In the play “Julius Caesar” by William Shakespeare, women play an important role. The women are important factors in foreshadowing and in the development of many of the characters. To look at the role of women in the play we must look deeper in to the roles of the only two women in the play; Calpurnia, wife of Caesar, and Portia, wife of Brutus. Both of these women are key in foreshadowing the murder of Caesar. After Caesar’s murder we do not hear much of either of them. The main thing Caesar’s wife, Calpurnia does in the play is tell Caesar to stay at home on the day of his murder because of many unnatural events that have taken place the night before and because she has had nightmares about his assassination. On the morning of the ides of march is the first time we meet Calpurnia, her entrance is act 2 scene one when she tells Caesar “You shall not stir out of your house today.” Caesar decides he shall “forth” until Calpurnia tells him why he shouldn’t go to the capitol today. Some of the reasons she included were:A lioness “whelped” in the streets.Graves opened and showed their dead people.Warriors of fire fought on the clouds and drizzled blood upon the capitol.Horses neighed and dead men groaned.Ghosts shrieked in the streets.She than showed her discomfort with these things by saying ”O Caesar, these things are beyond all use, / and I do fear them.” Caesar says these are just as much to him as to the world in general, but Calpurnia insists that when beggars die nothing happens, but when princes die the heavens are ablaze. Caesar says that cowards die many times before their death and death will come when it will come. Then Caesar asked a servant what the augurers say about the subject and they say they found no heart within the beast. This is a simple act of showing how superstitious Caesar is sends him in to a rage and he decides he will ...
