Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar

ACT I Scene i

Shakespeare starts the play with a bunch of commoners joking around, why does he switch it to have them being yelled at?

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Two Roman tribunes, Flavius and Murellus, see the common people parading in the streets instead of working in their shops. They demand to know why the men are not working. A cobbler informs them that the people are celebrating Caesar's victory. Murellus is infuriated by this information, and calls the workers, "you blocks, you stones" (1.1.34). He then tells them that Caesar has not defeated an enemy, but rather that Ceasar has killed the sons of Pompey the Great. Pompey previously ruled Rome along with Caesar until their alliance fell apart, at which point they went to battle over the right to rule.