Short & Long Questions: Julius Caesar | Short & Long Answer Questions for Class 10 PDF Download

Short Answer Type

Q1: How do the heavens ‘blaze forth’ the death of Julius Caesar?
Ans: The heavens sent omens foretelling a major calamity—like Calpumia’s dream of Caesar being murdered, a lioness whelping in the streets, graves opening and dead bodies lying around, warriors fighting upon the clouds and drizzling blood upon the Capitol, horses neighing, dying men groaning and ghosts shrieking about the streets.

Q2: Why does Calpurnia say Caesar’s ‘wisdom is consumed in confidence’? What does she mean?
Ans: Calpumia means that though Caesar is wise, he is overconfident. His wisdom is destroyed by his overconfidence.

Q3: What did Calpurnia dream about Caesar? How did Decius Brutus interpret the dream?
Ans: Calpumia dreamt she saw Caesar’s statue spout blood like a fountain and Romans came smiling and dipped their hands in the blood. She saw the dream as a warning that danger was imminent. Decius Brutus interprets the dream as a lucky vision. He said it signified that from Caesar, Rome shall imbibe fresh life and great men will earnestly desire relics marked with his blood.

Q4: What are the arguments put forward by Decius Brutus to convince Caesar to go to the Capitol?
Ans: Decius flatters Caesar into disregarding the fears of his wife. He says that the Senate decided to offer a crown to Caesar that day and if he does not go they may change their minds and mock him for being afraid. They may say that the Senate should be dismissed till Caesar’s wife has better dreams.

Q5: Why is Decius more successful than Calpurnia in persuading Caesar?
Ans: Decius is more successful than Calpurnia in persuading Caesar because he appeals to Caesar’s ambition and vanity.

Q6: What is the petition put before Caesar by the conspirators? How does Caesar respond to it?
Ans: The conspirators want Caesar to recall the order of exile passed against Metellus Cimber’s brother, Publius. Caesar refuses to listen to them and change his mind.

Q7: Who says ‘Et tu, Brute’? When are these words spoken? Why?
Ans: Caesar says these words just after Brutus stabs him. Caesar loved Brutus and could not believe Brutus would do such a deed.

Q8: In the moments following Caesar’s death, what do the conspirators proclaim to justify Caesar’s death?
Ans: The conspirators proclaim that they killed Caesar to free Rome of him and to establish democracy— ‘Liberty, freedom, and enfranchisement! ’

Q9: Seeing the body of Caesar, Antony is overcome by grief. What does he say about Caesar?
Ans: Antony is saddened that the great conqueror Caesar is reduced to a dead body lying on a small piece of the ground. He expresses willingness to die at the conspirators’ hands while their hands and weapons are still warm with Caesar’s blood.

Q10: Whom does Antony call ‘the choice and master spirits of this age’? Why?
Ans: Antony calls the conspirators—Brutus, Cassius and the others as ‘the choice and the master spirits of this age.’ He is actually mocking them beneath his pretence of flattery.

Long Answer Type
Q11: Compare the speeches of Brutus and Antony.
Ans: Brutus speaks in an arrogant manner and justifies conspiring against Caesar as Caesar’s ambition would have hurt Rome. He seeks to explain why he conspired against Caesar. He begins his speech with ‘Romans,  countrymen … ’ appealing to their consciousness as citizens of Rome. Brutus declares that his reason for : killing Caesar was his great love for Rome.
Antony focuses on Caesar’s positive traits and cunningly disproves Brutus’ justification for killing Caesar. He starts out by addressing the crowd as ‘Friends’and comes to them as a friend rather than a ruler trying to gain power. He says—“I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.” He disproves Caesar’s ambition with three examples:

• donated the ransom of captives to the treasury
• cried with the poor people
• refused the kingship that Antony offered him thrice.

He appeals to their emotions by showing Caesar’s dead body and appeals to their greed by reading the will.

Q12: Brutus makes a number of mistakes that leads to the downfall of the conspirators. What are his mistakes?
Ans: He allows Antony to speak at Caesar’s funeral despite Cassius’s objection. Antony, with his impassioned “speech, was able to turn the crowd against the conspirators. He does not understand the Romans and kills Caesar for the ideal of democracy as he was becoming too powerful. Romans admire Caesar’s power as he appeals to the logic of the mob. The mob do not understand his reasoning and become easy prey to Antony’s emotional speech.

Q13: Discuss the attention paid (or not paid) to omens, nightmares, and other supernatural events. What do the various responses to these phenomena show about the struggle between fate and humans in Julius Caesar?
Ans: The supernatural phenomena in Julius Caesar include Calpumia’s dream of Caesar’s statue mnning with blood and the strange sights seen by the watchmen—a lioness giving birth to her young ones in the streets, graves opening, ghosts shrieking in the streets and fierce battles being fought in the clouds with the blood of the soldiers falling on the Capitol. Though Calpumia is upset, Caesar ignores the various omens.
Caesar believes that the omens could apply just as easily to Rome in general as to him personally and he quickly comes to believe that Calpumia has misinterpreted her dream. As the plot unfolds, it becomes clear that these omens had been a warning of events that are to take place. Julius Caesar fails to heed the warning. Tragically, Caesar believes that his refusal to heed these signs proves his strength, courage and indomitable nature.
Though Caesar believes that he is displaying the force of his will by ignoring the warnings and attending the Senate, ironically, it is precisely this action that precipitates his fated death.