A stick-figure Shakespeare comic by Mya Lixian Gosling
OK, Brutus has been brooding in his courtyard for some time now. Let's wrap things up.
Can we all just acknowledge that Portia is kind of badass? I mean, don't get me wrong, I am 100% against stabbing yourself in the thigh to prove to your husband that you're strong enough to keep a secret. That's a terrible idea. But it does take guts.
Brutus seems to finally have made up his mind regarding killing Caesar, so let's bring in some fellow conspirators!
Apart from Brutus, Cassius, Casca, and, to a much lesser extent, Decius Brutus, the conspirators are a fairly nondescript bunch who never really develop individual personalities. However, because their names are repeated out loud several times throughout the play, they somehow give the impression of being more present than they actually are.
Don't get too attached to any of them, is what I'm saying.
Back to Julius Caesar! Let's check in with everyone's favorite brooder, Brutus!
I love Lucius. He tries so hard, but he's always sleepy and never quite on the ball. Hang in there, little buddy.
It's Halloween! Let's celebrate with a Shakespeare-themed parody of a classic Halloween song: The Monster Mash!
Happy Halloween, everyone. Stay safe out there...
It's still raining in Rome! It's the perfect cover for a little conspiratorial administrative work, don't you think?
Meet Cinna, one of the Interchangeable Conspirators. Apart from Cassius and Casca, none of other conspirators really get enough stage time to establish individual personalities. Poor guys...
It's time for some WEATHER. There's never any weather in Shakespeare that doesn't have a Purpose of some sort. Let's see what our buddy Casca thinks:
Fun fact! There were apparently umbrellas in ancient Roman times, but they were primarily used by wealthy women as sun shades, as opposed to rain shields, and men considered themselves too manly to use them.
Let's finally wrap up this scene!
Casca is probably my favorite character in Julius Caesar. He's just so sardonic and disrespectful. He's also got one of my favorite lines, which didn't make the cut for this comic:
CASSIUS: Will you dine with me tomorrow?
CASCA: Ay, if I be alive, and your mind hold, and your dinner worth the eating.
Try using this line the next time someone asks you over for dinner. It'll go over GREAT.
Let's check back in and see how Brutus and Cassius's Extremely Fraught Conversation is going...
This bit of the scene also contains the quote "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves, that we are underlings", which is mostly famous now for inspiring the title of John Green's cancer-tear-jerker young adult novel The Fault In Our Stars.
