Enter Through the Narrow World

In Act 1.2, the juxtaposition of Cassius’ commentary about Caesar’s behavior during two nearly fatal experiences and the roar of the crowd is really quite extraordinary.  Cassius says:

            ….Ye gods, it doth amaze me,

A man of such feeble temper should

So get the start of the majestic world,

And bear the palm alone.

Palm is a symbol of triumph, but like Flavius and Marullus before him, Cassius wonders what conquests Caesar brings home that warrant him being able to bear the palm alone.  Brutus then replies to another general shout and once this occurs, we can’t help but associate these words and actions with Christ’s triumphant ride through Jerusalem (“through the narrow gate”--??), on a colt, with crowds cheering and strewing the ground with palm just days before he would be betrayed and killed himself.

Cassius does not respond directly to Brutus’ comment about the crowd, but rather continues with his rant:

Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world

Like a Colossus; and we petty men

Walk under his huge legs, and peep about

To find ourselves dishonorable graves.

Men at some time are masters of their fates:

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,

But in ourselves, that we are underlings.  

These are words that no doubt Brutus remembers and has in mind during his great “tide in the affairs of men” speech in 4.3.  The word “man,” here, takes on important implications, too.  It’s more than a casual reference, say, like the word “friend.”  Cassius is not just calling Brutus friend, but man—as in Brutus represents man and what man is supposed to be.  Caesar may be a Colossus, but he is no man, according to Cassius.  According to Cassius, there are men (who are petty), and there is man (which is Brutus).  This gets reinforced later when Antony says over the corpse of Brutus, “This was a man!”  Over the corpse of Caesar, he says, “This was a Caesar,” but over the body of Brutus he says, “This was a man.”  Of the three—Caesar-Colossus, men, and man—Brutus is the greatest.

But what does “the narrow world” mean?  First, it is “the majestic world,” but then it is “the narrow world.”  Do these words this diminish the size of the world?  Do these words flatten the world?  When Christ spoke of “the narrow gate,” he spoke of it as the hard road, the path of most resistance, to spiritual excellence.  By bestriding the narrow world like a Colossus, is Cassius suggesting that Caesar is crushing the road by which men may grow or improve, materially and spiritually?  By placing the fault in ourselves that we are underlings, Cassius is expressing a concern for the soul.  In order for the narrow world to inherit its majesty once again, and in order for the petty to inherit the majestic world, Brutus must act as redeemer and take down the giant.