Julius Caesar Solo/Duet Acting

Act II, Scene 2, Lines: 58 - 108
DECIUS BRUTUS
Caesar, all hail! good morrow, worthy Caesar:
I come to fetch you to the senate-house.
CAESAR
And you are come in very happy time,
To bear my greeting to the senators
And tell them that I will not come to-day:
Cannot, is false, and that I dare not, falser:
I will not come to-day: tell them so, Decius.
CALPURNIA
Say he is sick.
CAESAR
Shall Caesar send a lie?
Have I in conquest stretch'd mine arm so far,
To be afraid to tell graybeards the truth?
Decius, go tell them Caesar will not come.
DECIUS BRUTUS
Most mighty Caesar, let me know some cause,
Lest I be laugh'd at when I tell them so.
CAESAR
The cause is in my will: I will not come;
That is enough to satisfy the senate.
But for your private satisfaction,
Because I love you, I will let you know:
Calpurnia here, my wife, stays me at home:
She dreamt to-night she saw my statua,
Which, like a fountain with an hundred spouts,
Did run pure blood: and many lusty Romans
Came smiling, and did bathe their hands in it:
And these does she apply for warnings, and portents,
And evils imminent; and on her knee
Hath begg'd that I will stay at home to-day.
DECIUS BRUTUS
This dream is all amiss interpreted;
It was a vision fair and fortunate:
Your statue spouting blood in many pipes,
In which so many smiling Romans bathed,
Signifies that from you great Rome shall suck
Reviving blood, and that great men shall press
For tinctures, stains, relics and cognizance.
This by Calpurnia's dream is signified.
CAESAR
And this way have you well expounded it.
DECIUS BRUTUS
I have, when you have heard what I can say:
And know it now: the senate have concluded
To give this day a crown to mighty Caesar.
If you shall send them word you will not come,
Their minds may change. Besides, it were a mock
Apt to be render'd, for some one to say
'Break up the senate till another time,
When Caesar's wife shall meet with better dreams.'
If Caesar hide himself, shall they not whisper
'Lo, Caesar is afraid'?
Pardon me, Caesar; for my dear dear love
To our proceeding bids me tell you this;
And reason to my love is liable.
CAESAR
How foolish do your fears seem now, Calpurnia!
I am ashamed I did yield to them.
Give me my robe, for I will go.

2. Context
The scene is taking place in Caesar's house, on the morning of the Ides of March. Calpurnia has had nightmares about Caesar being murdered. Decius has come to Caesar's house. Caesar says that he will not come to the Capitol that day, because his wife begged him to stay home with her. Decius turns Calpurnia's nightmares into good omens, saying that Caesar is nourishing Rome. Caesar, swayed by the flattery, goes with Decius to the Capitol and gets stabbed by the conspirators.

3. Significance
This passage emphasizes Caesar's arrogance. It shows how much he really does love flattery, even though he is always saying how much he hates it. Also, if Decius had nit been able to convince Caesar to come to the Capitol that day, he would not have been stabbed and killed.
Shakespeare's attitude towards women is also displayed. Calpurnia, Caesar's wife, is the weak, worrisome woman that begs at Caesar's feet to stay home. Her wishes are ignored, her fears called foolish, and her worries dismissed. In the play, women are never dominant, always just the weak half of the men they are married to.