‘I love / The name of honour more than I fear death.’ (Brutus 1:2)

Brutus would rather die than be seen as dishonourable. He values honour above all other virtues.

‘I slew my best lover for the good of Rome, I have the same dagger for myself when it shall please my country to need my death.’ (Brutus 3:2)

Brutus sacrificed Caesar for the good of Rome and would die for his country/the republic.

‘Well, Brutus, thou art noble. Yet I see / Thy honorable mettle may be wrought From that it is disposed.’ (Cassius 1:2)

Brutus is honourable but can be manipulated.

No, my Brutus, / You have some sick offense within your mind, / Which by the right and virtue of my place / I ought to know of.’ (Portia 2:1)

Brutus is not physically ill but his worries are making him seem so. He keeps this secret from his trusted wife.

'His life was gentle and the elements / So mixed in him that nature might stand up / And say to all the world “This was a man".' (Antony 5:5)

Brutus has inspired respect even from his enemies.

‘Were I a common laughter, or did use / To stale with ordinary oaths my love To every new protester; if you know / That I do fawn on men and hug them hard / And after scandal them, or if you know / That I profess myself in banqueting / To all the rout, then hold me dangerous.’ (Cassius 1:2)

Cassius believes he is trustworthy, respected and honest. He wants Brutus to believe these things too.

Fear him not, Caesar; he’s not dangerous. / He is a noble Roman, and well given.’ (Antony 1:2)

Cassius has a good and trustworthy reputation.

O, coward that I am to live so long / To see my best friend ta’en before my face!’ (Cassius 5:3)

Cassius thinks he is a coward for not protecting his best friend.

‘Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look. /He thinks too much. Such men are dangerous.’ (Caesar 1:2)

Cassius is clever and seen as a threat by Caesar.

The last of all the Romans, fare thee well. / It is impossible that ever Rome /Should breed thy fellow.’ (Brutus 5:3)

Cassius is a respectable Roman citizen.

‘Caesar shall forth. The things that threatened me / Ne’er looked but on my back. When they shall see / The face of Caesar, they are vanishèd.’ (Caesar, 2:2)

Caesar believes he is invincible and that when he faces danger, he will conquer it.

‘Be not fond / To think that Caesar bears such rebel blood / That will be thawed from the true quality / With that which melteth fools—.’ (Caesar, 3:1)

Caesar considers himself constant and reliable.

‘Then he offered it to him again; then he put it by again; but to my thinking, he was very loath to lay his fingers off it.’ (Casca 1:2)

Caesar has publicly refused the crown three times but Casca thinks he could be hiding his ambition.

‘he is superstitious grown of late, / Quite from the main opinion he held once /Of fantasy, of dreams, and ceremonies.’ (Cassius 2:1)

Caesar didn’t believe in omens but has recently changed his mind.

‘great Caesar fell. / O, what a fall was there, my countrymen! / Then I and you and all of us fell down.’ (Antony, 3:1)

Caesar was seen as a great leader.

‘My credit now stands on such slippery ground / That one of two bad ways you must conceit me, / Either a coward or a flatterer.’ (Antony 3:1)

Antony is clever and knows what the conspirators think of him.

‘I am no orator, as Brutus is, / But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man / That love my friend’ (Antony 3:2)

Antony is loyal to Caesar and, despite what he actually says here, is a highly skilled public speaker.

‘We shall find of him / A shrewd contriver; and, you know, his means, If he improve them, may well stretch so far / As to annoy us all’ (Cassius 2:1)

Antony can be manipulative and clever and can turn situations to his advantage.

‘he is given /To sports, to wildness, and much company.’ (Brutus 2:1)

Antony likes to have fun and go to parties so people might not take him seriously.

‘There’s not a nobler man in Rome than Antony.’ (Third Plebian 3:2)

Antony is loved by the people.

‘I have made can make strong proof of my constancy, / Giving myself a voluntary wound / Here, in the thigh. Can I bear that with patience, / And not my husband’s secrets?’ (Portia 2:1)

Portia has injured herself in order to test her power to bear pain and suffering without complaint.

‘O constancy, be strong upon my side; / Set a huge mountain ’tween my heart and tongue. / I have a man’s mind but a woman’s might. /How hard it is for women to keep counsel!’ (Portia 2:3)

Portia is anxious about Brutus’ safety and finds it hard to keep his actions to herself.

‘You are my true and honorable wife, / As dear to me as are the ruddy drops / That visit my sad heart’ (Brutus 2:1)

Portia is respected and valued by her husband. She means as much to Brutus as his own lifeblood.

‘O you gods, / Render me worthy of this noble wife! ’ (Brutus 2:1)

Portia affects hers husband deeply and he does not think he is worthy of her.

‘Impatient of my absence, / And grief that young Octavius with Mark Antony Have made themselves so strong—for with her death / That tidings came—with this she fell distract / And, her attendants absent, swallowed fire.’ (Brutus 4:2)

Portia would rather commit suicide than be without Brutus.

‘Caesar, I never stood on ceremonies, / Yet now they fright me.’ (Calphurnia, 2:2)

Calphurnia never paid much attention to omens but now they frighten her.

‘Call it my fear / That keeps you in the house, and not your own.’ (Calphurnia, 2:2)

Calphurnia knows Caesar well and that he’ll stay at home if he can blame it on his wife’s fear and not his own.

‘Forget not in your speed, Antonius, / To touch Calphurnia, for our elders say / The barren, touchèd in this holy chase, / Shake off their sterile curse.’ (Caesar 1:2)

Calphurnia has not had any children with Caesar. He hopes that by obeying superstition, this 'curse' might be stopped.

‘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’ (Caesar 2:2)

Calphurnia is persuasive and Caesar listens to her.

‘How foolish do your fears seem now, Calphurnia! / I am ashamèd I did yield to them.’ (Caesar 2:2)

Calphurnia is easily dismissed by Caesar in public.

‘Let me work, / For I can give his humour the true bent, / And I will bring him to the Capitol.’ (Decius 2:1)

Decius is confident in his ability to manipulate Caesar. He is determined to lead Caesar right into the hands of the conspirators at the Capitol.

‘O pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, / That I am meek and gentle with these butchers.’ (Antony, 3:1)

Antony thinks the conspirators have slaughtered Caesar like an animal.

‘he puts on this tardy form. / This rudeness is a sauce to his good wit, / Which gives men stomach to digest his words / With better appetite.’ (Cassius about Casca 1:2)

Brutus thinks Casca has grown stupid since school. Cassius says he pretends to be slow-witted but is sharp in action.

‘O conspiracy, / Sham’st thou to show thy dang’rous brow by night, / When evils are most free?’ (Brutus 2:1)

The conspirators are cautious of being recognised. They know what they are doing is dangerous and radical.

‘no man here / But honours you, and every one doth wish / You had but that opinion of yourself / Which every noble Roman bears of you.’ (Cassius 2:1)

Each of the conspirators are noblemen who value Brutus’ honour. They wish that Brutus shared the same high opinion of himself.

‘we are at the stake / And bayed about with many enemies, / And some that smile have in their hearts, I fear, / Millions of mischiefs.’ (Octavius, 4:1)

Octavius recognises that he is in a dangerous position surrounded by enemies. His uncle Caesar was betrayed by friends so Octavius knows that he can’t trust anybody.

‘I do not cross you, but I will do so. March.’ (Octavius, 5:1)

Although Octavius is a younger and less experienced soldier than Antony, he is confident enough to go against Antony’s orders.

‘Look, I draw a sword against conspirators; / When think you that the sword goes up again? / Never, till Caesar’s three and thirty wounds / Be well avenged, or till another Caesar / Have added slaughter to the sword of traitors.’ (Octavius, 5:1)

Octavius seems deeply affected by the way Caesar was killed, even remembering the number of stab wounds he received, and he wants revenge.

‘He did receive his letters and is coming, / And bid me say to you by word of mouth— .’ (Servant, 3:1)

Octavius is loyal to Caesar and obeyed his request to come to Rome.

‘Post back with speed and tell him what hathchanced. / Here is a mourning Rome, a dangerous Rome, / No Rome of safety for Octavius yet.’ (Antony 3:1)

Octavius is important to Antony, who cares for his safety.

‘A peevish schoolboy, worthless of such honor’ (Cassius 5:1)

Octavius is seen by Cassius, and possibly the other conspirators, as a spoilt, boastful child who isn’t worthy to be killed by such a man as Brutus.

‘I dreamt tonight that I did feast with Caesar, / And things unluckily charge my fantasy. / I have no will to wander forth of doors, / Yet something leads me forth.’ (Cinna, 3:3)

Cinna is superstitious. He believes his fate is being determined by something other than himself.

‘What is my name? Whither am I going? Where do I dwell? Am I a married man or a bachelor? Then to answer every one directly and briefly, wisely and truly: wisely I say, I am a bachelor.’ (Cinna, 3:3)

Cinna is a man of words and obeys each instruction from the plebeians in order. He is also precise and literal and maybe pedantic.

‘Tear him to pieces! He’s a conspirator.’ (First Plebeian, 3:3)

Cinna is confused as a conspirator because of his name.

‘Tear him for his bad verses, tear him for his bad verses!’ (Fourth Plebeian, 3:3)

Cinna is murdered by the mob even once they know he is a poet and not a conspirator.

‘If it will please Caesar / To be so good to Caesar as to hear me, / I shall beseech him to befriend himself.’ (Soothsayer 2:4)

The Soothsayer is convinced of his warning and determined to deliver it again.

‘None that I know will be, much that I fear may chance.’ (Soothsayer, 2:4)

The Soothsayer does not know any solid facts about Caesar being in danger. He only has premonitions and fears.

‘Who is it in the press that calls on me? / I hear a tongue shriller than all the music’ (Caesar 1:2)

The Soothsayer is easy to hear, even over a large crowd.

‘He is a dreamer. Let us leave him.’ (Caesar 1:2)

The Soothsayer’s appearance makes Caesar dismiss his warning.

‘The ides of March are come.’ (Caesar 3:1)

The Soothsayer was memorable and made an impression on Caesar.