Read the excerpt from Act II of Julius Caesar.

(Servants take off the two statues and bring on a small potted tree. Cinna appears long enough to throw two or three scrolls onto the scene before leaving nervously. Brutus enters, picks one up, sits on the bench, and reads the scroll, frowning.)

Announcer 1: That same night, Brutus sits in his or­chard garden, worried about Caesar's ambition.

Announcer 2: Brutus does not know what to do because Caesar has not yet become a king.

Announcer 1: This is the problem—should Caesar be killed just in case he might turn bad?

Brutus: (To himself) It must be by his death. (He thinks how Caesar might act.) He would be crowned. How that might change his nature, there's the question. Crown him; and then I grant we put a sting in him that he may do danger with. (He shakes his head, worried.) And therefore think him as a serpent's egg, which, hatched, would as his kind grow mis­chievous, and kill him in the shell.

Lucius: (A young servant enters with another scroll.) In your closet, sir, I found this paper.

(There is a loud knocking offstage. Lucius goes to see what it is.)

Brutus: (Reading the paper) "Brutus, awake. Shall Rome, etc. Speak, strike." (He shakes his head, puz­zled.) Am I entreated to speak and strike? (Lucius returns.)

At the beginning of the scene, Brutus is unsure if Caesar should be allowed to live.

How does his viewpoint change?


Brutus thinks he is being manipulated by the individuals against Caesar and begins to question their motives.

Brutus learns through the scrolls that the people of Rome support Caesar as king and abandons the idea of harming him.

The messages in the scrolls convince Brutus that he is better suited to rule Rome and Caesar must be eliminated.

The messages in the scrolls affirm for Brutus that it is his duty to kill Caesar to keep Rome safe.