Fate and Free Will Quotes - Julius Caesar | Julius Caesar- Summary, Themes & Characters - Novels PDF Download

FLAVIUS

These growing feathers plucked from Caesar's wing

Will make him fly an ordinary pitch,

Who else would soar above the view of men

And keep us all in servile fearfulness. (1.1.77-80)

Even as early as the first scene of the play, we get a sense that some Romans foresee that no good can come out of Caesar's increasing power. They predict Caesar will keep them "servile," but they can't predict the terrible outcome of their decision to assassinate him: civil war and the beginning of the end of the Roman Republic.

SOOTHSAYER

Beware the ides of March.

CAESAR

He is a dreamer. Let us leave him. Pass. (1.2.28-29)

Even though Caesar is warned by the soothsayer to watch his back on March 15 ("ides" means "middle"), Caesar doesn't take the ominous warning seriously. As we know, Caesar was stabbed 33 times on March 15, so it's pretty clear to the audience that Caesar should heed this warning. And even though Caesar says a few moments later that he's wary of "lean and hungry" looking men like Cassius (1.2), it seems like his arrogance prevents him from taking the soothsayer's advice to heart. This, by the way, isn't the only time Caesar ignores warning signs – later, he blows off his own wife, who envisions his death in a prophetic dream. (See 2.2 below.)

Brain Snack: In a Season 6 episode of The Simpsons called "Homer the Great," Lisa warns Homer to "beware the Ides of March."

Men at some time are masters of their fates. 

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, 

But in ourselves, that we are underlings. (1.2.146-148)

As Cassius complains about Caesar's power, he claims that it's Rome's own fault for being servile to one man.  Men, according to Cassius, are "masters of their fates," which means it's up to them to take down Caesar.  This seems like a fine idea, but there's a lot of evidence in the play (like prophesies and omens that come true) that men don't have much control over their destinies.

CASCA

Men all in fire walk up and down the streets.

And yesterday the bird of night did sit

Even at noonday upon the market-place,

Hooting and shrieking. When these prodigies

Do so conjointly meet, let not men say

"These are their reasons, they are natural,"

For, I believe, they are portentous things

Unto the climate that they point upon. (1.3.25-32)

Uh oh.  Crazy weather and strange bird behavior are never good signs in a Shakespeare play.  Casca's observation about these "portentous things" reminds us of Macbeth, where nasty storms and animals gone wild also signal political turmoil and the murder of an important leader.

CICERO

Indeed, it is a strange-disposèd time.

But men may construe things after their fashion,

Clean from the purpose of the things themselves. (1.3.33-35)

Ever the cynic, Cicero accuses Casca of reading too much into the strange events that have been occurring in Rome.  He says you read anything into an "omen," creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.

CASSIUS

I know where I will wear this dagger then;

Cassius from bondage will deliver Cassius.

Therein, you gods, you make the weak most strong;

Therein, you gods, you tyrants do defeat.

Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten brass,

Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron,

Can be retentive to the strength of spirit;

But life, being weary of these worldly bars,

Never lacks power to dismiss itself.

If I know this, know all the world besides,

That part of tyranny that I do bear

I can shake off at pleasure.                        Thunder still. (1.3.92-103)

Cassius has already proposed his plan of conspiracy, yet here he brings up the fact that he could take his own life and be free no matter what else happened. This is eerie given his death later in the play. It seems Cassius has a prophetic sense of how the entire matter will end for him and takes the opportunity to tell us that he accepts that fate nobly.

BRUTUS

Shall Rome stand under one man's awe? What, 

Rome?

My ancestors did from the streets of Rome

The Tarquin drive, when he was call'd a king.

"Speak, strike, redress!" Am I entreated

To speak and strike? O Rome, I make thee promise,

If the redress will follow, thou receivest

Thy full petition at the hand of Brutus. (2.1.55-61)

Brutus seems to suggest that it's his fate to take up the cause of Rome: he's compelled by the actions his ancestors once took to save it.  He has to follow in his forefathers' footsteps for both public reasons and his own honor.

CAESAR

Nor heaven nor earth have been at peace tonight.

Thrice hath Calphurnia in her sleep cried out

"Help, ho, they murder Caesar!" (2.2.1-3)

Calphurnia experiences an ominous dream that foreshadows Caesar's death just before the Ides of March.  But will Caesar pay attention?  Keep reading... 

CAESAR

Calphurnia here, my wife, stays me at home.

She dreamt tonight she saw my statue,

Which, like a fountain with an hundred spouts,

Did run pure blood, and many lusty Romans

Came smiling and did bathe their hands in it.

And these does she apply for warnings and portents

And evils imminent, and on her knee

Hath begged that I will stay at home today. (2.2.80-87)

When Calphurnia dreams of Caesar's body spurting blood like a fountain, she correctly interprets this to mean that something bad is going to happen to her husband and warns him to stay home that day. (It turns out that Caesar is stabbed 33 times and does, in fact, look like a bloody fountain.) At first it seems like Caesar is going to heed his wife's warning. But Calphurnia's attempts to protect him are completely undermined when Decius shows up and says women don't know how to interpret dreams. If this dream hadn't come from Calphurnia (who is a woman, so implicitly considered less insightful during Caesar's day), would Caesar have listened?  

CAESAR 

The ides of March are come.

SOOTHSAYER 

Ay, Caesar; but not gone. (3.1.1-2)

Geez, could Caesar be any more arrogant or misguided?  After being warned in advance to watch his back on March 15 and blowing off Calpurnia's ominous dream about being killed, Caesar ventures out to the Capitol (on the Ides of March!) and mocks the soothsayer.  Of course, we all know what happens to him a few lines later – he's stabbed by the conspirators, who wash their hands in his blood.  We do, however, wonder: even if Caesar had paid attention to the warnings, would it have made any difference?

ANTONY

Over thy wounds now do I prophesy

(Which like dumb mouths do ope their ruby lips

To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue)

A curse shall light upon the limbs of men;

Domestic fury and fierce civil strife

Shall cumber all the parts of Italy;

Blood and destruction shall be so in use

And dreadful objects so familiar

That mothers shall but smile when they behold

Their infants quartered with the hands of war,

All pity choked with custom of fell deeds;

And Caesar's spirit ranging for revenge,

With Ate by his side come hot from hell,

Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice

Cry "Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of war,

That this foul deed shall smell above the earth

With carrion men, groaning for burial. (3.1.285-301)

When Antony stands over Caesar's mutilated body, he prophesies that civil war and chaos will ensue in Rome.  So does Antony have magical powers or something?  Not really – he's just motivated by Caesar's death and has a huge stake in making his prediction come true.  When he delivers a carefully crafted speech at Caesar's funeral, he inspires the crowd to revolt against the conspirators.

BRUTUS

Why then, lead on.—O, that a man might know

The end of this day's business ere it come!

But it sufficeth that the day will end,

And then the end is known. (5.1.133-136)

We don't know how any given day will end, but we do know that it will. This is a truism, but it's a beautiful observation nevertheless: Men never know their fates, but that should be no reason to hang back from acting and living.