Genre: Tragic drama, historical drama
Time and place written: 1599, in London
Protagonists: Brutus and Cassius
Antagonists: Antony and Octavius
Point of view: The play sustains no single point of view; however, the audience acquires the most insight into Brutus’s mind over the course of the action
Climax: Cassius’s death (V.iii), upon ordering his servant, Pindarus, to stab him, marks the point at which it becomes clear that the murdered Caesar has been avenged, and that Cassius, Brutus, and the other conspirators have lost in their attempt to keep Rome a republic rather than an empire. Ironically, the conspirators’ defeat is not yet as certain as Cassius believes, but his death helps bring about defeat for his side.
Falling action: Titinius’s realization that Cassius has died wrongly assuming defeat; Titinius’s suicide; Brutus’s discovery of the two corpses; the final struggle between Brutus’s men and the troops of Antony and Octavius; Brutus’s self-impalement on his sword upon recognizing that his side is doomed; the discovery of Brutus’s body by Antony and Octavius
Tense: Present
Tone: Serious, proud, virtuous, enraged, vengeful, idealistic, anguished
