summary of julius caesar in 150 words.
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The play opens with a crowd that has gathered to celebrate the victory of Julius Caesar over the sons of Pompey. But Flavius & Marullus being jealous of Julius Caesar oppose this celebration & show pity for Pompey. They force the crowd to go back to their respective works. Thus the tribunes are afraid of the growing power of Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar goes with his wife Calpurnia & his other men to celebrate the feast of Lupercal. A soothsayer warns Julius Caesar to beware the Ides of March (15th of March). However the latter ignores this. Julius Caesar is offered a crown by Mark Antony but he refuses the offer three times and is praised by the commoners. Caius Cassius a hater of Julius Caesar tries to poison the mind of Marcus Brutus who is a friend of Julius Caesar.
The tribunes, Marullus and Flavius, break up a gathering of Roman citizens who seek to celebrate Julius Caesar’s triumphant return from war. The victory is marked by public games in which Caesar’s friend, Mark Antony, takes part. On his way to the arena Caesar is stopped by a stranger who warns that he should ‘Beware the Ides (15th) of March.’
Fellow senators, Caius Cassius and Marcus Brutus, are suspicious of Caesar’s reactions to the power he holds in the Republic. They fear he will accept offers to become Emperor. Cassius, a successful general himself, is jealous, while Brutus has a more balanced view of the political position. Cassius, Casca, and their allies, visit Brutus at night to persuade him of their views, and they plan Caesar’s death. Brutus is troubled but will not confide in his devoted wife, Portia.
On the 15th March Caesar is urged not to go to the Senate by his wife, Calphurnia, who has had dreamsthat he will be murdered, and she fears the portents of the overnight storms. He is nevertheless persuaded by flattery to go and as petitioners surround him Caesar is stabbed and dies as Brutus gives the final blow. Against Cassius’s advice Mark Antony is allowed by Brutus to speak a funeral oration in the market place after Brutus has addressed the people of Rome to explain the conspirators’ reasons and their fears for Caesar’s ambition. Brutus calms the crowd but Antony’s speech stirs them to rioting and the conspirators are forced to flee from the city.
Brutus and Cassius gather an army in Northern Greece and prepare to fight the forces led by Mark Antony, who has joined with Caesar’s great-nephew, Octavius, and with Lepidus. Away from Rome, Brutus and Cassius are filled with doubts about the future and they quarrel bitterly over funds for their soldiers’ pay. They make up the argument and despite the misgivings of Cassius over the site they prepare to engage Antony’s army at Philippi. Brutus stoically receives news of his wife’s suicide in Rome, but he sees Caesar’s ghost as he rests, unable to sleep on the eve of the conflict.