Calphurnia: The Dreamer No One Listens To
First appears: Act 1, Scene 2
Calphurnia dreams of Caesar's statue spouting blood while Romans bathe in it. She takes it as an omen of his death and tells him so in Act 2, Scene 2, listing every strange thing from the previous night: lions in the streets, graves opening, warriors fighting in clouds. Her case is specific and her fear is genuine.
Caesar wavers. He agrees to stay home. Then Decius Brutus arrives and reinterprets the dream as a vision of Caesar's glory (the blood as Rome drinking his greatness, not his murder), and Caesar changes his mind and goes to the Senate. Her reading of the dream turns out to be correct. Decius's was simply the more useful one.
Her role is brief but structurally important. She is the last chance the play gives Caesar to avoid his death. He overrides her, not because her instinct is wrong, but because his need to appear fearless is stronger than his caution. After his murder she does not appear again. The play has no use for her grief.
Key Scenes
Famous Quotes
“When beggars die, there are no comets seen; the heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.”
Calphurnia — Act 2, Scene 2
“Caesar, I never stood on ceremonies, yet now they fright me.”
Calphurnia — Act 2, Scene 2