by Katie Gantley (Circle 7)
Within Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caesar, there are only two women who hold underlying yet highly significant roles. Calpurnia, Caesar’s wife, serves as a form of foreshadowing to her husband’s death. Meanwhile, Portia, Brutus’ wife, has an interesting role within the play overall. Both women are unable to impact the events occurring outside of themselves and their marriage. Regardless of their efforts, neither woman is able to even get through to their husband. This is especially important in Calpurnia’s case because had Caesar heeded her warnings based on her dreams he would have lived to see another day. Somewhat similarly, Portia attempts to reach out to Brutus about his “cause of grief” before the murder of Caesar, but he pushes her worries aside, as does Caesar with Calpurnia. It is apparent that the two women in this play serve as a contrast to the strong male figures. They play the role of concerned and gentle housewives.
Portia is an interesting character because we are only given what she feels and thinks once, and this pertains to the well-being of her husband, Brutus. Clearly, the women during this time were to tend to their husbands and the household and to leave outside business to the men. In this case, Portia pleads to Brutus, even going down onto her knees, to find out what has had him so moody as of late. She states:
“And too impatiently stamped with your foot.
Yet I insisted; yet you answered not,
But with an angry wafture of your hand
Gave sign for me to leave you. So I did,
Fearing to strengthen the impatience
Which seemed too much enkindled, and withal
Hoping it was but an effect of humour,
Which sometime hath his hour with every man.” (2.1.243-250)
[…]
“I should not know you Brutus. Dear my lord,
Make me acquainted with your cause of grief” (2.1.254-5)
This speech from Portia is particularly endearing to me because it is such an honest and heartful scene of a woman expressing her frustration in attempting to understand her husband and his recent behavior. I find this to be a significant scene because Portia is reaching out to Brutus to find the root of the problem. I cannot help but wonder, had Brutus shared his plans and ideas for murdering Caesar, if Portia would have talked some sense into him.
Calpurnia, quite similarly to Portia, is just attempting to keep her husband safe. We are told that Calpurnia is having nightmares of Caesar’s murder. In fact, these nightmares are enough to keep Caesar from being able to fall asleep. If this isn’t a large enough sign to not leave your house the next day, then I don’t know what is. Regardless, it takes a great amount of pleading on Calpurnia’s part to finally persuade her husband not to go to the Senate that day. Shortly afterwards, Decius comes to convince Caesar to come to the Senate that day to be crowned. Ambition and pride seem to overshadow his wife’s worries and warnings and he agrees again to go to the Senate.
In this scene with his wife, Caesar continues to refer to himself in the third person. In response to Calpurnia’s concerned argument Caesar states:
“What can be avoided
Whose end is purposed by the mighty gods?
Yet Caesar shall go forth; forth these predictions
Are to the world in general as to Caesar” (2.2.27-30).
Caesar attempts to liken himself to the rest of the world, assuming that it could not be him that these messages of doom are being sent for. This is interesting because it is almost as if he no longer sees himself through his own eyes, but through the eyes of the public.
Calpurnia and Portia play importance roles within this play particularly because they present us with a back drop of “real life.” By this, I mean that the presence of the wife to these high status men shows us that these men are still human. The wives provide some emotion to the events that occur within the play. Without them, I feel that Julius Caesar would be quite a blunt, straightforward and emotionless play. To further bring this point home, I noticed the role that women played in the movie clip of Mark Antony’s speech in this past Tuesday’s class. The camera focused on the women in the crowd when Antony revealed Caesar’s wounded body, and of course it was only the women to whimper or cry, which (for me at least) was effective in making the scene more meaningful and sad.
Hey Katie,
I don’t want to play devil’s advocate, but I’ll share the unpopular opinion that Portia and Calpurnia really didn’t serve much purpose to the play other than to give warnings on an emotional level. I’ll be the first to say that this is a real disappointment especially after having read a bunch of plays with great female leads an characters like Viola, Titania and Queen Margaret. I also think it’s upsetting that not much attention was given to Portia’s scene in Act II (?) when she’s acting rather erratic in talking to the Soothsayer as if to find out if anything really will happen to Caesar on the Ides of March. I always interpreted this scene as one where Brutus DOES tell his wife what he has planned and that not knowing what to do, Portia tries to find out anything she can so to prevent the deed Brutus and the conspirators have planned. I suppose Shakespeare decided to more focus on the men and the different dichotomy between them and the ways fate plays a role in how they dictate their actions. At least the play on campus will be 98% women actors.
Katie,
your observations about the roles Portia and Calpurnia play within Julius Caesar had me recall the few scenes we see of these two female characters. My recollections of the scenes with Portia and Calpurnia both involve the bedroom, which can be understood as Shakespeare indicating their existence only within the private, domestic sphere rather than the public sphere to which the men in the play belong. Shakespeare’s decision to only show Portia and Calpurnia within the bedroom, a representation of the domestic sphere, accurately depicts the gender binary that existed in Ancient Greece, and I would assume the Greek Republic as well. Aristotle writes in his work, Politics, about the two gender spheres–oikos, the home, and polis, the city. Before reading your blog post, Katie, I had not considered in which setting we are introduced to Portia and Calpurnia, but now that I am thinking about it, the fact that they are both in bedrooms is extremely significant in understanding the history of Greece as well as the history of gender roles.
Katie,
This is a great post on considering how truly important the female characters are to this play despite being treated indifferently (sadly). Even though the presence of women in this play is marginalized, when they are present they serve as very admirable, insightful, and selflessly loving figures. It’s really frustrating how they’re ignored because they seem to be the most caring and virtuous individuals without patting themselves in the back. And I didn’t even notice until your post pointed it out that Caesar refers to himself in the third person when dismissing his wife’s concerns!
“Without them, I feel that Julius Caesar would be quite a blunt, straightforward and emotionless play”
Absolutely, and I think this really does paint a great picture of the tone of Rome at this time. To my understanding, the values of the time tended to favor a stoic temperament for the males in power. Most of what was admired was intellect, reason, and physical might. Thank goodness that the women figures of this play preserve the other parts of the human experience which were neglected by all of the other characters!
Katie,
I’m glad you pointed out the fact that although Portia and Calpurnia seem to be of little importance being the women of the play, that they indeed to contribute to the play itself despite how little they are respected by the men in it. It is so unsettling to see the potential that these women have and could have used to help their husbands, however, their ideas are simply dismissed. As you mentioned with Calpurnia, we see her give warnings to Caesar, begging him to be weary of her dreams, however, he doesn’t take them as seriously as he should have. As the wife of Caesar, Calpurnia may not have made an impact on Caesar in protecting him, but for the reader, she foreshadows the vents to come and lets us know that something bad indeed may really happen to Caesar. When it comes to Portia- my heart has been broken for her since the beginning! It is saddening to see how much effort she puts into her relationship with Brutus, yet again like with Calpurnia, not much seems to come out of it. We don’t heat much from Portia, or even about her, but from the little that we do, we see her as a character through her heart cry and know that her only wish was to help Brutus. Really great points, thanks for reminding us that although these women seem insignificant to their men, that they play a huge role for us as the reader!
Katie,
I thought your post was very interesting because I wrote my post for about how insignificant the female characters were in the play, so it was nice to read the opposition. I think it’s important to mention that there were only two women in the entire play and there was very little mention of them. This play mainly focuses on politics and in that time women were excluded from politics because they were seen as weak and inapt. Also, both Calpurnia and Portia tried to be a part of their husband’s lives but were shut out and ignored. However, I thought it was interesting that you state, Calpurnia and Portia play important roles because they “present us with a back drop of ‘real life’”. I had not thought of their roles like that; I found it to be an interesting insight. Overall, I really enjoyed reading your post.
I think that it is incredibly significant that Caesar only features two women in the whole of the play, as their very presence creates an almost ethereal and unsettling feeling in the narrative. Portia appears on the stage only once and in that instance, she is preoccupied with helping an ailing Brutus with his conscience only to be heard about a second time after she dies. With that only impression of the character, it is as if Brutus perhaps was only recalling her in his memories and her death is haunting him. In a way, she is very ghost-like and being concerned with Brutus’s woes, she hangs heavy about him throughout the work.
Hi Katie, I think your blog shares great points that were not discussed in class. As you mentioned, women in this time period were meant to leave buisiness to men and to generally keep their concerns to their selves. I like that you mentioned that both women did not do this, they approached their husbands with their concerns and tried to plead with them. We did not see this side of women in Othello especially with Desdemona, if she had expressed anything even slightly to Othello, it could have spared her life.
I also like that you mention that if Caesar had listened to his wife even slightly, he could have lived another day. This relates to the theme of fate in the play, even if Caesar had listened his fate was death and that would have occured no matter what. We learned that prophecies and omen’s are very significant in Shakespeare’s plays and Caesar’s death was meant to happen.
Over all, I like how you determined the women’s in this plays emotional role. They do so far play a large importance and have acted on their emtions more than some of the women we have read so far.
Katie,
I really enjoyed your post because I focused on the importance of Calpurnia and Portia within my post because I was unsure on what the importance of these characters were. I did further research because I was intrigued by these characters and the fact that there were only two women included within the play. I am glad that you pointed out how hard these women tried to please their husbands, as that is mostly the only duty for women within this time period, because no matter how hard they tried, it just wasn’t enough. I thought in the beginning of the play when Calpurnia is explaining her dream to Caesar that he was going to take her seriously, but it ended up not happening. My hope to find a strong powerful women in a Shakespeare play this semester is dwindling.
Katie,
I really liked your analysis on Calpurnia and Portia and I agree with you that these two important women in the play shed some reality and “real life” emotion that is very significant. I thought it was interesting that Shakespeare even included these woman in the play at first because they were short lived, didn’t have many lines, and their wise advice was ignored, but as I was reading your blog post it became clear to me. The men are so reluctant to listen to their wives who clearly are devoted to them and only wish to help their husbands, that is does present a “real life” back drop which is crucial to the play. The woman that were emotional during Antony’s speech did make me feel a lot more meaningful and real to me as well. Great post!
Katie,
I also wrote about Portia’s plight throughout the play and how despite her best efforts, she can’t get through to her husband. I hadn’t really considered Calpurnia so it was interesting to read your observations on her because she is the only other female character of the play. I think it’s definitely worth noting that had Caesar listened to her advice he could’ve possibly saved himself from death. I wish these female characters had been given more of a range in the play because even though they’re only shown a handful of times, they had insightful observations about their husband’s lives that if they men had listened to them, they might’ve seen things differently. Instead, they chose to ignore them and the women aren’t allowed a voice at all, which was ultimately disappointing for me to read.
Katie,
I like your post! I too wondered throughout the play had Brutus and Caesar given their wives the time of day would either of them had done anything differently? I definitely agree that Caesar would have. If he listened to his wife’s dream warning the conspirators would not have stabbed him that day in the capital! But, his death could not be avoided because that would never have happened. It wouldn’t have mattered what Calpurnia said. Caesar would not have listened to any warning coming from especially her. Caesars arrogance and need to prove his self as all a king/ god can be (hence not backing out of the meeting) is what ultimately causes him to ignore her warning. No god/ king would ever obey his wife anyway! Plus, he had a crown to accept. So, in that way he actually contributed to his death. Portia put a lot of effort in to getting through to Brutus. I agree, Brutus possibly could have not been a participant in the intent of the conspirators if he would have talked it out with Portia. I like your imagery of comparing the light the wives shed on this play to a “back drop”.