Question

Read the excerpt below from act 4.3 of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar and answer the question that follows.BRUTUS:Remember March; the ides of March remember.Did not great Julius bleed for justice’ sake?What villain touched his body that did stab,And not for justice? What, shall one of us,That struck the foremost man of all this worldBut for supporting robbers, shall we nowContaminate our fingers with base bribes . . . ?Based on this excerpt, why is Brutus angry with Cassius?A.Brutus is disappointed that Cassius has not taken more bribes; that’s why they murdered Caesar—for money.B.They murdered Caesar for “justice’ sake,” but now Cassius acts unjustly by taking bribes.C.Brutus wants Cassius to take bribes so that he can become the next ruler of Rome.D.Brutus wants Cassius to bribe others to rob Mark Antony and Octavius so they can have Caesar’s money.

Answer 1

Answer: I would contend that the right answer is the B) They murdered Caesar for “justice’ sake,” but now Cassius acts unjustly by taking bribes.

Explanation: Just to elaborate a little bit on the answer, it can be added that in this excerpt Brutus is reminding Cassius of the reason why they killed Caesar during the Ides of March. Caesar, he says, bled "for justice' sake," since he had been accused of being corrupt. Brutus brings this to the attention of Cassius because he is accusing him of being corrupt as well, hence the question that he poses to him: "[...] shall we now contaminate our fingers with base bribes, and sell the mighty space of our large honors for so much trash as may be grasped thus?"