the conflict between the state and
the individual. The exposition continues through the second scene, in
which are introduced the leading characters in significant action and
interaction. At the close of this scene Cassius lays his plans to win
Brutus over to the conspiracy, and the complication, or rising action,
of the drama begins. Through the last scene of the first act and the
four scenes of the second act the growth of the complication is
continued, with brief intervals of suspense, until, in the first scene
of the third act, the climax is reached in the assassination of Caesar
and the wild enthusiasm of the conspirators. With the entry of Antony's
servant begins the resolution, or falling action (see note, p. 89, l.
123), and from now, through intervals of long suspense and many
vicissitudes,[1] the fortunes of the chief conspirators fall inevitably
to the catastrophe.

ANALYSIS BY ACT AND SCENE[2]

[Footnote 1: For an interesting defense of the so-called 'dragging'
tendency and episodical character of the third scene of the fourth act,
see Professor A. C. Bradley's _Shakespearean Tragedy_, pp. 55-61.]

[Footnote 2: "It must be understood that a play can be analyzed into
very different schemes of plot. It must not be thought that one of these
schemes is right and the rest wrong; but the schemes will be better or
worse in proportion as--while of course representing correctly the facts
of the play--they bring out more or less of what ministers to our sense
of design."--Moulton.]

I. THE EXPOSITION, OR INTRODUCTION (TYING OF THE KNOT)

_Act I, Scene i._ The popularity of Caesar with the Roman mob and the
jealousy of the official classes--the two motive forces of the play--are
revealed. The fickleness of the mob is shown in a spirit of comedy; the
antagonism of Marullus and Flavius strikes the note of tragedy.

_Act I, Scene ii, 1-304._ The supreme characters are introduced, and in
their opening speeches each reveals his temperament and foreshadows the
part which he will play. The exposition of the situation is now
complete.

II. THE COMPLICATION, RISING ACTION, OR GROWTH (TYING OF THE KNOT)

_Act I, Scene ii, 305-319._ In soliloquy Cassius unfolds his scheme for
entangling Brutus in the conspiracy, and the dramatic complication
begins.

_Act I, Scene iii._ Casca, excited by the fiery portents that bode
disaster to the state, is persuaded by Cassius to join "an enterprise of
honourable-dangerous conse