Julius Caesar (theatre)/Awesome

O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,
That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!
Thou art the ruins of the noblest man
That ever lived in the tide of times.
Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood!
Over thy wounds now do I prophesy,--
Which, like dumb mouths, do ope their ruby lips,
To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue--
A curse shall light upon the limbs of men;
Domestic fury and fierce civil strife
Shall cumber all the parts of Italy;
Blood and destruction shall be so in use
And dreadful objects so familiar
That mothers shall but smile when they behold
Their infants quarter'd with the hands of war;
All pity choked with custom of fell deeds:
And Caesar's spirit, ranging for revenge,
With Atë by his side come hot from hell,
Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice
Cry "Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of war;
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth

With carrion men, groaning for burial.

—Mark Antony, Act 3 Scene 1

• Ah, the first time we see Mark Antony alone on stage after the assassination. The moment the mask falls away, and we see the dark thoughts and emotions boiling beneath the surface as he spoke to the conspirators before, concealed even by his previous shows of grief, now clearly meticulously planned while his servant spoke to them. These same emotions are with him still up until Brutus's own death. Such hateful, spiteful, ruthless, vindictive, and brutal words, and such symbolism in them. Especially the line "and let slip the dogs of war." This is a reference, first to the Rome practice of bringing teams of dogs to the battlefield trained to kill, but also of religious symbology in both the Roman Classical Mythology and the Christianity of Shakespeare's own time. Thus these dogs are Hellhounds belonging to alternatively Mars or War, the second rider of the Apocalypse on the Red Horse with a sword. It really gives the question of Who Let The Dogs Out? a whole new meaning. So was it Shakespeare, Mark Antony, Caesar's ghost, or Atë? I lean towards Mark Antony myself.
  • And yet those hateful, ruthless, vindictive words are completely understandable: Antony loved Caesar, and desired revenge for his assassination. And boy howdy does he take revenge to a new extreme.
• Antony's entire Rousing Speech to the crowd, turning them from the conspirators' side to his own without breaking Brutus' rule about criticizing the conspirators, instead you can just feel the sarcasm leaping off the page, getting more and more venomous as he repeats "Brutus is an honorable man" until you're almost ready to join up with the mob and avenge Caesar.