An example of a figure of speech, when Octavius states "bay'd about" he refers to the old sport of bear-baiting, in which a bear was tied to a stake to be "bayed" at, bitten, and tormented by a pack of dogs.

This use of language and this certain contrast of man to a bear is a recurring occurrence in Shakespear's plays, for example in Macbeth states in his eponymously named play "They have tied me to a stake ; I cannot fly, But, bear-like, I must fight the course."

Act 4 scene 1 is essentially an intricate and unfinished debate that Shakespeare brings forth to the viewers, Shakespeare is trying to express to the viewers that it is possible to carry out a life of success if the importance of reason and emotion can be combined. However, Shakespeare also tries to convey the idea that success will also come at a price.

The scene is attempting to show how Antony is successful out of the Conspirators as he is able to accept both his emotion and reason. Antony is able to restrain his emotion and allow his reason to make the almost cruel decisions, such as those he must kill “He shall not live; look, with a spot I damn him.”, these morally difficult decisions would be too hard to decide if Antony hadn’t detached his humanity and let his reason speak. This allows Antony to this to his own self gain due to his ability to understand and govern his desires and take charge through his emotional knowledge.

The opposite holds true for Brutus who throughout the play tries to convince himself that he murdered Julius Ceaser solely because of reason. Antony’s emotional understanding is not evident in Brutus’ character, inhibiting Brutus from achieving a combination of his emotion and reason due to him not allowing his emotion to hold any power.

However, despite this Shakespeare calls into question what is ‘success’, in the following scenes Antony seems to be successful however the audience can see that this comes at the price of dictatorship, brutality and disloyalty.

At the conclusion of Ceaser’s speech he prompts Trebonius to speak with him about a topic of significance. Ceaser instructs Trebonius to be seated in his proximity so that they can converse about the matter of importance, exemplified in the line “Remember that you call on me to-day; Be near me, that I may remember you.” This line from Shakespeare’s’ play displays the idea that Julius Ceaser thought so highly and arrogantly of himself as a leader that he would not remember smaller or inferior tasks.

In Trebonius’ response he assures the audience of his intentions of murdering Ceaser, “Caesar, I will. [Aside.] and so near will I be, that your best friends shall wish I had been further.” The word "Aside" is in brackets; meaning the words that follow it are not spoken to any characters within the play on stage instead directed towards the audience. Trebonius says, “so near will I be, that your best friends shall wish I had been further”, this is essentially Trebonius saying: ‘I will be near you, to stab and kill you, and your families and friends shall wish that I had stayed further away from you (not have the opportunity to assassinate Ceaser)’

Symbols of turmoil and political mayhem are evident in Casca's use of animal imagery to describe the chaos that ensues in the natural world, “Men, all in fire, walk up and down the streets.And yesterday the bird of night did sit”. The strange behavior of the birds is an example of a disruption of the Great Chain of Being or the Natural Order as a direct result of Julius Ceaser trying to establish his own position on the Chain.

The Great Chain Of Being (heavily believed during Shakespearean times, circa 17th century) is a firm, pious hierarchical arrangement of all living things and matter, believed to have been created by God. The Chain starts from God and progresses downward to angels, demons, stars, moon, kings, princes, nobles, commoners, wild animals. It was believed that if the Chain was to be disrupted by the killing of an individual or when an individual attempts to create his own place on the Chain and defy God then all the beings below would fall into chaos, in this case the animals.

Animals acting out of order is evident in many other Shakespearean plays such as Macbeth; when King Duncan died the Old man stated “And Duncan’s horses—a thing most strange and certain—…'Tis said they eat each other.” This was a common belief held during the times of Shakespeare where many believed that the Great Chain of Being was a hierarchy decreed by God and if man attempted to alter God's will then mayhem and disaster would befall the natural world.

Act 2 scene 3 is a short scene that builds up to the death of Julius at the hand of the conspirators. The scene allows the reader to touch on the greatness that Ceaser once was, through Artemidorus’ love for Ceaser and his view of the conspirators as traitors.

The scene utilises irony as Artemidorus uses prose and simple language even though he is a highly educated character as he is a teacher of rhetoric. Artemidorus’ lines also force Ceaser to accept his mortality “If thou be’st not immortal, look about you.”

The scene also emphasizes the nature of conspiracy as Artemidorus is aware of the plan to murder Ceaser indicating that the conspirators have allowed their plans to be released, however Ceaser is one of the few people to be ignorant of the events that are about to happen.

Casca associates Ceaser’s behavior to that of an actor performing on a public stage rather than the behavior of a political leader, evident when he says Ceaser’s followers “clap him and hiss him.” Casca’s criticism of Julius Ceaser’s performance and his followers who clap for him is a modern idea that can apply to the politicians of today as well.

How does Julius Ceaser remain influential over events even after he is murdered? Have the Conspirators achieved their goal in murdering Ceaser, or is the power and ideal of Ceaser as a public symbol rather than a mortal man continue to be too powerful to be contained even by his downfall?

Brutus utilizes visual imagery and simile to justify his choice to take part in the murder of Julius Ceaser. He associates Caesar to a serpent inside an egg that is not treacherous before it hatches but will become lethal once it emerges from its egg. Like the infant serpent, Caesar has not yet proven to be a hazard.

This justification and rationale is flawed because it makes assertions and accusations based on assumptions and speculation; Brutus cannot be certain that Caesar will become as threatening as he fears. No matter what, Brutus cannot know with certainty that Julius Ceaser will become the dangerous ‘serpent’ that he fears him to be. Instead Brutus decides to accept his fear and kill Ceaser ‘in the shell’.

Use of personification to describe Artemidorus' emulation