Read the extract from 'Julius Caesar' Act 3, Scene 1, given below and answer the questions that follow: Antony: Pardon me, Julius! Here wast thou bay'd, brave hart; Here didst thou fall; and here thy hunters stand, Sign'd in thy spoil, and crimson'd in thy lethe. O world, thou wast the forest to this hart; And this indeed, O world, the heart of thee. How like a deer, strucken by many princes, Dost thou here lie! Cassius: Mark Antony — Antony: Pardon me, Caius Cassius: The enemies of Caesar shall say this; Then, in a friend, it is cold modesty.
Why does Antony say, 'Pardon me, Julius!'?
Topic: Act 3 Scene 1 — Antony over the body
Answer
He is begging the dead Caesar’s forgiveness. Antony has just shaken the bloody hands of all the conspirators and made peace with them; now, left looking at the corpse, he feels he has betrayed his friend by treating his murderers as friends. He asks pardon for that apparent disloyalty — and, in the soliloquy that follows, makes clear the courtesy was a pretence to save his own life and buy the chance of revenge.
Answer in two layers for full marks: the immediate cause (he has just clasped the murderers’ hands over Caesar’s body) and the deeper point (the friendliness is strategy, not surrender). Link forward to his soliloquy — "O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, / That I am meek and gentle with these butchers" — which proves the apology sincere and the friendship with the conspirators false.