give summary of julius caesar

The great hero has returned
When the play opens, Julius Caesar has just returned to Rome after defeating the sons of Pompey. Everyone is happy, but some of his friends are conspiring to kill him. They are worried of his popularity and want to end his life. In this particular scene, a storm is raging outside and Caesar is awakened from his sleep. He is restless and orders a servant to bid the priests to do the sacrifice.
Calpurnia has nightmares
As Caesar prepares to go to the Senate, his wife, Calpurnia, stops him. She tells him about the nightmare that she had all night, that Caesar had been murdered and some men were soaking their hands in his blood. She recounts all the signs of a bad omen and is very positive that something bad might happen to Caesar if he goes out of the house. Caesar, on the other hand, being a brave man that he is, refuses to give in to such omens. The servant returns and informs him that the religious men had offered a sacrifice but they did not find a heart in the animal’s body.
A traitor comes to call Caesar
Calpurnia is afraid for her husband’s life and is not willing to let him go to the Senate, she wants to send Antony instead, but Caesar believes that death is a necessary end and comes to everyone. Just then, Decius Brutus comes to call Caesar, but Caesar tells him he will not go with him because his wife is afraid that something will happen to him. He relates the dream that Calpurnia had seen and wants him to take his message to the Senate. Since the traitors have conspired to kill Caesar, Brutus lures Caesar to go with him. He tells him that the dream does not mean the end of Caesar but it means his success. Carried away by his talk, Caesar decides to go with him.
The proceedings at the Senate
Caesar leaves for the Senate with his trusted friends. At the meeting, MetellusCimber bows before Caesar and pleads with him to call his bother back who had been banished by Caesar. But Caesar refuses saying that he had not done anything wrong by sending him away. All the others too ask Caesar to call back Cimber’s brother. They come near him and one by one stab Caesar with a knife. Caesar falls down, dying, and his last words are, ‘You too Brutus.’They wash their hands in his blood, making Calpurnia’s dream true.

Antony is grief struck to see Caesardead
Antony comes there and is sad to see Caesar lying dead. He does not understand why they have killed Caesar, who was such a noble man. Brutus tries to calm himdown bytelling him that Caesar was too ambitious for Rome. Antony wants to speak to the public at the funeral and Brutus allows him to, on the condition that he does not disclose anything about the murderers. Antony readily agrees but has other plans.
Antony seeks revenge by urging the people
As Brutus and the others leave, Antony breaks downin front of Caesar’s dead body. He asksforgiveness for letting the murderers go easily and vows revenge. Brutus addresses the people and justifies Caesar’s murder by saying that Caesar had become too ambitious for the good of Rome. He tells them that Antony wishes to speak to the public. Antony climbs up the funeral pulpit and starts talking to the people. He cleverly leads the people to see that Caesar did not want the crown, nor did he want to rule over others. He only had the people’s welfare in his heart and hence could not be called ambitious. He reminds the people about Caesar’s sacrifices for the country.
Public opinion is swayed
By his clever choice of words, Antony is deftly able to manipulate the public opinion. Now the people rise against the murderers and want to call Caesar a martyr. Antony tells them about Caesar’s will, according to which, every Roman will get seventy five drachmas from him. This acts as a last straw and all the citizens want revenge for Caesar’s death. They are instigated by Antony to rise against the conspirers and start rioting, which results in the killing of many innocent people.
A conspiracy gone wrong
Meanwhile, Brutus and Cassius have fallen apart as the idealist in Brutus sees that Cassius’s has used him for his own reasons. Antony and Octavius, Caesar’s nephew, come together and clash with the army of Brutus and Cassius at Philippi and Sardis. As a result, Brutus and his army are defeated. Unable to bear the defeat, Brutus and Cassius commit suicide. Antony has succeeded in avenging Caesar’s murder.

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William Shakespeare 's Julius Caesar is a tragedy as it shows how the hero of the play rises from a humble position to that of popularity, power and prestige but ultimately meets a tragic end due to a flaw in his personality. The play Julius Caesar shows how politicking and intrigues, motivated by jealousy, of close friends of a noble person may lead to the tragic end of the hero. The tragedy Julius Caesar dramatises how the blind trust in the persuasive words of close friends proved to be fatal for Caesar. The beginning of the play indicates about some unnatural happenings. There has been a great turbulence and commotion on the Earth and in the sky that night. Caesar 's wife Calpurnia dreams the previous night of a few things which she considers to be ill omens like a lioness giving birth to her young ones in the streets. Graves opening up out of which dead bodies come out. Terrible warriors are seen fighting in the clouds. Calpurnia interprets these happenings in her nightmare negatively. She anticipates that something wrong is going to happen in the life of Julius Caesar and pleads him not to go to the Senate. At this moment, Decius Brutus, Caesar 's close friend, arrives in the scene and persuades Caesar to proceed towards the Senate. He skilfully interprets the dreams of Calpurnia in positive terms and wins over the confidence of Caesar. Brutus triggers Caesar 's vanity that if he does not go to the Senate, the senators may change their decision to make him the king of Rome. This prompts Caesar to move towards the Senate. This scene poses as the only example describing Caesar as an ambitious man. The scene now takes place in the Capitol. The conspirators plan that Cimber whose brother has been banished from Rome on charges of treason, will make humble submission before Caesar to repeal the verdict on his brother. Accordingly, Cimber carries out the plan. On making submission to Caesar by Cinder, Caesar refuses to repeal the verdict as it will lead to violation of the law of the land. Thereupon, Brutus and Cassius, both the conspirators, also plead on behalf of Cimber. Julius Caesar says that he is like the northern star and so will not change his decision regarding the banishment of Cimber 's brother. At this stage, the conspirators begin to stab Caesar. Brutus, the best friend of Caesar, also joins the conspirators. The conspirators shout 'Liberty, freedom and enfranchisement '. The dead body of Caesar falls down below the statue of Pompey. At this moment, Mark Antony arrives in the scene. He is extremely shocked to see Julius Caesar dead. Brutus says that they have killed Caesar in the larger interest of Rome. They have tried to save the people of Rome from the tyranny of the ambitious Caesar. Mark Antony understands the conspiracy and starts flattering the conspirators. The conspirators grant permission to Mark Antony to speak at Caesar 's funeral. The conspirators ask him not to blame them in his speech. Brutus plans that first he will speak to the public and will justify the murder of Caesar. Next, the scene of action shifts to the market place where a lot of people have assembled to hear Brutus. Brutus justifies the murder of Caesar in the larger interest of Rome. According to Brutus, Caesar had become too much ambitious. Hence, people standing there approve this act of murder. After the speech of Brutus, Mark Antony is told to address the public on condition that he will not in any way put blame on the conspirators. In the beginning Mark Antony refers to Brutus and the other conspirators as honourable men. But very soon he gives a twist to his speech. He is able to convince people that Caesar has been murdered by these traitors out of jealousy. He is able to convince the mass that Caesar has never been ambitious because he thrice declined the throne offered to him. Mark Antony also reads out the will of Caesar only to reveal how he loved his people. Caesar proposed in his will to give seventy five silver coins to every citizen of Rome. This is enough to ignite the hearts of the people. Understanding the conspiracy behind the entire plot, the mass mourns the death of Caesar. Finally, the people of Rome rise in revolt against the traitors.
here it hi dhyanyashree :)

for your information -->. Julius Caesar was born in 100 BC to Aurelia and Gaius Julius Caesar, a patrian family. The name "Julius" comes from Iulius, the family name. This comes from Iulus, the name of Venus' son.

At the time of his birth, Rome was still a republic and the empire was only beginning. The senators ruled, motivated by the greed of power in the hope of becoming either a consul or a praetor, the two senior posts which carried imperium, the legal right to command an army. With the help of the army at your command, from those posts it was possible to conquer new territories and so gain a triumph and the pleasure of knowing that your name would be remembered forever in statues and inscribed in monuments, paid for by the war.

Julius made his way to praetorship by 62 BC and many of the senate felt he was a dangerous, ambitious man. Because of this, they deprived him of a triumph after his praetorian command in Spain somewhere between 61-60 BC, they also did their best to keep him out of consulship. He finally became consul in 59 BC.

Much of the thanks for this achievement should be given to Gnaeus Pompeius (Pompey the Great) who had just come back from a campaign which had doubled the income of the Roman treasury and gained three new provinces to the empire. Although, because of Pompey, to become a leading person in Roman politics you had to have more then just an ordinary triumph.

It was because of this that during Julius’ consulship he pushed through a special law giving him a five-year command in Cispine Gaul and Illyricum, both provinces in the empire covering North Italy and the Adriatic coast of Yugoslavia. Julius saw this as a great opportunity to extend the empire either into Gaul or in the Balkins. While in Gaul, the most important section of the Roman Army, positioned at the German border, was under his control.

He was a brilliant military leader and lead many campaigns, which included; The Helvetic Campaign in 58 BC, The Belgic Campaign in 57 BC, The Venetic Campaign in 56 BC, and many others. The whole point of these campaigns was to get high public and political acclaim, he wrote about all the campaigns and sent the books to Rome so people knew and remembered his name. Aside from being a "brilliant military leader," Julius believed Rome needed him alive and in command, if peace was to continue. He once said:

"It is more important for Rome than for myself that I should survive. I have long been sated with power and glory; but should anything happen to me, Rome will enjoy no peace. A new civil war will break out under far worse conditions then the last."

While in pursuit of Pompey, Julius fell in love with Cleopatra. Who happened to be Pompey’s sister. Julius and Cleopatra met by a dramatic introduction that Cleopatra had set up. It was, she had herself wrapped in a carpet and delivered by a friend to Julius, and unrolled at his feet. He was 52 and she was 21, but her intelligence, charm and wit was what fascinated Julius. With Julius' support, Cleopatra position as queen of Egypt was secured.

Julius had all the fame he could hope for and the triumph to back it up, but to get the position he felt his achievements deserved, he had to take his troops across the River Rubicon and in doing so declare civil war on the state and Pompey. Pompey, the person who had got Julius to where he was, was sent to stop him but failed. General Pompey fled to Egypt while Julius entered Rome in triumph as Dictator. The battle for Rome continued for five years of bloody fighting. He was assassinated by a group of senators, who stabbed with a dagger in the back, on the Ides of March 44 BC below a statue of Pompey, possibly in support of Pompey. Julius had convened the senate so that it would grant him the authority to be known as king in the lands outside of Rome, but the assignation took place before Julius could claim the new title for himself.

Mark Antony, Julius’ cavalry commander, met Cleopatra in 41 B.C after Julius’ assassination. At first, Antony wanted Cleopatra’s money but quickly fell in love with her and his intentions changed completely. Antony and Cleopatra eventually married and had children, and they were each given Roman provinces to rule.

Summary

Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman who lived between 100 BC to 44BC. He played an instrumental role in the demise of Roman Republic and rise of the Roman Empire. After winning several wars, Julius Caesar became very popular and powerful. When he was offered the crown by Mark Antony; he refused the crown. Some people were jealous of Caesar’s growing power and feared that he might become a dictator. Cassius hatches a conspiracy to murder Caesar. He wins over Brutus in this conspiracy because Brutus is the most trusted and respected in Rome. After the assassination of Caesar, one of his friends; Antony; succeeds in motivating people to raise a revolt against Cassius and Brutus. Act 1 Scene 1

The first scene depicts the argument between Caesar and his wife Calpurnia. Calpurnia tries to stop Caesar from going to the senate because she is apprehensive of some mishap. She explains the bad omens which she saw in her dreams. In response, Caesar claims that a brave man should not be afraid of death because death is the ultimate truth. Calpurnia wants Mark Antony to convey the message that Caesar would not attend the meeting at senate and to give an excuse of Caesar’s sickness. Finally, Decius Brutus tries to convince Caesar by giving a different and positive interpretation of the dreams which Calpurnia had. Thus, Brutus is able to take Caesar alongwith him to the senate.

Act 2: Scene 1

Various courtiers and members of the senate sing paeans for Caesar. Caesar asks his fellows not to indulge in flattery. The discussion then veers on the banishment of Publius Cimber. Finally, all the men who are with Cassius take out their daggers and kill Caesar. When Brutus stabs Cesar then Caesar is astonished that even Brutus is against him.

After the assassination of Caesar, Cassius wants the message conveyed to the people of Rome that they have succeeded in ending the tyranny and in ensuring freedom for the people of Rome.Mark Antony; a close associate of Caesar arrives on the scene. Cassius and his men convey to Antony that Caesar was murdered for the good of Rome. They also assure Antony his due share in power. But Antony insists on mourning for Caesar’s death. He gets permission for taking the body of Caesar so that he can organize a public mourning. It is also agreed that Cassius would speak to the public to convey the message of protection of Rome’s liberty as a reason for the assassination of Caesar. After that Antony could take his time to speak whatever he wishes to speak about Caesar.

Act 2: Scene 2

Antony gives a speech to highlight that Caesar was kind to the public and was not ambitious as was claimed by Cassius. By giving many examples; Antony is able to motivate the gathered mass of people. He also reads the will of Caesar which announces many freebies for the people. People then cremate the body of Caesar and begin the revolt against Cassius and Brutus.