show more content…
Calphrnia portrays an urgentness to prevent the death of her husband. Caesar did not trust his wife with the truth as one of the conspirators tells Caesar that Calphurnia had misinterpreted her dream. On the other hand, Portia ventured to all levels to get her husband to confide in her. She had nearly accomplished her goal when a fellow conspirator of Brutus’ came to the house. Portia was not so easily brushed aside however, because when Brutus had fled with an army she killed herself leaving him in a sad state for a short while. Still Brutus was a stoic and he did not make a very big deal about it. But you can’t help but wonder if Portia’s death influenced his suicide.
The influence of Calphurnia had a miniscule impact on Caesar’s destiney in the play. But her dream would later symbolize what the Caesar’s murderers had accomplished, chaos, death, and war. Portia had larger influence on Brutus. Her death leads him to a strange emotional turmoil. Brutus may have seemed calm on the outside but on the inside he was probably reeling from the blow that her death gave him. This caused him to make the foolhardy decision to kill himself. Though Calphurnia and Portia had only a few lines their influence carried all the way to the end of the