Question

Read the excerpt from act 3, scene 2, of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar.

[ANTONY.] For Brutus is an honourable man,
So are they all, all honourable men—
Come I to speak in Caesar’s funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me.
But Brutus says he was ambitious,
And Brutus is an honourable man.
He hath brought many captives home to Rome,
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill.
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept.
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff.
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious,
And Brutus is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious,
And sure he is an honourable man.

Which piece of evidence best expresses the theme that even people with strong morals make mistakes?

“He was my friend, faithful and just to me.”
“He hath brought many captives home to Rome.”
“Brutus says he was ambitious, / And sure he is an honourable man.”
“When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept.”

Answer 1

The answer that is most likely to be the right one is: "Brutus says he was ambitious, / And sure he is an honourable man."

What Antony means with those lines is that, even though Brutus is an honourable man, a man with strong morals, he has misjudged Caesar's character. Brutus accuses Caesar of having been ambitious, but that is clearly not Antony's opinion. Caesar brought captives home, cried with the poor, and refused a crown three times. As Antony says, "Ambition should be made of sterner stuff."