What was the point of act 3 scene 3 in Julius Caesar?

Answer 1

Unless the term is used in a technical sense (whereby the "Climax" of a Shakespearean play is always whatever happens in Act 3), the climax of a story is generally the point where everyone's plans reach their fruition and either succeed or fail. In Hamlet, it is when Hamlet actually takes his revenge in Act 5. In Julius Caesar and Macbeth there is an early climax when the murderers complete their murders in Act 3 in Caesar and Act 2 in Macbeth. In Macbeth, his struggle to hold on to his kingdom leads to a further climax when he meets MacDuff in Act 5. In Caesar there is no similar further climax; the conspirators' hope of a joyous revival of the Republic is quickly dashed by Antony and the mob and their revolution fizzles out.

Answer 2

Act III Scene iii, in which the angry mob murders the innocent Cinna the poet because he has the same name as the conspirator Cinna. Shakespeare is underlining the irrational nature of mobs, and the desire of such groups for violence without any logic or reason. Shakespeare writes a similar scene in Henry VI Part II which includes the famous line, "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.", and in which an innocent man is murdered by a mob because he knows how to write.

In the context of Julius Caesar, it is important to know that the mob is irrational, because we can more easily understand Brutus's failure. He is a supremely logical and rational man, a Stoic, and has gauged his actions on that basis. However, he fails to understand that most people are not Stoic, logical or rational. His decisions not to eliminate Antony and to allow him to speak to the crowd are based on the assumption that they are. Antony has a better grasp of what is going on.

Shakespeare's portrait of the mob is still accurate--we see it in crowds of angry Muslims attacking Danish embassies over a cartoon and crowds of angry Americans demanding war with Iraq as "revenge for 9/11". Either way Cinna the poet wouldn't be safe.

Answer 3

Revolution as a means of political reform.

Answer 4

The play Julius Caesar was by William Shakespeare, not by Julius Caesar.

Julius Caesar wrote about the Gallic Wars and the Civil Wars.

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Answer 5

It sets up the whole play: who Caesar is, what kind of man he is, who Antony is to him, what kind of men Brutus and Cassius and Casca are, what they are plotting and why.

Answer 6

We meet Cassius and Brutus and learn something about them and their conspiracy.

Answer 7

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