If Portia is noble, Calphurnia, Caesar's wife, suffers greatly in comparison. She is not so well-husbanded, for here Caesar shows himself to be weak and superstitious. Still, there is truth in Calphurnia's dreams and real caring for her husband in her attempts to keep him from going to the Capitol. Her fault lies in her shrewish nature, which her husband allows to get out of control. Her ability to convince him to stay at home serves to show his weakness.
Caesar shows some vestiges of masculinity, however. Calphurnia describes "fierce, fiery warriors . . . which drizzled blood upon the Capitol," but Caesar responds that "cowards die many times before their deaths." He is determined not be a coward. But as Calphurnia kneels before him, he is persuaded. Here, the reader is meant to remember Portia's actions in the previous scene. She, too, knelt before her husband and he was persuaded. Shakespeare invites the readers to draw comparisons between the two and see a strong woman married to a strong man and a weak woman married to a weak man.
Decius enters the scene as Caesar agrees to feign illness and stay at home. Decius uses all of his powers of persuasion to ensure that Caesar will go out that day. Caesar orders Decius to say he will not come — Caesar seems unable to give one command and follow it through, but is constantly changing his mind — but Decius will not do so unless he can give a good reason for Caesar's non-appearance. Caesar tells of Calphurnia's dream, that "she saw my statue, / 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." Decius reinterprets the dream for him and convinces him that it is a good omen, appealing to Caesar's vanity. Yet even in Decius' flattering description, Caesar is effeminized, for the blood that pours from his statue signifies that "great Rome shall suck / Reviving blood." Caesar is placed in the position of mother, rather than father, of Rome. Convinced, Caesar prepares to go to the Capitol and the tension begins to build. Suddenly, he is surrounded by the men who plan to kill him and his only protector, Antony, enters, tired from the previous night's revels. Caesar, through vanity and weakness, blithely begins the procession to his own death.
