Sex Change World Premiere
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcFcY71Kjgc[/youtube]
Check out the trailer for this world-premiere comedy written by local playwright Andy Bennett. The show opens this Thursday, Aug. 5, and runs through the Aug. 21.
Also check out the Gender Bender Karaoke Contest following our closing night show, talk-backs with the artists after Thursday night, and Renegade Improv every night after the shows at 10:30.
You know something? You theater people are pretty damn bold. I get it, controversy sells tickets, and naming your play something rather uncomfortable and inappropriate, like “Sex Change” probably gets its name out there more than if you named it “A Little Slice,” but I don’t think you understand all the consequences of your actions. Last week while driving downtown, I was forced into explaining the term — as superficially as possible, trust me — to my 10 year old who read your brand new gleaming sign. I was reminded that it wasn’t the first borderline term I’ve read on that particular sign, and it sort of pissed me off. Have some respect for the rest of us, will ya? I’m a supporter of the arts, and would love to take my wife down to the new place and see a play. But you know what? You just might be offending more people than you intrigue, and that’s not good for the theater or the community that suffers its presence. Clean it up!
Yeah, maybe you should take your wife and kid to this “new place” that opened in 2007 for a lesson about the totally outrageous concept of a sex change, which must be so embarrassing to talk about.
I’ve got a transgendered friend. I also have children. I really didn’t have a problem explaining gender identity to them when they were in elementary school. Now they are in high school and neither have “burning questions” about sex, sexuality, gender or identity. I have always felt that talking to your kids is a GOOD thing, regardless of the topic. Your own “values” are much easier to pass down to your children if they actually know what they are!
You know something? That’s fine if that works for your family. It doesn’t mean it has to work for mine. I don’t have a flashing sign right downtown proclaiming “I’d rather not discuss transgenderism with my ten year old.” I’m glad you were able to make that leap with your kids while they were in grade school, but as a stepdad it’s a little harder. Every “lesson” I teach is scrutinized by the real dad and step mom with a fine-tooth comb, and sex discussions are careful things. Sex changes hadn’t come up yet, and I can think of a million and one better ways I would have liked to bring it up than a marquee sign forcing me into it.
Paul, I have read and admired many, many of your posts and contributions on this site, and your expertise was one of the reasons I ever joined this site. Your condescending comment disappoints me. Isn’t it OK to have a variety of viewpoints on subjects like these, and isn’t this a place to be able to have that discussion with your peers without being belittled. Sex changes are “totally outrageous” in my opinion, and I think I most likely speak for the vast majority of Duluth citizens on the subject. I don’t care what you do in your own house or bedroom, but start plastering it downtown on lit up signs is another thing.
Tim = exactly right.
Words and concepts don’t scar kids. Uptight, reactionary adults who label things as “inappropriate” and “uncomfortable” are more of a problem, if you ask me.
All you had to do was say “It’s about two people who switch bodies.” The end. Even if it was about an actual gender-reassignment, so what? The world exists. So does murder and rape and war. All of this is out there, and shielding a kid from the truth of reality, however “offensive” it may be, is nonsensical.
Show your work: when has explaining the concept of gender reassignment ever scarred a kid for life? You’re just miffed because you had to scramble to explain it. Well, sorry the world doesn’t act according to your wishes.
You’re just lucky the kid didn’t ask what a “Human Centipede” is.
Feel free to keep your money and stay home.
@Wow
I had the identical reaction, immediately thinking of Human Centipede when reading this comment. Now, that shit is outrageous. And while I don’t relish the idea of explaining that concept to America’s Future the grossout factor of it would like make a kid bust a gut laughing.
@Paul
I gotta say, the gleaming sign IS new…ish. It only went up this year or in the last three months of ’09. But I would have described it as “sparkling” or perhaps “digitally glittery.”
You’re just lucky the kid didn’t ask what a “Human Centipede” is.
LOL – yes. This. I may actually be scarred for life after that trailer…
In all seriousness, I’m on the side of Wow and Tim. Even if you think “Sex changes are “totally outrageous”” (and I DON’T think the majority of Duluth would agree with you) it’s all about how you handle the answer. I will say that I am not a parent (and this may cause you to discount my opinion entirely) but I do have transgender friends/acquaintances. It is something your kid will eventually come across – even if it is how you feel (and I’m not saying it is, though your reactions do speak strongly), do you want your child treating people who faced some difficult choices like lepers?
Why not explain it as literally as possible, in terms of the play. “Sex means you’re a boy or a girl. That sign is about a play about a man and a woman who went to sleep, and the man woke up as the woman, and the woman as the man.” It know it’s a bit late for your situation, but perhaps it can help anyone else who has the same concern … *chuckle*
Having been a step-parent myself (hardest work there will ever be I think), I can speak to the issue ConcernedPoppa mentions.
Situations like these do put step-parents in a fix–be damned if you do kind of thing. I think he has a valid point and it becomes obvious in his second post. There are always at least a dozen people involved when a step-parent treads on these issues. My step-daughter’s mother did not believe in “sex education,” even when she knew my step-daughter (16) was sexually active. WWVII happened when I took it upon myself to talk to the girl. And she was already a teenager.
I do agree that Paul’s post seemed pretty defensive and immature. Geez Louise sometimes it seems there is just a clique here and “outside” opinions cause all kinds of ruckus. It’s a lot like high school sometimes–follow the leader. Let’s listen before we shout.
I come here for a variety of reasons, my favorite is the occasional clever or snarky remark — especially if a thread starts to get whiny. This ain’t the DCB, the Trib Area Voices or your father’s Oldsmobile. Yes, it can be a little clique-y, but it is progressive without being too preachy. The conversation is generally intelligent and open to opposing views. Paul’s comment didn’t strike me as a shouting.
So, concernedpapa figured out how to use his peepee but cannot explain how it works. Grow up. My theory is that you just want attention, which I will grant to you. The billboard is far less offensive or invasive than the average advertisement on television, which I trust you don’t allow your son to ever watch out of fear that you will remain in a permanent state of explanation. You are a parent, your JOB is to explain things to your kid. The trickier the better, for then he may start his journey prepared. The switching of piss parts seems less daunting a task than religion, existence, war, the terminal illness of a loved one, homelessness, racism and why only some people recieve adequate health care. You got off easy today, buy him an ice cream cone and don’t complain.
Enjoy Spirit Valley Days.
We don’t take kindly to takin’ kindly.
Have they ever asked what an electric fetus is, or quick lube or christ church? Grow a pair Poppa … signs of the time.
The theater exists across the street from a now-former strip club, and a few blocks away from a corner where people hold up huge pictures of aborted fetuses. The world is full of uncomfortable things, and this is extremely tame, comparatively speaking.
As far as I’m concerned, the Norshor’s “Live Nudes” sign was LESS offensive. The name of the play is pure sensationalism, plain and simple. What, “Switching Spots” didn’t sum it up quite succinctly enough for you? And lets just watch and see who has the most vitriol about this … the theater people—–>Kujawa, etc. (Who’s comment about me not being able to figure out how to use my “peepee” was both inappropriately out of place and exactly what I’d expect from him, I read EVERYTHING on PDD). Not everybody likes sensationalism thrown in their face, but theater people apparently thrive on it, and are offended if you don’t.
I’m concerned with your parenting abilities poppa, are the brood home schooled too?
ConcernedPoppa is right — the play WAS sensational! Just got back from opening night. The crowd was packed full of laughing patrons having a great time and gleefully spending money to boost Duluth’s economy. All for art! Ain’t it grand?
“Switching Spots,” now there’s a title thunk up by someone who should stick to not thinking up titles for things. What a nondescript, asinine suggestion by a haughty moralistic wackadoo. Hey, Tipper Gore, go find a new husband!
So, you’re angry at the world for making it difficult for you to shield your child from reality. I’m curious: At what point were you planning to have a conversation with your kid about transgendered people? If the honest answer is “never,” how did you expect him to learn about that part of life?
That can be a rhetorical question.
How much fun is rhetorical? The answer may very well be “never,” which would be the exact answer 99.99% of every one of EACH OF YOUR OWN parents chose, and you obviously all wound up so well adjusted.
You needed to ask more questions as a child Poppa. The time to answer a question is when its asked. A mature and wise person could have easily came up with an age appropriate response. You seem to be lacking in both those skill sets. If you feared saying the wrong thing , perhaps you could have suggested the child to ask an adult.
I guess my parents were in the .01% because I’m pretty sure we had that conversation when Tootsie came out in 1982.
As a preschool teacher, I feel confident in saying grow the eff up. When kids ask questions, you either answer it like a grownup, or tell them to ask their parents. You could have said “ask your mom/dad” if you’re worried about overstepping your bounds as a step-parent, or you could have answered the question like the mature, well-adjusted adult you supposedly are.
Unfortunately, you decided instead to pee yourself and cry about it on a blog and blame other people for your inadequacies in parenting. It’s unfortunate because it’s “parents” like you that hold society in such an intolerant time.
Don’t like sex changes? Don’t get one. It’s still out there, and your kids are still going to ask questions about it. Answering their questions doesn’t mean you have to tell them to get one. It is a question, not an assault on your beliefs. Don’t blame the actors or writers of this play.
And by the way, “Sex Change” is hardly “sensationalism.” It’s not a Disney Channel movie.
Holy crap… grow up.
Good effin grief … Poppa, you really need to find some way to let this thing go … and TRY to fine a better way to relate to your kids a little better. If you’re having this much trouble talking to them about this, I can only imagine what you’re going to have to say about things like sex and drugs, death and war. (Don’t have it, don’t do them, nibbles went on a “journey,” it’s your patriotic duty … just a guess.)
Andy chose this title because *he* thought it was apt for the play he was writing. I’m sure the same could be said for the guy who wrote Knocked Up, or whoever it was that made a porno. Hell, Woody Allen movie titles are far more controversial than this.
None of you need to be judging concernedpoppa about his parenting decision. It is his and his ex’s decision when they wish to talk to their children about anything. If they decide to talk to their kids about sex when they’re 17, it is not for you to judge or call them out on it or make reference to them being homeschooled or any of the other snide implications being made here.
That being said, concernedpoppa, I am sure you could have found a simple way to explain the title of the play to your kids, without having to go into any detail. (I’m thinking an analogy like “Mrs Doubtfire” or “Freaky Friday.”) However, to then come here and complain about the title of the play, well, now I think you’re going a little far.
Art does not need censorship and it is not your call to decide what a play is named or take to task the artist who named the play because it doesn’t jive with your personal morals.
There are worse billboards out there. Just drive to Pike Lake and then I’m sure you’ll get into even more difficult conversations as you drive past “Pure Pleasures.” Unfortunately or fortunately, however you wish to look at it, sex is a part of our daily society now. Even “Dora the Explorer” now has a teenaged version with breasts.
So I suggest that you and your ex and whoever else are caretakers of your children perhaps need to talk about how you are going to explain this sexualised world to your children, so you are more prepared to deal with the subject, should it come up again.
Yeah, I see Tamara’s point, but this isn’t just about that. There’s some clear, ugly homophobia going on here, and that’s the unfortunate part. It’s not about what the play is actually about (I’m guessing concernedpoppa had no idea), but the fact that he doesn’t want to explain transgender issues. That’s fine if you think they’re too young or whatever, but to say that it’s something outright offensive that should be buried is on the bigoted side at least.
Yup poppa, you took your concerns to the wrong forum. The contributors to this blog might not always agree with each other, but they have at least evolved past the dark ages.
Dear ConcernedPapa,
I am glad you read EVERYTHING on PDD, because then you come armed with the knowledge that I could really give a shit less what a person of your belief system thinks of me. I think you are harmful to society and a blight on the gene pool. I think that it is terrifying that you are a parent. Just what the world needs, another generation of miscreants. The manner in which you label humans is offensive, your demeanor is putrid, and your testosterone level is too high for it’s own good. Hopefully, natural selection will take care of your sort in the future. Until then, revel in your stupidity.
I got kicked out of Sunday school at my church when I was 8 for asking questions that made my teacher “uncomfortable.”
My parents then had to answer a whole lot more questions about “why am I bad for asking questions?”
Kids love to learn, you can’t stop it. So I explain adult stuff with “big words” i.e. “A sex change is when a person decides to change their physicality and gender assigned role in society by having an operation to transform their genitals to mirror the appearance of the opposite gender.” Kids give up interest quickly when you explain in words they are not familiar with. Try it, it works.
I am not trying to tell anyone how to parent, just encouraging everyone to answer any question any kid has honestly, and not shame them for asking the question in the first place.
After the ruling in California this week you might want to remove your internet connection, your tv, and cancel any newspapers and magazines for the next few years or so. There will be lotsa scary big words that you might have some ‘splaining’ to do about.
Um.
Could it be that perhaps instead of verbally beating the living shit out of ConcernedPoppa and reinforcing his belief that the theater and possibly GLBT communities are sensationalist, it might be a better choice to treat his comments with some kindness?
Could it be that perhaps if instead of adding fuel to the fire by escalating the level of rhetoric and mocking him, it might be a better choice to address his concern in a mature and empathetic way?
Nah. Couldn’t be. Instead, let’s all make fun of him. Let’s call him stupid. Let’s assume that he’s full of hate, instead of assuming that he’s full of fear (which would certainly be warranted, considering the way most everyone has responded to him) or assuming that he’s just ignorant, in the least negative connotation of the term. Cause the absolute best way to counteract negativity is to add tons and tons and tons of more negativity to it.
CP, I think you’re overreacting a little bit to an uncomfortable but necessary situation. I don’t think it’s fair of you to generalize that “theater people” are all sensationalists, but I also understand that some people don’t have a great deal of experience with the GLBT community and have a level of discomfort explaining aspects of it to their children. That’s a you-thing, but it’s also a society-thing, whether we like it or not. Do I find the title offensive? No, and I don’t think that it was intended to solicit a drastic response, either. I think most people wouldn’t find it particularly provocative, but in your case, it was. So be it.
Hopefully, this will spark a discussion between you and your partner about how to address issues like this in the future, and I hope that it also sparks some self-reflection on why you might be uncomfortable with issues of sexuality.
Nope. I have judged him. He is stupid.
Is it just me, or does Renegade Comedy Theater deserve an award for it’s awesome marketing strategy on opening night? Am I the only one who thinks ConcernedPoppa is a shill?
I think PDD does a great job of educating, overall. How about if someone would post here the different words we could use as parents and grandparents or whomever, to explain the differences in sexual identity?. (And to call a penis a pee pee is certainly not fostering a good command of anatomy language..good grief). It wasn’t too long ago that Oprah, after calling a vagina a “V-JJ” for years, learned that she needed to use the correct language if she wanted to be taken seriously. And she was 50+ years old!
As a former health care worker, I taught my kids correct anatomy words from 3 years old and on. And I am very comfortable with the GLBT community, and I have been in theater, but I still do not always feel like I always have the right “language,” when referring to all the different aspects of sex changes. I think it is interesting to a lot of people, but fearful too because it can be overwhelming in scope.
PDD folks could do a good thing by posting a little dictionary of terms here so ConcernedPoppa and others who read this forum would have a better understanding of the terminology as well as something to use for discussion with family members.
Nobody likes to think they aren’t educated as a parent, but where do parents go if they want a better understanding of these issues? I think the play sounds great and funny, but not everyone will want to go. So this forum could pave the way for better understanding is what I’m thinking.
What a terrible thing to say ConcernedPapa is not a real person. I don’t care for his views, but I’m sure he is a person. Denying people reality is unjust.
So, which public awareness theater campaign takes the award — the Playhouse Nazi or the Renegade Step-dad?
I’m going to say Renegade Step-dad. The Playhouse Nazi was a lucky accident. The Renegade Step-dad was brilliantly calculated.
By the way, I heard that Rubber Chicken Theater’s upcoming performances of “Shout! The Mod Musical” features an on-stage orgy in which the audience is welcome to participate.
Hook, line and sinker.
Wow…
Is bashing (whether it’s toward people of transgender or regarding gender identity or those who are uncomfortable talking about it) more important than learning or reaching understanding? And what about respect… for all thoughts?
Are we helping Concerned Poppa by bashing him just because he doesn’t feel comfortable about sexuality? I understand the anger that heads his way when others feel such anger when being maltreated for gender identity or seeing how others are maltreated. But, really, folks… group think and bashing do not lead toward learning and change.
I’d like to help Concerned Poppa a bit in the parenting realm and give him some tools for understanding rather than make him feel bad just because he has thoughts. As a parent or step parent, it’s OK and preferred to “be real” and use the things that make you uncomfortable transform to a “teachable moment.” Kids can learn even when very young, But we don’t need to give them more than they’re ready to learn. And step parents have the chance to dialogue with biological parents about educating kids about sexuality and human differences. What harm would it be to just say to the step parent, “this came up and I’m at odds as to how to deal with it. What would you do?” And then talk about it and share the educating. Or if there is not that kind of good relationship with the bio dad, then just do some soul searching and learning so you’re armed with justification with how you’re handling child rearing.
But…please, give Concernend Poppa and all of us a break. Help the cause, don’t harm it by doing cute bashing stuff back and forth. I feel like I’m in the middle of a middle school bashing party with this type of interaction. Sorry if that offended you but use this space by being real. Use your real names and stand behind what you have to say. And please use respect.
Interesting thought. Is ConcernedPoppa really a brillianty calculated shill? Or is he a real person? Don’t you just love the pseudo anonymity of the Internet?
Paul, you are thinking of Rubber Chicken Theater’s “Evil Dead: The Musical” in October at The Venue.
Rubber Chicken Theater’s “Shout! The Mod Musical” features topless dancing.
Shane is brings up a valid response. We all wonder sometimes if fake comments are used to bring about all those slamming comments that can be “counted.” The play will stand on it’s own merits but the real issue brought up by it could have been something more and this could have been the forum for doing so. And… what about hiding behind pseudo-anonymity? Is PDD a clique where everyone knows who each other is anyway? And do PDD folks care about the issues or not?
I’m sorry Voula, but PDD is hardly anonymous when compared to the other boards in town. And you know what, sometimes a little snarky clique-ishness is what a situation needs. Why should progressive-thinking people have to sit around and wait with kind words about their ignorant brothers- brothers who have slowed the pace of meaningful change for far too long. Most of us on PDD do care about issues- with more thought and conscience than you seem to realize. We may “slam” others, but I dare say it is more useful than the sword (and more useful than MN Nice).
Ouch…MN Nice! Yup that’s me, I guess. But… considering that I’m nearly 70 and from my generation… that is who I am. You are right, though, as sometimes a little snarky stuff can get things moving along. But think about it… When people bash you for your thoughts, do you change them… or do you dig deeper into your own realm of understanding? Sometimes empathy and understanding for the thoughts of others along with some learning will strike a note toward change. We all have our ways of making progress and I can be snarky too. But… it never gets me anywhere. I know that you care and it’s good to know that.
What I meant by pseudo anonymity is this, each post to PDD can be traced to an IP address, which can tell where or who posted it. So, for example, if ConcernedPoppa posted from an IP address at Zeitgeist… One could make the argument he is a shill. Understand that the IP information is not readily available to just anyone, but it is there. No one is really anonymous on the Internet.
Yeah, your “tolerance” and acceptance of people’s viewpoints is amazing. Re-read my posts … The worst my language got was to use “sensational” and “bold.” I did not even use these words toward the GLBT community, but toward the “theater people” who have apparently been granted exclusive rights as council to defend them.
I’ve been called names and taunted, my intelligence and ability to raise a child has been questioned. If those of you who feel so strongly on the issue would have taken the time to actually read my posts, you would know that I did deal with the issue with my stepson, and yes, I actually explained it with age appropriate (sorry “pee-pee kujawa”) and politically correct terms.
For those of you with any honest concern, I appreciate it and have read your posts with interest and thought. I didn’t attack or in any way make a judgment about the GLBT community in any way, but the hypersensitivity of a few here painted me to be a bigoted hatemonger and gay basher. Nothing could be further from the truth, but I’m sure you’ll believe whatever reality you choose to make up anyway, so I won’t bother too much convincing you.
All my point was concerned with is the fact that it’s a personal decision that should be up to parents and not playwrights to decide when and where the appropriate time and age is to discuss these matters with their children. Not that we can always prevent the things they see; but that doesn’t excuse sensationalists from ignoring that their words will ever reach anyone but their intended audience. Just realize that your “shiny new sign” gives you a pretty big soapbox; please temper it’s use with the responsibility our community’s children deserve (if not yours, mine).
Funny, I’ve always associated snarky clique-ishness with conservative whack jobs. Doesn’t sound like a direction “progressive-thinking” people should strive for.
That being said, my first thought about this post was that it was ridiculous; however, I agree with Voula that there are better ways to get your point across to people on “the other side of the fence.” Don’t hate, educate.
Thank you concerned Poppa! You are a responsible parent and I and many of us reading your initial post did not ever think you were bashing the GLBT community. You merely expressed how hard it is to raise kids in a society filled with issues that make it hard to do your job. I have worked in parent education groups and every parent I know struggles with how to talk to kids about sex. We need to discuss things with each other and find that way to guide kids. You’ve done that and you sound very sensitive. I think I and some others were not feeling good with the way your initial comment generated anger and verbal “swords.” If there were issues, they needed to be brought up with respect and a dialogue. I give you credit for your honest, use of respect and your care for rearing your child. I can’t say anything more and will end this. Just to say that it’s really hard out there to be a parent and we need to support each other in that very big job. And we need to listen and learn from each other with respect. If it’s MN Nice, so be it.
I love that I work in an industry that can so quickly polarize a ton of people. As far as I’m concerned, this productions already a success. Just look at how much discussion’s occurred already. It got people talking, for better or for worse. Really, isn’t that the point? Challenge the norms of society, bring a new viewpoint, get people to ask questions, attack, defend, complain, and entertain or repulse? Bah, what do I know… I’m just a designer. I’ll leave the controversy to the playwrights and directors. Unless I figure out a scandalous way to use Skelton Exotic Sangria…
(Lighting Designer for “Sex Change”)
Is PDD like Survivor then? The insider tribe vs the outside tribe? Is PDD theatre in and of itself to boost some kind of rating for who can turn out the best fabrication or most hits for a post? I’d like to think there are honest people here, most of all the people who know everyone’s IP and or email address. Makes me wonder though.
I definitely read your post. You said you were offended and that you had to explain it “as superficially as possible”. This points to the idea of a sex change as something you’re ashamed to talk about. Whether it’s fear or hatred or whatever, it sure seems like transgender issues are something you’re unwilling to discuss in any way aside from making exclamations on a blog. Sorry if that seems a bit phobic to me.
Ooh! I’ve got a new theory! “ConcernedPoppa” is actually just Brian from Whoopee Cushion Theater posing as a sad stepdad. He thought that everyone would get on board with his criticism of the “Sex Change” play, and that people would turn against the theater that showed him the door however many years ago. His plan was to finally work out his grudge against the theater’s success in his absence by uniting Perfect Duluthians against it. But his plan failed, and so he was forced to appear in the thread as himself and just plain old drop some self-promotion science on the thing.
Either that, or “ConcernedPoppa” is D.B. Cooper.
I think it’s Danny.
Wait, I’M Danny!
Oh give it up, guys. It’s a perfect Duluth day. Let’s go outside and enjoy it. (Yes, I lied about my last comment being my last. This time it is.)
I knew somebody knew who this was because earlier they referred to his “son” and nowhere in his post did he say the gender of the kid. I went back to be sure. So this is an insider deal after all. I’m with you, Voula, this is last attention I pay to this thread. Ugh.
“Life imitates art far more than art imitates life.” -Oscar Wilde
Bring back the Nazi!
I can assure you that Renegade wouldn’t use bigotry as a marketing tool. Also I apologize for the use of the word peepee. I didn’t realize it would ruffle feathers. It was however, admittedly, sensationalistic.
ConcernedPoppa, I am surprised by the fact that you were seemingly unoffended by my hope that nature would soon phase out the likes of you, but remained fixated on my use of the word peepee. I am imagining this was pointed out to point out how juvenile I was. Admittedly so. But my work calls for it, so I do not take offense.
I also disagree with the idea that we should shower love and patience on simpletons. Some people only understand harsh words. Not violence, harsh words (eg: peepee).
You can claim you meant nothing, but your opening statement reveals that you lean towards generalization. While “theater people” is hardly something to bat an eyelash at, it reveals a tendency to heap people into a pile and label them. While my irritation with you in my second posting may have been a little much, I do believe you brought it upon yourself. But I stand by my original post, which I have a feeling you only read as far as peepee, seeing it is the only thing you seemingly took from it.
Peepee!
This is a total marketing gimmick. Genius. You can tell it is by the fact that Tony “Merlin” Bennett and Mat Milinkovich aren’t on here being internet bullies.
Hot Dog, please don’t muck things up more than this post seems to have already been mucked.
Truth: I witnessed the cast telling each other about this crazy post, yesterday. Everyone was amused. No inside baseball. Conspiracy theory untrue. Not that it wouldn’t have been awesome.
You can never argue with an artist and expect to win.
On-topic, I understand poppa’s concerns, but I think they are a bit extreme. I also understand that this venue (the blog here) seems like a free for all for Denfeld’s ’89 -’91 class. In any case, I will go see the production and sincerely hope it’s not similar to other plots in similar vein. The title really is campy, though. I want to see clever, not vaudeville.
Damn Merlin, I was actually giving you a compliment for once!! I guess the post seemed too absurd to be real. It would have been GENIUS marketing though. Oh well, to each their own.
Hey Hot Rod, I heard Paul Lundgren is a reptilian shapeshifter.
You could also argue that driving by a church and having a child ask about religion was the same situation. Some people are now educating their children about religion when the child is old enough to make up their own mind about it. Yet, you would still drive by a church — and most of them have marquee type signs outside with either scripture or funny sayings relating to the religion they are associated with.
But maybe I’m just one of those wacky “theatre people!”
Conflict is usually a good thing because it brings on discussion and different opinions.
If this was a gimmick, bravo.
Jody, I think you may be right. Lundgren does seem like a good tool they could use to write New World Order propaganda. He is good at it. I fully support anything that Jody Kujawa says.
I want to see vaudeville, not clever.
ACT I
SCENE I. Rome. A street.
Enter FLAVIUS, MARULLUS, and certain Commoners
FLAVIUS
Hence! home, you idle creatures get you home:
Is this a holiday? what! know you not,
Being mechanical, you ought not walk
Upon a labouring day without the sign
Of your profession? Speak, what trade art thou?
First Commoner
Why, sir, a carpenter.
MARULLUS
Where is thy leather apron and thy rule?
What dost thou with thy best apparel on?
You, sir, what trade are you?
Second Commoner
Truly, sir, in respect of a fine workman, I am but,
as you would say, a cobbler.
MARULLUS
But what trade art thou? answer me directly.
Second Commoner
A trade, sir, that, I hope, I may use with a safe
conscience; which is, indeed, sir, a mender of bad soles.
MARULLUS
What trade, thou knave? thou naughty knave, what trade?
Second Commoner
Nay, I beseech you, sir, be not out with me: yet,
if you be out, sir, I can mend you.
MARULLUS
What meanest thou by that? mend me, thou saucy fellow!
Second Commoner
Why, sir, cobble you.
FLAVIUS
Thou art a cobbler, art thou?
Second Commoner
Truly, sir, all that I live by is with the awl: I
meddle with no tradesman’s matters, nor women’s
matters, but with awl. I am, indeed, sir, a surgeon
to old shoes; when they are in great danger, I
recover them. As proper men as ever trod upon
neat’s leather have gone upon my handiwork.
FLAVIUS
But wherefore art not in thy shop today?
Why dost thou lead these men about the streets?
Second Commoner
Truly, sir, to wear out their shoes, to get myself
into more work. But, indeed, sir, we make holiday,
to see Caesar and to rejoice in his triumph.
MARULLUS
Wherefore rejoice? What conquest brings he home?
What tributaries follow him to Rome,
To grace in captive bonds his chariot-wheels?
You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things!
O you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome,
Knew you not Pompey? Many a time and oft
Have you climb’d 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 Rome:
And when you saw his chariot but appear,
Have you not made an 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, fall upon your knees,
Pray to the gods to intermit the plague
That needs must light on this ingratitude.
FLAVIUS
Go, go, good countrymen, and, for this fault,
Assemble all the poor men of your sort;
Draw them to Tiber banks, and weep your tears
Into the channel, till the lowest stream
Do kiss the most exalted shores of all.
Exeunt all the Commoners
See whether their basest metal be not moved;
They vanish tongue-tied in their guiltiness.
Go you down that way towards the Capitol;
This way will I
disrobe the images,
If you do find them deck’d with ceremonies.
MARULLUS
May we do so?
You know it is the feast of Lupercal.
FLAVIUS
It is no matter; let no images
Be hung with Caesar’s trophies. I’ll about,
And drive away the vulgar from the streets:
So do you too, where you perceive them thick.
These growing feathers pluck’d from Caesar’s wing
Will make him fly an ordinary pitch,
Who else would soar above the view of men
And keep us all in servile fearfulness.
Exeunt
SCENE II. A public place.
Flourish. Enter CAESAR; ANTONY, for the course; CALPURNIA, PORTIA, DECIUS BRUTUS, CICERO, BRUTUS, CASSIUS, and CASCA; a great crowd following, among them a Soothsayer
CAESAR
Calpurnia!
CASCA
Peace, ho! Caesar speaks.
CAESAR
Calpurnia!
CALPURNIA
Here, my lord.
CAESAR
Stand you directly in Antonius’ way,
When he doth run his course. Antonius!
ANTONY
Caesar, my lord?
CAESAR
Forget not, in your speed, Antonius,
To touch Calpurnia; for our elders say,
The barren, touched in this holy chase,
Shake off their sterile curse.
ANTONY
I shall remember:
When Caesar says ‘do this,’ it is perform’d.
CAESAR
Set on; and leave no ceremony out.
Flourish
Soothsayer
Caesar!
CAESAR
Ha! who calls?
CASCA
Bid every noise be still: peace yet again!
CAESAR
Who is it in the press that calls on me?
I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music,
Cry ‘Caesar!’ Speak; Caesar is turn’d to hear.
Soothsayer
Beware the ides of March.
CAESAR
What man is that?
BRUTUS
A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March.
CAESAR
Set him before me; let me see his face.
CASSIUS
Fellow, come from the throng; look upon Caesar.
CAESAR
What say’st thou to me now? speak once again.
Soothsayer
Beware the ides of March.
CAESAR
He is a dreamer; let us leave him: pass.
Sennet. Exeunt all except BRUTUS and CASSIUS
CASSIUS
Will you go see the order of the course?
BRUTUS
Not I.
CASSIUS
I pray you, do.
BRUTUS
I am not gamesome: I do lack some part
Of that quick spirit that is in Antony.
Let me not hinder, Cassius, your desires;
I’ll leave you.
CASSIUS
Brutus, I do observe you now of late:
I have not from your eyes that gentleness
And show of love as I was wont to have:
You bear too stubborn and too strange a hand
Over your friend that loves you.
BRUTUS
Cassius,
Be not deceived: if I have veil’d my look,
I turn the trouble of my countenance
Merely upon myself. Vexed I am
Of late with passions of some difference,
Conceptions only proper to myself,
Which give some soil perhaps to my behaviors;
But let not therefore my good friends be grieved–
Among which number, Cassius, be you one–
Nor construe any further my neglect,
Than that poor Brutus, with himself at war,
Forgets the shows of love to other men.
CASSIUS
Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your passion;
By means whereof this breast of mine hath buried
Thoughts of great value, worthy cogitations.
Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face?
BRUTUS
No, Cassius; for the eye sees not itself,
But by reflection, by some other things.
CASSIUS
‘Tis just:
And it is very much lamented, Brutus,
That you have no such mirrors as will turn
Your hidden worthiness into your eye,
That you might see your shadow. I have heard,
Where many of the best respect in Rome,
Except immortal Caesar, speaking of Brutus
And groaning underneath this age’s yoke,
Have wish’d that noble Brutus had his eyes.
BRUTUS
Into what dangers would you lead me, Cassius,
That you would have me seek into myself
For that which is not in me?
CASSIUS
Therefore, good Brutus, be prepared to hear:
And since you know you cannot see yourself
So well as by reflection, I, your glass,
Will modestly discover to yourself
That of yourself which you yet know not of.
And be not jealous on me, gentle Brutus:
Were I a common laugher, or did use
To stale with ordinary oaths my love
To every new protester; if you know
That I do fawn on men and hug them hard
And after scandal them, or if you know
That I profess myself in banqueting
To all the rout, then hold me dangerous.
Flourish, and shout
BRUTUS
What means this shouting? I do fear, the people
Choose Caesar for their king.
CASSIUS
Ay, do you fear it?
Then must I think you would not have it so.
BRUTUS
I would not, Cassius; yet I love him well.
But wherefore do you hold me here so long?
What is it that you would impart to me?
If it be aught toward the general good,
Set honour in one eye and death i’ the other,
And I will look on both indifferently,
For let the gods so speed me as I love
The name of honour more than I fear death.
CASSIUS
I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus,
As well as I do know your outward favour.
Well, honour is the subject of my story.
I cannot tell what you and other men
Think of this life; but, for my single self,
I had as lief not be as live to be
In awe of such a thing as I myself.
I was born free as Caesar; so were you:
We both have fed as well, and we can both
Endure the winter’s cold as well as he:
For once, upon a raw and gusty day,
The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores,
Caesar said to me ‘Darest thou, Cassius, now
Leap in with me into this angry flood,
And swim to yonder point?’ Upon the word,
Accoutred as I was, I plunged in
And bade him follow; so indeed he did.
The torrent roar’d, and we did buffet it
With lusty sinews, throwing it aside
And stemming it with hearts of controversy;
But ere we could arrive the point proposed,
Caesar cried ‘Help me, Cassius, or I sink!’
I, as Aeneas, our great ancestor,
Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder
The old Anchises bear, so from the waves of Tiber
Did I the tired Caesar. And this man
Is now become a god, and Cassius is
A wretched creature and must bend his body,
If Caesar carelessly but nod on him.
He had a fever when he was in Spain,
And when the fit was on him, I did mark
How he did shake: ’tis true, this god did shake;
His coward lips did from their colour fly,
And that same eye whose bend doth awe the world
Did lose his lustre: I did hear him groan:
Ay, and that tongue of his that bade the Romans
Mark him and write his speeches in their books,
Alas, it cried ‘Give me some drink, Titinius,’
As a sick girl. Ye gods, it doth amaze me
A man of such a feeble temper should
So get the start of the majestic world
And bear the palm alone.
Shout. Flourish
BRUTUS
Another general shout!
I do believe that these applauses are
For some new honours that are heap’d on Caesar.
CASSIUS
Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus, and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs and peep about
To find ourselves dishonourable graves.
Men at some time are masters of their fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
Brutus and Caesar: what should be in that ‘Caesar’?
Why should that name be sounded more than yours?
Write them together, yours is as fair a name;
Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well;
Weigh them, it is as heavy; conjure with ’em,
Brutus will start a spirit as soon as Caesar.
Now, in the names of all the gods at once,
Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed,
That he is grown so great? Age, thou art shamed!
Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods!
When went there by an age, since the great flood,
But it was famed with more than with one man?
When could they say till now, that talk’d of Rome,
That her wide walls encompass’d but one man?
Now is it Rome indeed and room enough,
When there is in it but one only man.
O, you and I have heard our fathers say,
There was a Brutus once that would have brook’d
The eternal devil to keep his state in Rome
As easily as a king.
BRUTUS
That you do love me, I am nothing jealous;
What you would work me to, I have some aim:
How I have thought of this and of these times,
I shall recount hereafter; for this present,
I would not, so with love I might entreat you,
Be any further moved. What you have said
I will consider; what you have to say
I will with patience hear, and find a time
Both meet to hear and answer such high things.
Till then, my noble friend, chew upon this:
Brutus had rather be a villager
Than to repute himself a son of Rome
Under these hard conditions as this time
Is like to lay upon us.
CASSIUS
I am glad that my weak words
Have struck but thus much show of fire from Brutus.
BRUTUS
The games are done and Caesar is returning.
CASSIUS
As they pass by, pluck Casca by the sleeve;
And he will, after his sour fashion, tell you
What hath proceeded worthy note to-day.
Re-enter CAESAR and his Train
BRUTUS
I will do so. But, look you, Cassius,
The angry spot doth glow on Caesar’s brow,
And all the rest look like a chidden train:
Calpurnia’s cheek is pale; and Cicero
Looks with such ferret and such fiery eyes
As we have seen him in the Capitol,
Being cross’d in conference by some senators.
CASSIUS
Casca will tell us what the matter is.
CAESAR
Antonius!
ANTONY
Caesar?
CAESAR
Let me have men about me that are fat;
Sleek-headed men and such as sleep o’ nights:
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.
ANTONY
Fear him not, Caesar; he’s not dangerous;
He is a noble Roman and well given.
CAESAR
Would he were fatter! But I fear him not:
Yet if my name were liable to fear,
I do not know the man I should avoid
So soon as that spare Cassius. He reads much;
He is a great observer and he looks
Quite through the deeds of men: he loves no plays,
As thou dost, Antony; he hears no music;
Seldom he smiles, and smiles in such a sort
As if he mock’d himself and scorn’d his spirit
That could be moved to smile at any thing.
Such men as he be never at heart’s ease
Whiles they behold a greater than themselves,
And therefore are they very dangerous.
I rather tell thee what is to be fear’d
Than what I fear; for always I am Caesar.
Come on my right hand, for this ear is deaf,
And tell me truly what thou think’st of him.
Sennet. Exeunt CAESAR and all his Train, but CASCA
CASCA
You pull’d me by the cloak; would you speak with me?
BRUTUS
Ay, Casca; tell us what hath chanced to-day,
That Caesar looks so sad.
CASCA
Why, you were with him, were you not?
BRUTUS
I should not then ask Casca what had chanced.
CASCA
Why, there was a crown offered him: and being
offered him, he put it by with the back of his hand,
thus; and then the people fell a-shouting.
BRUTUS
What was the second noise for?
CASCA
Why, for that too.
CASSIUS
They shouted thrice: what was the last cry for?
CASCA
Why, for that too.
BRUTUS
Was the crown offered him thrice?
CASCA
Ay, marry, was’t, and he put it by thrice, every
time gentler than other, and at every putting-by
mine honest neighbours shouted.
CASSIUS
Who offered him the crown?
CASCA
Why, Antony.
BRUTUS
Tell us the manner of it, gentle Casca.
CASCA
I can as well be hanged as tell the manner of it:
it was mere foolery; I did not mark it. I saw Mark
Antony offer him a crown;–yet ’twas not a crown
neither, ’twas one of these coronets;–and, as I told
you, he put it by once: but, for all that, to my
thinking, he would fain have had it. Then he
offered it to him again; then he put it by again:
but, to my thinking, he was very loath to lay his
fingers off it. And then he offered it the third
time; he put it the third time by: and still as he
refused it, the rabblement hooted and clapped their
chapped hands and threw up their sweaty night-caps
and uttered such a deal of stinking breath because
Caesar refused the crown that it had almost choked
Caesar; for he swounded and fell down at it: and
for mine own part, I durst not laugh, for fear of
opening my lips and receiving the bad air.
CASSIUS
But, soft, I pray you: what, did Caesar swound?
CASCA
He fell down in the market-place, and foamed at
mouth, and was speechless.
BRUTUS
‘Tis very like: he hath the failing sickness.
CASSIUS
No, Caesar hath it not; but you and I,
And honest Casca, we have the falling sickness.
CASCA
I know not what you mean by that; but, I am sure,
Caesar fell down. If the tag-rag people did not
clap him and hiss him, according as he pleased and
displeased them, as they use to do the players in
the theatre, I am no true man.
BRUTUS
What said he when he came unto himself?
CASCA
Marry, before he fell down, when he perceived the
common herd was glad he refused the crown, he
plucked me ope his doublet and offered them his
throat to cut. An I had been a man of any
occupation, if I would not have taken him at a word,
I would I might go to hell among the rogues. And so
he fell. When he came to himself again, he said,
If he had done or said any thing amiss, he desired
their worships to think it was his infirmity. Three
or four wenches, where I stood, cried ‘Alas, good
soul!’ and forgave him with all their hearts: but
there’s no heed to be taken of them; if Caesar had
stabbed their mothers, they would have done no less.
BRUTUS
And after that, he came, thus sad, away?
CASCA
Ay.
CASSIUS
Did Cicero say any thing?
CASCA
Ay, he spoke Greek.
CASSIUS
To what effect?
CASCA
Nay, an I tell you that, Ill ne’er look you i’ the
face again: but those that understood him smiled at
one another and shook their heads; but, for mine own
part, it was Greek to me. I could tell you more
news too: Marullus and Flavius, for pulling scarfs
off Caesar’s images, are put to silence. Fare you
well. There was more foolery yet, if I could
remember it.
CASSIUS
Will you sup with me to-night, Casca?
CASCA
No, I am promised forth.
CASSIUS
Will you dine with me to-morrow?
CASCA
Ay, if I be alive and your mind hold and your dinner
worth the eating.
CASSIUS
Good: I will expect you.
CASCA
Do so. Farewell, both.
Exit
BRUTUS
What a blunt fellow is this grown to be!
He was quick mettle when he went to school.
CASSIUS
So is he now in execution
Of any bold or noble enterprise,
However he puts on this tardy form.
This rudeness is a sauce to his good wit,
Which gives men stomach to digest his words
With better appetite.
BRUTUS
And so it is. For this time I will leave you:
To-morrow, if you please to speak with me,
I will come home to you; or, if you will,
Come home to me, and I will wait for you.
CASSIUS
I will do so: till then, think of the world.
Exit BRUTUS
Well, Brutus, thou art noble; yet, I see,
Thy honourable metal may be wrought
From that it is disposed: therefore it is meet
That noble minds keep ever with their likes;
For who so firm that cannot be seduced?
Caesar doth bear me hard; but he loves Brutus:
If I were Brutus now and he were Cassius,
He should not humour me. I will this night,
In several hands, in at his windows throw,
As if they came from several citizens,
Writings all tending to the great opinion
That Rome holds of his name; wherein obscurely
Caesar’s ambition shall be glanced at:
And after this let Caesar seat him sure;
For we will shake him, or worse days endure.
Exit
SCENE III. The same. A street.
Thunder and lightning. Enter from opposite sides, CASCA, with his sword drawn, and CICERO
CICERO
Good even, Casca: brought you Caesar home?
Why are you breathless? and why stare you so?
CASCA
Are not you moved, when all the sway of earth
Shakes like a thing unfirm? O Cicero,
I have seen tempests, when the scolding winds
Have rived the knotty oaks, and I have seen
The ambitious ocean swell and rage and foam,
To be exalted with the threatening clouds:
But never till to-night, never till now,
Did I go through a tempest dropping fire.
Either there is a civil strife in heaven,
Or else the world, too saucy with the gods,
Incenses them to send destruction.
CICERO
Why, saw you any thing more wonderful?
CASCA
A common slave–you know him well by sight–
Held up his left hand, which did flame and burn
Like twenty torches join’d, and yet his hand,
Not sensible of fire, remain’d unscorch’d.
Besides–I ha’ not since put up my sword–
Against the Capitol I met a lion,
Who glared upon me, and went surly by,
Without annoying me: and there were drawn
Upon a heap a hundred ghastly women,
Transformed with their fear; who swore they saw
Men all in fire walk up and down the streets.
And yesterday the bird of night did sit
Even at noon-day upon the market-place,
Hooting and shrieking. When these prodigies
Do so conjointly meet, let not men say
‘These are their reasons; they are natural;’
For, I believe, they are portentous things
Unto the climate that they point upon.
CICERO
Indeed, it is a strange-disposed time:
But men may construe things after their fashion,
Clean from the purpose of the things themselves.
Come Caesar to the Capitol to-morrow?
CASCA
He doth; for he did bid Antonius
Send word to you he would be there to-morrow.
CICERO
Good night then, Casca: this disturbed sky
Is not to walk in.
CASCA
Farewell, Cicero.
Exit CICERO
Enter CASSIUS
CASSIUS
Who’s there?
CASCA
A Roman.
CASSIUS
Casca, by your voice.
CASCA
Your ear is good. Cassius, what night is this!
CASSIUS
A very pleasing night to honest men.
CASCA
Who ever knew the heavens menace so?
CASSIUS
Those that have known the earth so full of faults.
For my part, I have walk’d about the streets,
Submitting me unto the perilous night,
And, thus unbraced, Casca, as you see,
Have bared my bosom to the thunder-stone;
And when the cross blue lightning seem’d to open
The breast of heaven, I did present myself
Even in the aim and very flash of it.
CASCA
But wherefore did you so much tempt the heavens?
It is the part of men to fear and tremble,
When the most mighty gods by tokens send
Such dreadful heralds to astonish us.
CASSIUS
You are dull, Casca, and those sparks of life
That should be in a Roman you do want,
Or else you use not. You look pale and gaze
And put on fear and cast yourself in wonder,
To see the strange impatience of the heavens:
But if you would consider the true cause
Why all these fires, why all these gliding ghosts,
Why birds and beasts from quality and kind,
Why old men fool and children calculate,
Why all these things change from their ordinance
Their natures and preformed faculties
To monstrous quality,–why, you shall find
That heaven hath infused them with these spirits,
To make them instruments of fear and warning
Unto some monstrous state.
Now could I, Casca, name to thee a man
Most like this dreadful night,
That thunders, lightens, opens graves, and roars
As doth the lion in the Capitol,
A man no mightier than thyself or me
In personal action, yet prodigious grown
And fearful, as these strange eruptions are.
CASCA
‘Tis Caesar that you mean; is it not, Cassius?
CASSIUS
Let it be who it is: for Romans now
Have thews and limbs like to their ancestors;
But, woe the while! our fathers’ minds are dead,
And we are govern’d with our mothers’ spirits;
Our yoke and sufferance show us womanish.
CASCA
Indeed, they say the senators tomorrow
Mean to establish Caesar as a king;
And he shall wear his crown by sea and land,
In every place, save here in Italy.
CASSIUS
I know where I will wear this dagger then;
Cassius from bondage will deliver Cassius:
Therein, ye gods, you make the weak most strong;
Therein, ye gods, you tyrants do defeat:
Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten brass,
Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron,
Can be retentive to the strength of spirit;
But life, being weary of these worldly bars,
Never lacks power to dismiss itself.
If I know this, know all the world besides,
That part of tyranny that I do bear
I can shake off at pleasure.
Thunder still
CASCA
So can I:
So every bondman in his own hand bears
The power to cancel his captivity.
CASSIUS
And why should Caesar be a tyrant then?
Poor man! I know he would not be a wolf,
But that he sees the Romans are but sheep:
He were no lion, were not Romans hinds.
Those that with haste will make a mighty fire
Begin it with weak straws: what trash is Rome,
What rubbish and what offal, when it serves
For the base matter to illuminate
So vile a thing as Caesar! But, O grief,
Where hast thou led me? I perhaps speak this
Before a willing bondman; then I know
My answer must be made. But I am arm’d,
And dangers are to me indifferent.
CASCA
You speak to Casca, and to such a man
That is no fleering tell-tale. Hold, my hand:
Be factious for redress of all these griefs,
And I will set this foot of mine as far
As who goes farthest.
CASSIUS
There’s a bargain made.
Now know you, Casca, I have moved already
Some certain of the noblest-minded Romans
To undergo with me an enterprise
Of honourable-dangerous consequence;
And I do know, by this, they stay for me
In Pompey’s porch: for now, this fearful night,
There is no stir or walking in the streets;
And the complexion of the element
In favour’s like the work we have in hand,
Most bloody, fiery, and most terrible.
CASCA
Stand close awhile, for here comes one in haste.
CASSIUS
‘Tis Cinna; I do know him by his gait;
He is a friend.
Enter CINNA
Cinna, where haste you so?
CINNA
To find out you. Who’s that? Metellus Cimber?
CASSIUS
No, it is Casca; one incorporate
To our attempts. Am I not stay’d for, Cinna?
CINNA
I am glad on ‘t. What a fearful night is this!
There’s two or three of us have seen strange sights.
CASSIUS
Am I not stay’d for? tell me.
CINNA
Yes, you are.
O Cassius, if you could
But win the noble Brutus to our party–
CASSIUS
Be you content: good Cinna, take this paper,
And look you lay it in the praetor’s chair,
Where Brutus may but find it; and throw this
In at his window; set this up with wax
Upon old Brutus’ statue: all this done,
Repair to Pompey’s porch, where you shall find us.
Is Decius Brutus and Trebonius there?
CINNA
All but Metellus Cimber; and he’s gone
To seek you at your house. Well, I will hie,
And so bestow these papers as you bade me.
CASSIUS
That done, repair to Pompey’s theatre.
Exit CINNA
Come, Casca, you and I will yet ere day
See Brutus at his house: three parts of him
Is ours already, and the man entire
Upon the next encounter yields him ours.
CASCA
O, he sits high in all the people’s hearts:
And that which would appear offence in us,
His countenance, like richest alchemy,
Will change to virtue and to worthiness.
CASSIUS
Him and his worth and our great need of him
You have right well conceited. Let us go,
For it is after midnight; and ere day
We will awake him and be sure of him.
Exeunt
ACT II
SCENE I. Rome. BRUTUS’s orchard.
Enter BRUTUS
BRUTUS
What, Lucius, ho!
I cannot, by the progress of the stars,
Give guess how near to day. Lucius, I say!
I would it were my fault to sleep so soundly.
When, Lucius, when? awake, I say! what, Lucius!
Enter LUCIUS
LUCIUS
Call’d you, my lord?
BRUTUS
Get me a taper in my study, Lucius:
When it is lighted, come and call me here.
LUCIUS
I will, my lord.
Exit
BRUTUS
It must be by his death: and for my part,
I know no personal cause to spurn at him,
But for the general. He would be crown’d:
How that might change his nature, there’s the question.
It is the bright day that brings forth the adder;
And that craves wary walking. Crown him?–that;–
And then, I grant, we put a sting in him,
That at his will he may do danger with.
The abuse of greatness is, when it disjoins
Remorse from power: and, to speak truth of Caesar,
I have not known when his affections sway’d
More than his reason. But ’tis a common proof,
That lowliness is young ambition’s ladder,
Whereto the climber-upward turns his face;
But when he once attains the upmost round.
He then unto the ladder turns his back,
Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees
By which he did ascend. So Caesar may.
Then, lest he may, prevent. And, since the quarrel
Will bear no colour for the thing he is,
Fashion it thus; that what he is, augmented,
Would run to these and these extremities:
And therefore think him as a serpent’s egg
Which, hatch’d, would, as his kind, grow mischievous,
And kill him in the shell.
Re-enter LUCIUS
LUCIUS
The taper burneth in your closet, sir.
Searching the window for a flint, I found
This paper, thus seal’d up; and, I am sure,
It did not lie there when I went to bed.
Gives him the letter
BRUTUS
Get you to bed again; it is not day.
Is not to-morrow, boy, the ides of March?
LUCIUS
I know not, sir.
BRUTUS
Look in the calendar, and bring me word.
LUCIUS
I will, sir.
Exit
BRUTUS
The exhalations whizzing in the air
Give so much light that I may read by them.
Opens the letter and reads
‘Brutus, thou sleep’st: awake, and see thyself.
Shall Rome, & c. Speak, strike, redress!
Brutus, thou sleep’st: awake!’
Such instigations have been often dropp’d
Where I have took them up.
‘Shall Rome, & c.’ Thus must I piece it out:
Shall Rome stand under one man’s awe? What, Rome?
My ancestors did from the streets of Rome
The Tarquin drive, when he was call’d a king.
‘Speak, strike, redress!’ Am I entreated
To speak and strike? O Rome, I make thee promise:
If the redress will follow, thou receivest
Thy full petition at the hand of Brutus!
Re-enter LUCIUS
LUCIUS
Sir, March is wasted fourteen days.
Knocking within
BRUTUS
‘Tis good. Go to the gate; somebody knocks.
Exit LUCIUS
Since Cassius first did whet me against Caesar,
I have not slept.
Between the acting of a dreadful thing
And the first motion, all the interim is
Like a phantasma, or a hideous dream:
The Genius and the mortal instruments
Are then in council; and the state of man,
Like to a little kingdom, suffers then
The nature of an insurrection.
Re-enter LUCIUS
LUCIUS
Sir, ’tis your brother Cassius at the door,
Who doth desire to see you.
BRUTUS
Is he alone?
LUCIUS
No, sir, there are moe with him.
BRUTUS
Do you know them?
LUCIUS
No, sir; their hats are pluck’d about their ears,
And half their faces buried in their cloaks,
That by no means I may discover them
By any mark of favour.
BRUTUS
Let ’em enter.
Exit LUCIUS
They are the faction. O conspiracy,
Shamest thou to show thy dangerous brow by night,
When evils are most free? O, then by day
Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough
To mask thy monstrous visage? Seek none, conspiracy;
Hide it in smiles and affability:
For if thou path, thy native semblance on,
Not Erebus itself were dim enough
To hide thee from prevention.
Enter the conspirators, CASSIUS, CASCA, DECIUS BRUTUS, CINNA, METELLUS CIMBER, and TREBONIUS
CASSIUS
I think we are too bold upon your rest:
Good morrow, Brutus; do we trouble you?
BRUTUS
I have been up this hour, awake all night.
Know I these men that come along with you?
CASSIUS
Yes, every man of them, and no man here
But honours you; and every one doth wish
You had but that opinion of yourself
Which every noble Roman bears of you.
This is Trebonius.
BRUTUS
He is welcome hither.
CASSIUS
This, Decius Brutus.
BRUTUS
He is welcome too.
CASSIUS
This, Casca; this, Cinna; and this, Metellus Cimber.
BRUTUS
They are all welcome.
What watchful cares do interpose themselves
Betwixt your eyes and night?
CASSIUS
Shall I entreat a word?
BRUTUS and CASSIUS whisper
DECIUS BRUTUS
Here lies the east: doth not the day break here?
CASCA
No.
CINNA
O, pardon, sir, it doth; and yon gray lines
That fret the clouds are messengers of day.
CASCA
You shall confess that you are both deceived.
Here, as I point my sword, the sun arises,
Which is a great way growing on the south,
Weighing the youthful season of the year.
Some two months hence up higher toward the north
He first presents his fire; and the high east
Stands, as the Capitol, directly here.
BRUTUS
Give me your hands all over, one by one.
CASSIUS
And let us swear our resolution.
BRUTUS
No, not an oath: if not the face of men,
The sufferance of our souls, the time’s abuse,–
If these be motives weak, break off betimes,
And every man hence to his idle bed;
So let high-sighted tyranny range on,
Till each man drop by lottery. But if these,
As I am sure they do, bear fire enough
To kindle cowards and to steel with valour
The melting spirits of women, then, countrymen,
What need we any spur but our own cause,
To prick us to redress? what other bond
Than secret Romans, that have spoke the word,
And will not palter? and what other oath
Than honesty to honesty engaged,
That this shall be, or we will fall for it?
Swear priests and cowards and men cautelous,
Old feeble carrions and such suffering souls
That welcome wrongs; unto bad causes swear
Such creatures as men doubt; but do not stain
The even virtue of our enterprise,
Nor the insuppressive mettle of our spirits,
To think that or our cause or our performance
Did need an oath; when every drop of blood
That every Roman bears, and nobly bears,
Is guilty of a several bastardy,
If he do break the smallest particle
Of any promise that hath pass’d from him.
CASSIUS
But what of Cicero? shall we sound him?
I think he will stand very strong with us.
CASCA
Let us not leave him out.
CINNA
No, by no means.
METELLUS CIMBER
O, let us have him, for his silver hairs
Will purchase us a good opinion
And buy men’s voices to commend our deeds:
It shall be said, his judgment ruled our hands;
Our youths and wildness shall no whit appear,
But all be buried in his gravity.
BRUTUS
O, name him not: let us not break with him;
For he will never follow any thing
That other men begin.
CASSIUS
Then leave him out.
CASCA
Indeed he is not fit.
DECIUS BRUTUS
Shall no man else be touch’d but only Caesar?
CASSIUS
Decius, well urged: I think it is not meet,
Mark Antony, so well beloved of Caesar,
Should outlive Caesar: we shall find of him
A shrewd contriver; and, you know, his means,
If he improve them, may well stretch so far
As to annoy us all: which to prevent,
Let Antony and Caesar fall together.
BRUTUS
Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius,
To cut the head off and then hack the limbs,
Like wrath in death and envy afterwards;
For Antony is but a limb of Caesar:
Let us be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius.
We all stand up against the spirit of Caesar;
And in the spirit of men there is no blood:
O, that we then could come by Caesar’s spirit,
And not dismember Caesar! But, alas,
Caesar must bleed for it! And, gentle friends,
Let’s kill him boldly, but not wrathfully;
Let’s carve him as a dish fit for the gods,
Not hew him as a carcass fit for hounds:
And let our hearts, as subtle masters do,
Stir up their servants to an act of rage,
And after seem to chide ’em. This shall make
Our purpose necessary and not envious:
Which so appearing to the common eyes,
We shall be call’d purgers, not murderers.
And for Mark Antony, think not of him;
For he can do no more than Caesar’s arm
When Caesar’s head is off.
CASSIUS
Yet I fear him;
For in the ingrafted love he bears to Caesar–
BRUTUS
Alas, good Cassius, do not think of him:
If he love Caesar, all that he can do
Is to himself, take thought and die for Caesar:
And that were much he should; for he is given
To sports, to wildness and much company.
TREBONIUS
There is no fear in him; let him not die;
For he will live, and laugh at this hereafter.
Clock strikes
BRUTUS
Peace! count the clock.
CASSIUS
The clock hath stricken three.
TREBONIUS
‘Tis time to part.
CASSIUS
But it is doubtful yet,
Whether Caesar will come forth to-day, or no;
For he is superstitious grown of late,
Quite from the main opinion he held once
Of fantasy, of dreams and ceremonies:
It may be, these apparent prodigies,
The unaccustom’d terror of this night,
And the persuasion of his augurers,
May hold him from the Capitol to-day.
DECIUS BRUTUS
Never fear that: if he be so resolved,
I can o’ersway him; for he loves to hear
That unicorns may be betray’d with trees,
And bears with glasses, elephants with holes,
Lions with toils and men with flatterers;
But when I tell him he hates flatterers,
He says he does, being then most flattered.
Let me work;
For I can give his humour the true bent,
And I will bring him to the Capitol.
CASSIUS
Nay, we will all of us be there to fetch him.
BRUTUS
By the eighth hour: is that the uttermost?
CINNA
Be that the uttermost, and fail not then.
METELLUS CIMBER
Caius Ligarius doth bear Caesar hard,
Who rated him for speaking well of Pompey:
I wonder none of you have thought of him.
BRUTUS
Now, good Metellus, go along by him:
He loves me well, and I have given him reasons;
Send him but hither, and I’ll fashion him.
CASSIUS
The morning comes upon ‘s: we’ll leave you, Brutus.
And, friends, disperse yourselves; but all remember
What you have said, and show yourselves true Romans.
BRUTUS
Good gentlemen, look fresh and merrily;
Let not our looks put on our purposes,
But bear it as our Roman actors do,
With untired spirits and formal constancy:
And so good morrow to you every one.
Exeunt all but BRUTUS
Boy! Lucius! Fast asleep? It is no matter;
Enjoy the honey-heavy dew of slumber:
Thou hast no figures nor no fantasies,
Which busy care draws in the brains of men;
Therefore thou sleep’st so sound.
Enter PORTIA
PORTIA
Brutus, my lord!
BRUTUS
Portia, what mean you? wherefore rise you now?
It is not for your health thus to commit
Your weak condition to the raw cold morning.
PORTIA
Nor for yours neither. You’ve ungently, Brutus,
Stole from my bed: and yesternight, at supper,
You suddenly arose, and walk’d about,
Musing and sighing, with your arms across,
And when I ask’d you what the matter was,
You stared upon me with ungentle looks;
I urged you further; then you scratch’d your head,
And too impatiently stamp’d with your foot;
Yet I insisted, yet you answer’d not,
But, with an angry wafture of your hand,
Gave sign for me to leave you: so I did;
Fearing to strengthen that impatience
Which seem’d too much enkindled, and withal
Hoping it was but an effect of humour,
Which sometime hath his hour with every man.
It will not let you eat, nor talk, nor sleep,
And could it work so much upon your shape
As it hath much prevail’d on your condition,
I should not know you, Brutus. Dear my lord,
Make me acquainted with your cause of grief.
BRUTUS
I am not well in health, and that is all.
PORTIA
Brutus is wise, and, were he not in health,
He would embrace the means to come by it.
BRUTUS
Why, so I do. Good Portia, go to bed.
PORTIA
Is Brutus sick? and is it physical
To walk unbraced and suck up the humours
Of the dank morning? What, is Brutus sick,
And will he steal out of his wholesome bed,
To dare the vile contagion of the night
And tempt the rheumy and unpurged air
To add unto his sickness? No, my Brutus;
You have some sick offence within your mind,
Which, by the right and virtue of my place,
I ought to know of: and, upon my knees,
I charm you, by my once-commended beauty,
By all your vows of love and that great vow
Which did incorporate and make us one,
That you unfold to me, yourself, your half,
Why you are heavy, and what men to-night
Have had to resort to you: for here have been
Some six or seven, who did hide their faces
Even from darkness.
BRUTUS
Kneel not, gentle Portia.
PORTIA
I should not need, if you were gentle Brutus.
Within the bond of marriage, tell me, Brutus,
Is it excepted I should know no secrets
That appertain to you? Am I yourself
But, as it were, in sort or limitation,
To keep with you at meals, comfort your bed,
And talk to you sometimes? Dwell I but in the suburbs
Of your good pleasure? If it be no more,
Portia is Brutus’ harlot, not his wife.
BRUTUS
You are my true and honourable wife,
As dear to me as are the ruddy drops
That visit my sad heart
PORTIA
If this were true, then should I know this secret.
I grant I am a woman; but withal
A woman that Lord Brutus took to wife:
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 father’d and so husbanded?
Tell me your counsels, I will not disclose ’em:
I have made strong proof of my constancy,
Giving myself a voluntary wound
Here, in the thigh: can I bear that with patience.
And not my husband’s secrets?
BRUTUS
O ye gods,
Render me worthy of this noble wife!
Knocking within
Hark, hark! one knocks: Portia, go in awhile;
And by and by thy bosom shall partake
The secrets of my heart.
All my engagements I will construe to thee,
All the charactery of my sad brows:
Leave me with haste.
Exit PORTIA
Lucius, who’s that knocks?
Re-enter LUCIUS with LIGARIUS
LUCIUS
He is a sick man that would speak with you.
BRUTUS
Caius Ligarius, that Metellus spake of.
Boy, stand aside. Caius Ligarius! how?
LIGARIUS
Vouchsafe good morrow from a feeble tongue.
BRUTUS
O, what a time have you chose out, brave Caius,
To wear a kerchief! Would you were not sick!
LIGARIUS
I am not sick, if Brutus have in hand
Any exploit worthy the name of honour.
BRUTUS
Such an exploit have I in hand, Ligarius,
Had you a healthful ear to hear of it.
LIGARIUS
By all the gods that Romans bow before,
I here discard my sickness! Soul of Rome!
Brave son, derived from honourable loins!
Thou, like an exorcist, hast conjured up
My mortified spirit. Now bid me run,
And I will strive with things impossible;
Yea, get the better of them. What’s to do?
BRUTUS
A piece of work that will make sick men whole.
LIGARIUS
But are not some whole that we must make sick?
BRUTUS
That must we also. What it is, my Caius,
I shall unfold to thee, as we are going
To whom it must be done.
LIGARIUS
Set on your foot,
And with a heart new-fired I follow you,
To do I know not what: but it sufficeth
That Brutus leads me on.
BRUTUS
Follow me, then.
Exeunt
SCENE II. CAESAR’s house.
Thunder and lightning. Enter CAESAR, in his night-gown
CAESAR
Nor heaven nor earth have been at peace to-night:
Thrice hath Calpurnia in her sleep cried out,
‘Help, ho! they murder Caesar!’ Who’s within?
Enter a Servant
Servant
My lord?
CAESAR
Go bid the priests do present sacrifice
And bring me their opinions of success.
Servant
I will, my lord.
Exit
Enter CALPURNIA
CALPURNIA
What mean you, Caesar? think you to walk forth?
You shall not stir out of your house to-day.
CAESAR
Caesar shall forth: the things that threaten’d me
Ne’er look’d but on my back; when they shall see
The face of Caesar, they are vanished.
CALPURNIA
Caesar, I never stood on ceremonies,
Yet now they fright me. There is one within,
Besides the things that we have heard and seen,
Recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch.
A lioness hath whelped in the streets;
And graves have yawn’d, and yielded up their dead;
Fierce fiery warriors fought upon the clouds,
In ranks and squadrons and right form of war,
Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol;
The noise of battle hurtled in the air,
Horses did neigh, and dying men did groan,
And ghosts did shriek and squeal about the streets.
O Caesar! these things are beyond all use,
And I do fear them.
CAESAR
What can be avoided
Whose end is purposed by the mighty gods?
Yet Caesar shall go forth; for these predictions
Are to the world in general as to Caesar.
CALPURNIA
When beggars die, there are no comets seen;
The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.
CAESAR
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard.
It seems to me most strange that men should fear;
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.
Re-enter Servant
What say the augurers?
Servant
They would not have you to stir forth to-day.
Plucking the entrails of an offering forth,
They could not find a heart within the beast.
CAESAR
The gods do this in shame of cowardice:
Caesar should be a beast without a heart,
If he should stay at home to-day for fear.
No, Caesar shall not: danger knows full well
That Caesar is more dangerous than he:
We are two lions litter’d in one day,
And I the elder and more terrible:
And Caesar shall go forth.
CALPURNIA
Alas, my lord,
Your wisdom is consumed in confidence.
Do not go forth to-day: call it my fear
That keeps you in the house, and not your own.
We’ll send Mark Antony to the senate-house:
And he shall say you are not well to-day:
Let me, upon my knee, prevail in this.
CAESAR
Mark Antony shall say I am not well,
And, for thy humour, I will stay at home.
Enter DECIUS BRUTUS
Here’s Decius Brutus, he shall tell them so.
DECIUS BRUTUS
Caesar, all hail! good morrow, worthy Caesar:
I come to fetch you to the senate-house.
CAESAR
And you are come in very happy time,
To bear my greeting to the senators
And tell them that I will not come to-day:
Cannot, is false, and that I dare not, falser:
I will not come to-day: tell them so, Decius.
CALPURNIA
Say he is sick.
CAESAR
Shall Caesar send a lie?
Have I in conquest stretch’d mine arm so far,
To be afraid to tell graybeards the truth?
Decius, go tell them Caesar will not come.
DECIUS BRUTUS
Most mighty Caesar, let me know some cause,
Lest I be laugh’d at when I tell them so.
CAESAR
The cause is in my will: I will not come;
That is enough to satisfy the senate.
But for your private satisfaction,
Because I love you, I will let you know:
Calpurnia here, my wife, stays me at home:
She dreamt to-night she saw my statua,
Which, like a fountain with an hundred spouts,
Did run pure blood: and many lusty Romans
Came smiling, and did bathe their hands in it:
And these does she apply for warnings, and portents,
And evils imminent; and on her knee
Hath begg’d that I will stay at home to-day.
DECIUS BRUTUS
This dream is all amiss interpreted;
It was a vision fair and fortunate:
Your statue spouting blood in many pipes,
In which so many smiling Romans bathed,
Signifies that from you great Rome shall suck
Reviving blood, and that great men shall press
For tinctures, stains, relics and cognizance.
This by Calpurnia’s dream is signified.
CAESAR
And this way have you well expounded it.
DECIUS BRUTUS
I have, when you have heard what I can say:
And know it now: the senate have concluded
To give this day a crown to mighty Caesar.
If you shall send them word you will not come,
Their minds may change. Besides, it were a mock
Apt to be render’d, for some one to say
‘Break up the senate till another time,
When Caesar’s wife shall meet with better dreams.’
If Caesar hide himself, shall they not whisper
‘Lo, Caesar is afraid’?
Pardon me, Caesar; for my dear dear love
To our proceeding bids me tell you this;
And reason to my love is liable.
CAESAR
How foolish do your fears seem now, Calpurnia!
I am ashamed I did yield to them.
Give me my robe, for I will go.
Enter PUBLIUS, BRUTUS, LIGARIUS, METELLUS, CASCA, TREBONIUS, and CINNA
And look where Publius is come to fetch me.
PUBLIUS
Good morrow, Caesar.
CAESAR
Welcome, Publius.
What, Brutus, are you stirr’d so early too?
Good morrow, Casca. Caius Ligarius,
Caesar was ne’er so much your enemy
As that same ague which hath made you lean.
What is ‘t o’clock?
BRUTUS
Caesar, ’tis strucken eight.
CAESAR
I thank you for your pains and courtesy.
Enter ANTONY
See! Antony, that revels long o’ nights,
Is notwithstanding up. Good morrow, Antony.
ANTONY
So to most noble Caesar.
CAESAR
Bid them prepare within:
I am to blame to be thus waited for.
Now, Cinna: now, Metellus: what, Trebonius!
I have an hour’s talk in store for you;
Remember that you call on me to-day:
Be near me, that I may remember you.
TREBONIUS
Caesar, I will:
Aside
and so near will I be,
That your best friends shall wish I had been further.
CAESAR
Good friends, go in, and taste some wine with me;
And we, like friends, will straightway go together.
BRUTUS
[Aside] That every like is not the same, O Caesar,
The heart of Brutus yearns to think upon!
Exeunt
SCENE III. A street near the Capitol.
Enter ARTEMIDORUS, reading a paper
ARTEMIDORUS
‘Caesar, beware of Brutus; take heed of Cassius;
come not near Casca; have an eye to Cinna, trust not
Trebonius: mark well Metellus Cimber: Decius Brutus
loves thee not: thou hast wronged Caius Ligarius.
There is but one mind in all these men, and it is
bent against Caesar. If thou beest not immortal,
look about you: security gives way to conspiracy.
The mighty gods defend thee! Thy lover,
‘ARTEMIDORUS.’
Here will I stand till Caesar pass along,
And as a suitor will I give him this.
My heart laments that virtue cannot live
Out of the teeth of emulation.
If thou read this, O Caesar, thou mayst live;
If not, the Fates with traitors do contrive.
Exit
SCENE IV. Another part of the same street, before the house of BRUTUS.
Enter PORTIA and LUCIUS
PORTIA
I prithee, boy, run to the senate-house;
Stay not to answer me, but get thee gone:
Why dost thou stay?
LUCIUS
To know my errand, madam.
PORTIA
I would have had thee there, and here again,
Ere I can tell thee what thou shouldst do there.
O constancy, be strong upon my side,
Set a huge mountain ‘tween my heart and tongue!
I have a man’s mind, but a woman’s might.
How hard it is for women to keep counsel!
Art thou here yet?
LUCIUS
Madam, what should I do?
Run to the Capitol, and nothing else?
And so return to you, and nothing else?
PORTIA
Yes, bring me word, boy, if thy lord look well,
For he went sickly forth: and take good note
What Caesar doth, what suitors press to him.
Hark, boy! what noise is that?
LUCIUS
I hear none, madam.
PORTIA
Prithee, listen well;
I heard a bustling rumour, like a fray,
And the wind brings it from the Capitol.
LUCIUS
Sooth, madam, I hear nothing.
Enter the Soothsayer
PORTIA
Come hither, fellow: which way hast thou been?
Soothsayer
At mine own house, good lady.
PORTIA
What is’t o’clock?
Soothsayer
About the ninth hour, lady.
PORTIA
Is Caesar yet gone to the Capitol?
Soothsayer
Madam, not yet: I go to take my stand,
To see him pass on to the Capitol.
PORTIA
Thou hast some suit to Caesar, hast thou not?
Soothsayer
That I have, lady: if it will please Caesar
To be so good to Caesar as to hear me,
I shall beseech him to befriend himself.
PORTIA
Why, know’st thou any harm’s intended towards him?
Soothsayer
None that I know will be, much that I fear may chance.
Good morrow to you. Here the street is narrow:
The throng that follows Caesar at the heels,
Of senators, of praetors, common suitors,
Will crowd a feeble man almost to death:
I’ll get me to a place more void, and there
Speak to great Caesar as he comes along.
Exit
PORTIA
I must go in. Ay me, how weak a thing
The heart of woman is! O Brutus,
The heavens speed thee in thine enterprise!
Sure, the boy heard me: Brutus hath a suit
That Caesar will not grant. O, I grow faint.
Run, Lucius, and commend me to my lord;
Say I am merry: come to me again,
And bring me word what he doth say to thee.
Exeunt severally
ACT III
SCENE I. Rome. Before the Capitol; the Senate sitting above.
A crowd of people; among them ARTEMIDORUS and the Soothsayer. Flourish. Enter CAESAR, BRUTUS, CASSIUS, CASCA, DECIUS BRUTUS, METELLUS CIMBER, TREBONIUS, CINNA, ANTONY, LEPIDUS, POPILIUS, PUBLIUS, and others
CAESAR
[To the Soothsayer] The ides of March are come.
Soothsayer
Ay, Caesar; but not gone.
ARTEMIDORUS
Hail, Caesar! read this schedule.
DECIUS BRUTUS
Trebonius doth desire you to o’erread,
At your best leisure, this his humble suit.
ARTEMIDORUS
O Caesar, read mine first; for mine’s a suit
That touches Caesar nearer: read it, great Caesar.
CAESAR
What touches us ourself shall be last served.
ARTEMIDORUS
Delay not, Caesar; read it instantly.
CAESAR
What, is the fellow mad?
PUBLIUS
Sirrah, give place.
CASSIUS
What, urge you your petitions in the street?
Come to the Capitol.
CAESAR goes up to the Senate-House, the rest following
POPILIUS
I wish your enterprise to-day may thrive.
CASSIUS
What enterprise, Popilius?
POPILIUS
Fare you well.
Advances to CAESAR
BRUTUS
What said Popilius Lena?
CASSIUS
He wish’d to-day our enterprise might thrive.
I fear our purpose is discovered.
BRUTUS
Look, how he makes to Caesar; mark him.
CASSIUS
Casca, be sudden, for we fear prevention.
Brutus, what shall be done? If this be known,
Cassius or Caesar never shall turn back,
For I will slay myself.
BRUTUS
Cassius, be constant:
Popilius Lena speaks not of our purposes;
For, look, he smiles, and Caesar doth not change.
CASSIUS
Trebonius knows his time; for, look you, Brutus.
He draws Mark Antony out of the way.
Exeunt ANTONY and TREBONIUS
DECIUS BRUTUS
Where is Metellus Cimber? Let him go,
And presently prefer his suit to Caesar.
BRUTUS
He is address’d: press near and second him.
CINNA
Casca, you are the first that rears your hand.
CAESAR
Are we all ready? What is now amiss
That Caesar and his senate must redress?
METELLUS CIMBER
Most high, most mighty, and most puissant Caesar,
Metellus Cimber throws before thy seat
An humble heart,–
Kneeling
CAESAR
I must prevent thee, Cimber.
These couchings and these lowly courtesies
Might fire the blood of ordinary men,
And turn pre-ordinance and first decree
Into the law of children. Be not fond,
To think that Caesar bears such rebel blood
That will be thaw’d from the true quality
With that which melteth fools; I mean, sweet words,
Low-crooked court’sies and base spaniel-fawning.
Thy brother by decree is banished:
If thou dost bend and pray and fawn for him,
I spurn thee like a cur out of my way.
Know, Caesar doth not wrong, nor without cause
Will he be satisfied.
METELLUS CIMBER
Is there no voice more worthy than my own
To sound more sweetly in great Caesar’s ear
For the repealing of my banish’d brother?
BRUTUS
I kiss thy hand, but not in flattery, Caesar;
Desiring thee that Publius Cimber may
Have an immediate freedom of repeal.
CAESAR
What, Brutus!
CASSIUS
Pardon, Caesar; Caesar, pardon:
As low as to thy foot doth Cassius fall,
To beg enfranchisement for Publius Cimber.
CASSIUS
I could be well moved, if I were as you:
If I could pray to move, prayers would move me:
But I am constant as the northern star,
Of whose true-fix’d and resting quality
There is no fellow in the firmament.
The skies are painted with unnumber’d sparks,
They are all fire and every one doth shine,
But there’s but one in all doth hold his place:
So in the world; ’tis furnish’d well with men,
And men are flesh and blood, and apprehensive;
Yet in the number I do know but one
That unassailable holds on his rank,
Unshaked of motion: and that I am he,
Let me a little show it, even in this;
That I was constant Cimber should be banish’d,
And constant do remain to keep him so.
CINNA
O Caesar,–
CAESAR
Hence! wilt thou lift up Olympus?
DECIUS BRUTUS
Great Caesar,–
CAESAR
Doth not Brutus bootless kneel?
CASCA
Speak, hands for me!
CASCA first, then the other Conspirators and BRUTUS stab CAESAR
CAESAR
Et tu, Brute! Then fall, Caesar.
Dies
CINNA
Liberty! Freedom! Tyranny is dead!
Run hence, proclaim, cry it about the streets.
CASSIUS
Some to the common pulpits, and cry out
‘Liberty, freedom, and enfranchisement!’
BRUTUS
People and senators, be not affrighted;
Fly not; stand stiff: ambition’s debt is paid.
CASCA
Go to the pulpit, Brutus.
DECIUS BRUTUS
And Cassius too.
BRUTUS
Where’s Publius?
CINNA
Here, quite confounded with this mutiny.
METELLUS CIMBER
Stand fast together, lest some friend of Caesar’s
Should chance–
BRUTUS
Talk not of standing. Publius, good cheer;
There is no harm intended to your person,
Nor to no Roman else: so tell them, Publius.
CASSIUS
And leave us, Publius; lest that the people,
Rushing on us, should do your age some mischief.
BRUTUS
Do so: and let no man abide this deed,
But we the doers.
Re-enter TREBONIUS
CASSIUS
Where is Antony?
TREBONIUS
Fled to his house amazed:
Men, wives and children stare, cry out and run
As it were doomsday.
BRUTUS
Fates, we will know your pleasures:
That we shall die, we know; ’tis but the time
And drawing days out, that men stand upon.
CASSIUS
Why, he that cuts off twenty years of life
Cuts off so many years of fearing death.
BRUTUS
Grant that, and then is death a benefit:
So are we Caesar’s friends, that have abridged
His time of fearing death. Stoop, Romans, stoop,
And let us bathe our hands in Caesar’s blood
Up to the elbows, and besmear our swords:
Then walk we forth, even to the market-place,
And, waving our red weapons o’er our heads,
Let’s all cry ‘Peace, freedom and liberty!’
CASSIUS
Stoop, then, and wash. How many ages hence
Shall this our lofty scene be acted over
In states unborn and accents yet unknown!
BRUTUS
How many times shall Caesar bleed in sport,
That now on Pompey’s basis lies along
No worthier than the dust!
CASSIUS
So oft as that shall be,
So often shall the knot of us be call’d
The men that gave their country liberty.
DECIUS BRUTUS
What, shall we forth?
CASSIUS
Ay, every man away:
Brutus shall lead; and we will grace his heels
With the most boldest and best hearts of Rome.
Enter a Servant
BRUTUS
Soft! who comes here? A friend of Antony’s.
Servant
Thus, Brutus, did my master bid me kneel:
Thus did Mark Antony bid me fall down;
And, being prostrate, thus he bade me say:
Brutus is noble, wise, valiant, and honest;
Caesar was mighty, bold, royal, and loving:
Say I love Brutus, and I honour him;
Say I fear’d Caesar, honour’d him and loved him.
If Brutus will vouchsafe that Antony
May safely come to him, and be resolved
How Caesar hath deserved to lie in death,
Mark Antony shall not love Caesar dead
So well as Brutus living; but will follow
The fortunes and affairs of noble Brutus
Thorough the hazards of this untrod state
With all true faith. So says my master Antony.
BRUTUS
Thy master is a wise and valiant Roman;
I never thought him worse.
Tell him, so please him come unto this place,
He shall be satisfied; and, by my honour,
Depart untouch’d.
Servant
I’ll fetch him presently.
Exit
BRUTUS
I know that we shall have him well to friend.
CASSIUS
I wish we may: but yet have I a mind
That fears him much; and my misgiving still
Falls shrewdly to the purpose.
BRUTUS
But here comes Antony.
Re-enter ANTONY
Welcome, Mark Antony.
ANTONY
O mighty Caesar! dost thou lie so low?
Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils,
Shrunk to this little measure? Fare thee well.
I know not, gentlemen, what you intend,
Who else must be let blood, who else is rank:
If I myself, there is no hour so fit
As Caesar’s death hour, nor no instrument
Of half that worth as those your swords, made rich
With the most noble blood of all this world.
I do beseech ye, if you bear me hard,
Now, whilst your purpled hands do reek and smoke,
Fulfil your pleasure. Live a thousand years,
I shall not find myself so apt to die:
No place will please me so, no mean of death,
As here by Caesar, and by you cut off,
The choice and master spirits of this age.
BRUTUS
O Antony, beg not your death of us.
Though now we must appear bloody and crue
* Spoiler Alert *
Dude! Brutus kills Caesar? WTF?!
This was a pretty decent read, how does it end? Does Mark Antony get his dick chopped off?
to quote louie ck…
“why should the world modify their behavior and tip toe around just because you don’t know how to talk to your shitty kids?”
And yet the person quoting Shakespeare does not have the balls to use their real name.
I’m sorry. I was wrong.
@ shane: if you gotta know. it was me.
and this *is* my real name.
suck it.
Hey Jody, how was your night dude?!?!
Hard being a parent, eh? I don’t share your concern about explaining gender association issues, poppa. We have gay friends, and my son saw his first drag show at the ripe age of three.
If you are concerned about stepping on the toes of your stepson’s biological parents, perhaps you should defer the awkward explanations to them. One would hope they are somewhat less uptight than you are regarding sexuality.
Et tu, Brute?
Sorry. My apologies. I posted my previous comment without thinking clearly enough. It was a bit too harsh.
@enough is enough, dammit
or whoever you may be…
Bad tactic here, and overused by a select few people. You try to drain the pool yet fill it at the same time. Random text from literature is a silly way to prove a point. Juvenile, and also vulnerable to backlash. But, you already knew this, right? It’s a military tactic that doesn’t work on a blog and rarely effective on the battlefield.
Where’ve you been? Ezra’s been pulling that one for years.
I’m sincerely hoping this poppa character is a shill. If not, then he deserved everything he got in these comments. There is no need to mince words here. It’s mentalities like his that events like ‘pride’ exist for.
I’m confidant that — in his world view — if he just denies that gays, transgenders ‘queer types’ and other uncomfortable moments exist, it would be easier for him to parent. And it’s mindsets like his that drive us to ‘parade’ down city streets and get in his face about it. If we didn’t he’d continue to live in his bubble of perfection and denial.
And it’s attitudes like his that are at the root core why a majority vote cannot outweigh the rights of an oppressed minority.
The right wingers contend that nowhere in the Constitution does it say anything about gays. Well, it doesn’t have too , it’s in amendment 14;
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Then the wingnuts spout its Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve. Well you know what, maybe back then, if ‘then’ even existed, we needed procreation to grow our population. That need has passed. The world is overburdened with our population. We can’t even feed ourselves without devastating the planet and raping it of its last resources. Oil … pfft that tap is already half empty. The next major resource grab will be water. We feel pretty safe here, living next to the the second-largest fresh water source in the world but the rest of the country is already eyeballing the prospects of construction pipelines to the lakes.
Getting back closer to my point here, the great novelty and mystery of life losses some of its freshness after the 6 billioneeth baby. An observing mind can look at the randomness of the natural world and see that oddities and mutations are all part and parcel to the construction of life, whether your belief system is natural selection or devine design.
“But it ain’t natural.” Well it is. Homosexuality exists in just about every species. Praying and hoping that ‘odd balls’ don’t exist is one thing, but denying that they exist is the bigger perversion of sexuality in my view.
Sorry, Adam, I was hanging out with Prefect near Betelgeuse.
“Sex changes are “totally outrageous” in my opinion, and I think I most likely speak for the vast majority of Duluth citizens on the subject.”
Oh, no you didn’t! Don’t you dare speak for a metro of 180,000 people!
@concernedpoppa stop acting like this is an issue of you being thrust into an uncomfortable conversation with your child about something related to sex and private parts. This is all about you not approving of transgender folks and their life choices. You just don’t want to have to talk to your child about something you don’t agree with, sex or not. You’d probably be just as upset, if your child had asked about global warming (or something else you find outrageous/wrong) though it has nothing to do with sex. You can’t stop the world from exposing your child to opinions and lifestyles that are contradictory to your own. You, also, can’t make your child believe anything. They’re going to grow up, have unique experiences, and make their own decisions. There’s simply nothing you can do about that and nothing you should do, but take comfort in knowing you raised your child to be a good, loving, open-minded member of society (rather than a hateful bigot).
Last, but not least, if you don’t like sex changes, don’t have one!
Oh, naming the play “Sex Change” is just a sad attempt to be sensational. It’s like if the title of “Big” was instead “Grown Man Inside a Little Boy.” I mean, yikes.
Hey Hotrod!