The scene opens in Caesar's house, where he is restlessly walking, thinking of Calpurnia's dream. She has slept fitfully, crying out in her sleep three times about the murder of Caesar. He directs a servant to go to the priests and ask for their interpretation after offering a blood sacrifice to the gods.
Calpurnia enters and entreats Caesar to stay home. She says she has never been a great believer in omens and potents but she is terrified since the night watchman has reported strange and ghastly events happening all around the city. A lioness has produced a litter of cubs right on the city streets.
Graves have opened up and thrown up the dead bodies there interred. Warriors have fought valiantly in battle until blood has started raining upon the capital and the landscape is full of battle sounds with dying men groaning and ghosts shrieking about. This blood-curdling description is enough to frighten anyone, but Caesar is a mighty general and scoffs at this vision.
He says he is neither afraid of death nor of destiny and that danger itself is his inferior twin. He declares his famous line, cowards die many times before their deaths, which was echoed centuries later by Gabbar Singh. Jo dar gaya, samjo wo mar gaya. Think of Julius Caesar as a daredevil and that will explain why he is eager to face his demons. The character of Caesar becomes very clear in this scene.
He displays several traits that explain both his power and his weaknesses. He refers to himself consistently in the third person saying Caesar shall forth indicating that he is using a royal pronoun and is full of pomposity and self-importance. He is also full of vanity and pride saying that it is his will that is supreme and he need not explain his actions to bearded old men in the Senate. This sounds a little funny When you understand that at this time Caesar was himself 55 years old, we can understand why the conspirators are afraid that he will let power go to his head and that once he gets the crown of Rome and becomes emperor, he will be unstoppable. His greed for the crown ultimately leads to his downfall as he believes Dacius Brutus' cock and bull story and steps out to go to the senate in the hope.
that it will crown him emperor on that day. However, there are traits in his character that are also noble and worthy of respect. He loves and respects Kalpurnia and tries to soothe her by giving her courage and ultimately decides to listen to her and stay at home until Deshusha Brutus lures him out.
He also loves his friends and magnanimously invites them to drink with him, declaring them his equals. Good friends, go in and taste some wine with me, and we, like friends, will straight away go together. He also lets himself be convinced of Decius' false words, suggesting he is trusting of his loyal friends and eager to believe them. He also tells Decius that he is telling them the real reason of his reluctance to step out of the house. because he loves him and tells him of Calpurnia's horrific dream.
This shows that Caesar is vulnerable when it comes to his friends and does not keep secrets from them, which is in direct contrast to his assassins who hatch a secret plot to murder him and betray his confidence. Caesar is also extremely brave and speaks of facing death philosophically with great wisdom. calling it a necessary end.
He is ashamed to think that he had been momentarily weak and had decided previously not to go. Caesar himself speaks about Calpurnia's nightmare where she has seen his lifeless body spilling blood as if from a fountain and many mighty Romans are dipping their hands in it and making merry. She tries her best to convince Caesar and begs upon her knees until he agrees to stay.