Act 4 — Julius Caesar — AQA GCSE English Literature 8702
AQA GCSE English Literature · 8702
Act 4
The plot, part by part
What you need to know
The triumvirs choosing who shall die, the quarrel and reconciliation of Brutus and Cassius, the news of Portia's death, the march to Philippi and Caesar's ghost.
Key quotations: 'These many, then, shall die; their names are prick'd', 'This is a slight unmeritable man, / Meet to be sent on errands', 'you yourself / Are much condemn'd to have an itching palm', 'Remember March, the ides of March remember: / Did not great Julius bleed for justice’ sake?', 'There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats, / For I am arm'd so strong in honesty', 'A friend should bear his friend's infirmities', 'O Cassius, I am sick of many griefs', 'There is a tide in the affairs of men, / Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune', 'Thy evil spirit, Brutus', 'thou shalt see me at Philippi'.
Structure: the quarrel scene as the conspiracy falling apart, Brutus's private grief for Portia behind his public calm, and the ghost as a sign of Caesar's lasting power.
Context: the Second Triumvirate of Antony, Octavius and Lepidus, and its lists of enemies to be killed.