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Definition of Dramatic Irony
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a character's understanding of a given situation, and that of the... read full definition
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a character's understanding of a given... read full definition
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a... read full definition
Act 1, scene 2
Explanation and Analysis—The Ides of March:
In Act 1, Scene 2, soothsayer calls out from the crowd and utters his famous warning to Caesar to "beware the ides of March." This is an explicit moment of foreshadowing and a setup for some rich dramatic irony:
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 sayest thou to me now? Speak once again.SOOTHSAYER:
Beware the ides of March.CAESAR:
He is a dreamer. Let us leave him. Pass.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Hungry Hungry Cassius:
In Act 1, Scene 2, Caesar observes to Mark Antony that Cassius seems to be a wily political opponent, and his observations contain both dramatic irony and foreshadowing:
Unlock with LitCharts A+CAESAR:
Let me have men about me that are fat,
Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep a-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 that the man I should avoid
So soon as that spare Cassius.
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Act 2, scene 1
Explanation and Analysis—Brutus Comes Around:
In Act 2, Scene 1, as Brutus paces in his garden, he comes to the realization that Caesar must die. He shares his thoughts with the audience through a soliloquy:
Unlock with LitCharts A+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 crowned:
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.
Th’ abuse of greatness is when it disjoins
Remorse from power. And, to speak truth of Caesar,
I have not known when his affections swayed
More than his reason.
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Act 2, scene 2
Explanation and Analysis—Calphurnia's Visions:
In Act 2, Scene 2, as the threat against Caesar grows, Calpurnia reports a frightening dream to her husband in an effort to keep him from leaving the house. Calpurnia's report of these new omens continue Shakespeare's dramatic sequence of foreshadowing Caesar's death, while Caesar's stubborn ignorance builds dramatic irony for the audience:
Unlock with LitCharts A+CALPHURNIA:
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 whelpèd in the streets,
And graves have yawned and yield up their dead.
[…]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.
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Act 2, scene 3
Explanation and Analysis—Artemidorus' Letter:
In Act 2, Scene 3, Artemidorus reads aloud a letter he has written warning Caesar of the conspiracy against him and heightens the dramatic irony for the audience:
Unlock with LitCharts A+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 you beest not
immortal, look about you. Security gives way to
conspiracy. The mighty gods defend thee!
Act 3, scene 1
Explanation and Analysis—Caesar, You're A star!:
In Act 3, Scene 1, when Caesar refuses to hear the case of the banished Publius Cimber, he asserts his steadfast position with an arrogant flourish of simile:
Unlock with LitCharts A+But I am constant as the Northern Star,
Of whose true fixed and resting quality
There is no fellow in the firmament.
The skies are painted with unnumbered sparks;
They are all fire, and every one doth shine.
But there’s one in all doth hold his place.
So in the world: ‘tis furnished 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…
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