preview

Portia And Calpurnia In Julius Caesar

Decent Essays

Portia and Calpurnia in the play Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare were the wives of Brutus and Caesar. They had many more privileges at that time than most women because they were the wives of great noble Romans, and of course Calpurnia was the wife of the leader Julius Caesar. Since Brutus’ wife, Portia, was the daughter of the successful leader Cato, she was a very powerful Roman. But, they still were treated far from equals of their superior, their husbands. As wives of these specific Romans, they were treated with much higher respect than most women were at that time. Portia as an individual was described as pure in nature, youthful, and very beautiful. I believe that she took being a Roman woman to be quite difficult, and felt very underappreciated because of it. She wanted to show Brutus that she was worthy of his trust and to prove her worth to him, she cut open her thigh. She expresses her feelings of being his wife and a Roman women at that time in part of her monologue; “Therefore fear not, but tell me all you are concealing from me, for neither fire, nor lashes, nor goads will force me to divulge a word; I was not born to that extent a woman. Hence, if you still distrust me, it is better for me to die than to live; otherwise let no one think me longer the daughter of Cato or your wife.” All in all, she felt that she was less of a person, although being the daughter of Cato and the wife of Brutus, she still did not feel as though she would ever be able to

Get Access