Early Modern Drama · Character Archetypes

MARULLUS

in Julius Caesar — Shakespeare, William

Metadata

PlayJulius Caesar
AuthorShakespeare, William
Year (catalogued)1623
First performance1599
Decade1620s
GenreTragedy
Play typeAdult Professional
CompanyLord Chamberlain's (Hunsdon's) Men
Speech prefix(es)Mur.
Words231
Characters1248
Typicality0.32 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP idA11954.30
BritDrama no.1198
ClusterCluster 15 — Devils, vices & grotesques

Important excerpts

No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).

Full speech

Where is thy Leather Apron, and thy Rule? What dost thou with thy best Apparel on? You sir, what Trade are you? But what Trade art thou? Answer me directly. What meanest thou by that? Mend me, thou saucy Fellow? Wherefore rejoice? What Conquest brings he home? What Tributaries follow him to Room, To grace in Captive bonds his Chariot Wheels? You Blocks, you stones, you worse then senseless things: Oh you hard hearts, you cruel men of Room, Knew you not Pompey many a time and oft? Have you climbed up to Walls and Battlements, To Towers and Windows? Yea, to Chimney tops, Your Infants in your Arms, and there have sat The livelong day, with patient expectation, To see great Pompey pass the streets of Room: And when you saw his Chariot but appear, Have you not made and Universal shout, That Tiber trembled underneath her banks To hear the replication of your sounds, Made in her Concave Shores? And do you now put on your best attire? And do you now cull out a Holiday? And do you now strew Flowers in his way, That comes in Triumph over Pompey's blood? Be gone, Run to your houses, fallen upon your knees, Pray to the Gods to intermit the plague That needs must light on this Ingratitude. May we do so? You know it is the Feast of Lupercall.

Plot summary

Plot — Julius Caesar
Caesar returns to Rome triumphant over Pompey. He is warned to beware the Ides of March, and later offered the crown, which he refuses. Meanwhile Cassius sounds out Brutus’ attitude to Caesar’s ambition, and determines to screw him up to conspiracy. Supernatural portents disturb the night before the Ides of March. Brutus convinces himself that Caesar must be assassinated to prevent him establishing himself as a monarch. The conspirators meet at his house, and Brutus insists on limiting the scope of the plot. Cicero is not to be taken into their confidence, Mark Antony is to be spared, and only Caesar murdered. After the conspirators have left, Portia forces Brutus to take her into his confidence. The portents and Calpurnia’s anxiety persuade Caesar to stay at home, but Decius convinces him to go to the Senate as arranged. Artemidorus tries to give him a letter warning against the conspirators, but he refuses to read it. He is stabbed to death, and confusion ensues. Against Cassius’ wishes, Brutus agrees that Antony may speak at Caesar’s funeral. Brutus’ speech justifying the assassination temporarily convinces the mob, but Antony’s rhetoric, and a bequest in Caesar’s will, turns them against the conspirators. Brutus and Cassius flee Rome. In the riots that follow, the conspirators’ houses are burned and Cinna the poet killed, mistaken for the conspirator of the same name. Antony, Octavius, and Lepidus seize power, draw up a death list, and make preparations for war with Brutus and Cassius. Portia commits suicide. Brutus and Cassius quarrel, but reconcile themselves as friends. They determine to give battle at Philippi rather than waiting for Antony and Octavius to come to them at Sardis. Brutus is visited by Caesar’s ghost, which tells him that they will meet again at Philippi. The two armies face off at Philippi, and Cassius, mistakenly thinking that his side is beaten, commits suicide. Once the day really is lost, Brutus has difficulty in finding a friend willing to help him do the same; finally Strato holds his sword while he runs on it and dies. Antony and Octavius, victorious, pay him tribute and promise him an honourable burial.