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Scene Study prepares you to perform key scenes for your theater class or audition. We've got all the information you need for a great performance.
Excerpt from Act 2, Scene 1 Monologue: Brutus
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Understanding the Given Circumstances
- Brutus is alone in his orchard, unable to sleep.
- He has not slept since Cassius first suggested killing Julius Caesar because his ambition will make him into a tyrant who will destroy the Roman Republic.
- Brutus doesn’t know what time it is, but it is late enough at night that the rest of his household is asleep. He begins the scene by waking up his young servant Lucius and asking him to light a candle in his study.
- He has not yet fully committed to joining the conspiracy to kill Julius Caesar, but he is considering it.
- Julius Caesar is his closest friend, and Brutus considers himself to be above all an honorable man. Since honorable men don’t generally assassinate their friends, deciding to join the conspiracy requires justification.
- Later in this scene, the other conspirators will arrive, and Brutus will agree to join them and help lead the plot to kill Caesar. Thus, the monologue is a key point in the overall plot of the play, as well as in the development of Brutus’s character.
Blocking and Movement
In theater, blocking is the process of planning the actors’ physical movements and positions. Be sure to show respect and establish trust when working with scene partners. As you prepare to block this scene, ask yourself the following questions:
- What scenic elements do you imagine are present in this scene? Shakespeare’s plays don’t usually specify a lot of scenery or props, and this scene is simply introduced as Brutus being “in his orchard.” This implies either a mostly empty stage or one with elements you might find in an orchard, such as trees, fences, or gates. Since this setting is a small orchard within the city, it might have formal garden features such as fountains or steps.
- Since he’s alone on stage, Brutus is technically speaking to himself, but the most important goal for an actor in any soliloquy is to reach out to an audience and take them along a journey with him. How can your movements and gaze best open the speech up to the audience and hold their attention?
- Most set speeches begin with the actor taking up an issue before exploring it, but this speech begins in the middle of the exploration. Brutus has clearly been thinking about the idea of killing Caesar and then suddenly bursts into speech mid-thought. What might you do before speaking to help the audience understand that Brutus has already been thinking hard? You can take some time to work through this before beginning the first line. It might help to imagine Brutus’s thoughts and run over them in your own mind while acting. Your actions here can reflect his difficult decision. You might pace or suddenly change the direction you’re facing. When people think, they often move their hands and gesture to themselves.
- Brutus is trying with some difficulty to rationalize a decision he has already made. He wants to reconcile his decision with his belief that he is an honorable man. The speech is full of argument, with questions, answers, stops, starts, and reverses. How might your movement help us follow the argument itself? Should your body stop and move repeatedly to portray Brutus’s erratic thinking?
Meaning in Heightened Language
When approaching a piece of Shakespeare for performance or audition, it’s important to closely examine the text so that you have a clear understanding of it. Shakespeare wrote Julius Caesar over four hundred years ago, and the words Brutus uses are different from modern English. Begin by studying SparkNotes’ No Fear Shakespeare Translation of Julius Caesar, so you can be sure to know what each unfamiliar word or phrase means.
Next, consider Shakespeare’s use of heightened language. Brutus would not have sounded conversational, even in Shakespeare’s time. In part, this is because he’s speaking in verse, a form Shakespeare frequently uses in his plays. Brutus’s diction is also different from ordinary speech, full of highly educated word choices and figures of speech. Shakespeare uses heightened language for a character like Brutus not only because it fits his aristocratic character but also because it can help develop a more complex sense of character and motivation. For example, the fact that Brutus justifies his brutal decision to kill Caesar with complex metaphors and poetic language suggests that he is trying to distance himself from the natural consequences of his actions.
Sometimes actors think they need to make Shakespeare sound more conversational and natural, but it’s usually a much better choice to deliberately use the verse and the other features of heightened language. The wording is designed to help an audience understand a character’s argument by drawing attention to important words, phrases, and connections. Shakespeare highlights these moments by repeating consonants (alliteration), by changing the standard rhythm of stressed and unstressed syllables, and especially by line breaks.
Unlike ordinary conversation shaped by sentences, the verse of Julius Caesar is structured in lines. Therefore, pay careful attention to the way individual lines end and how they connect (or fail to connect) to the next line. Many lines continue directly into the next one with no pause or punctuation, but your audience should still be able to hear the end of each line by your emphasis. Unlike modern conversation, Shakespeare’s lines of verse always rise, rather than fall, at the end, so try to give them that lift.
In Brutus’s monologue, many sentences begin or end in the middle of a line. When you pause after these sentences, it creates a choppy speech pattern that helps the audience feel Brutus’s struggle to justify this plan to kill Caesar.
Full Act 2, Scene 1 Monologue: Brutus
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