Brutus Speaks

Brutus Speaks (3.2)

Bill Long

Miscues Continue

Both Brutus and Antony will speak at Caesar's funeral, the day after Caesar's murder/sacrifice. Brutus is "in charge" of the event, and has, over the strenuous objection of Cassius, authorized Antony to address the people (3.1.230-250). The exchange with Cassius in 3.1, however, hints at the problem that will arise in 3.2. Cassius tells Brutus that he does not know what he is doing.

"Do not consent/ That Antony speak in his funeral./ Know you how much the people may be mov'd/ By that which he will utter (3.1.232-235)?"

Brutus's response is telling. "I will myself into the pulpit first,/ And show the reason of our Caesar's death (3.1.236-237)." This is consonant with what Brutus said earlier to Antony, when Antony asked for an explanation of Caesar's death: "Our reasons are so full of good regard (3.1.224)." Brutus misconceives the nature of a funeral oration as "giving reasons" for Caesar's death. Cassius knows that it will be an occasion for Antony to "move" the people. Brutus's denial or ignoring of the role of human emotion at such a time is another result of his deficiency of self-knowledge.

Brutus's Words (3.2.12-47)

Brutus lays down the "rules." He will speak first, and Antony will go second. Antony is under obligation not to blame the conspirators for Caesar's death and must say he speaks only at the permission of the conspirators (3.1.245-248). We are thus expecting Brutus to give "reasons" for the death of Caesar, but actually he does not do so. The "question of his death" (justification for it) is "enroll'd in the Capitol: his glory is not extenuated, wherein he was worthy; nor his offenses enforc'd, for which he suffer'd death (3.2.37-40)."

These phrases are neatly balanced, as if the killing of Caesar was the result of a finely-honed and disciplined balancing act where men of the most judicious and sober temperament weighed Caesar's "glory" and "offenses" before acting. Not only has Brutus misconceived the act of killing once again, but his putting off the "reasons" by saying that they are "enroll'd in the Capitol" is equivalent to saying, 'The death of Caesar speaks for itself. I need not even go into it.' If this isn't the height of delusive thinking, what is?

When we examine Brutus's actual words, we see that Brutus makes the death of Caesar an issue about Brutus and not about Caesar. After his brief greeting to the people, Brutus says, "Believe me for mine/ honor, and have respect to mine honor, that you/ may believe (3.2.14-16)." Cassius picked up in his first words to Brutus that Brutus was "honor-obsessed;" hence, Cassius played the "honor card" to beguile Brutus into joining the conspiracy ("Well [Cassius says], honor is the subject of my story"--1.2.92"). Now Brutus is saying as much. 'I am honorable,' he says. 'Believe what I have to say because I am honorable.' The person honored in society (Brutus) has become so identified with the "virtue" of honor that it becomes a part of his personality and he cannot see beyond that. Honor has become not just the spectacles through which he see the world, but is a sort of mirror into which he constantly looks, enabling him only to see himself. Thus, he conceives of himself as a man of "reason" (though I have shown how that is fanciful), and, worse yet, he thinks that people, at this raw time, will be moved by "reason." But even at that, he gives no "reasons." It is all about Brutus.

The nature of his appeal, then, follows. He rose against Caesar not because "I lov'd/ Caesar less, but that I lov'd Rome more (3.2.21-22)." Is this a reason? In a way, it is, but when we hear someone say he is going to give "reasons" for his conduct, we immediately think he will say something like, "I did X for such-and-such reasons." "Caesar was dangerous for these three reasons...." Instead we are brought into Brutus's self-righteous mind. 'You need to believe me because of my honor,' he says. This is equivalent to saying, 'Trust me on this one, folks.' If he gives any 'reason' for his conduct, it is that Caesar's "ambition" led him to this act. "As Caesar lov'd/ me, I weep for him; as he was fortunate, I rejoice/ at it; as he was valiant, I honor him; but, as he was/ ambitious, I slew him (3.2.24-27)." But ambition is not given as a decisive "reason." The sentence is in the conditional mood: 'to the extent he was ambitious, I killed him.' Therefore, Caesar must have been ambitious, but Brutus gives us not clue as to how this was the case.

He closes his speech with an unanswerable challenge. "Who is here so base that would be a bondman (3.2.29-30)?" This is the ultimate "trust me" question, for it implies that the options Brutus and the people had were either to kill Caesar or to become slaves. But, Brutus hasn't given "reasons" for this. Not by a long shot. Though some of the people are impressed by Brutus's remarks, we know by now that the people are fickle. In fact, Brutus's speech leaves us cold; we feel that we have not entered into the reasons, much less the passions, behind the event. Brutus is just imprisoned in his honor-clouded mind.