What are two examples of dramatic irony in Julius Caesar?

Two examples of dramatic irony occur (1) in Act II, Scene 2 with Calpurnia's dream, which spurs her to plead with Caesar not to go to the Senate, and (2) in Act III, Scene 1.

Much of the action of Shakespeare's historical plays, such as Julius Caesar, take the form of dramatic irony, since the audience is familiar with much of the historical content in advance, while the characters remain unaware. However, there are specific examples that stand out as this type of irony, in which there is a contradiction between what a character believes and what the reader or audience knows to be true.

1. In Act II, Scene 2, Calpurnia rushes in to Caesar, begging him not to go the Senate. While the audience knows that Brutus has made up his mind to join the conspirators and the assassination is in the making, Caesar feels confident that nothing will happen to him, despite what his wife has seen in her dream, and not knowing what the audience knows. 

The gods do this in shame of cowardice.

Caesar should be a beast without a heart

If he should stay at home today for fear.

No, Caesar shall not. (2.2.41-44)

Discuss the use of dramatic irony as it is illustrated in Julius Caesar.

Dramatic irony refers to a situation in which the audience knows something of which the characters in a play are not aware of. The effect is that the words or actions of the characters then take on a different meaning to what is normally understood. An example would be where the audience is aware that a character is being unwittingly led to his doom and his would-be killer tells him that he will take care of him. The irony is obvious.   

In Julius Caesar, there are a number of instances in which dramatic irony occurs. We, the audience, know from the outset that Caesar is to be assassinated but he does not. Whatever he or any of the other characters says which relates to his imminent murder, becomes ironic, except of course, to the conspirators.

In Act 1, scene 1, when the soothsayer bids Caesar to 'Beware the Ides of March,' he mockingly rejects his warning and calls him 'a dreamer.' The irony lies in the fact that the audience knows that Caesar will be killed on that day and wish that he would heed the warning. Further irony lies in the fact that although the audience knows of his impending doom, there is nothing they can do about it.

Also, in the same scene, the irony is clear when Brutus tells Cassius:

I do lack some part
Of that quick spirit that is in Antony.

Without realising it, Brutus is predicting exactly what will happen when Antony is given an opportunity to address the plebeians after he, Brutus, had spoken to them about Caesar's assassination. It is Antony's spirited speech to them that riles them and drives them to rebellion, seeking out all the conspirators.

When Caesar later expresses his reservations about Cassius, Antony tells him:

Fear him not, Caesar; he's not dangerous;
He is a noble Roman and well given.

The audience knows that Cassius is Caesar's greatest enemy and was, right at that moment, plotting his murder. Antony's words are, therefore, ironic, not only because of Cassius' plot but also, of all the conspirators, he turns out to be least noble and not 'well given' at all.

In Act 2, scene 1, when Cassius suggests that Antony should also be killed, Brutus advises against it for he does not see any danger in Antony whatsoever. He believes that Antony will be occupied by lesser things and states that Antony is only 'a limb of Caesar', implying that he is powerless without his leader. The dramatic irony lies in the fact that the audience knows Antony's power and how he will use it to punish Caesar's killers.

The fact that Caesar ignores Calpurnia's and the priests' premonitions about the dangers he may encounter is ironic since this is precisely what is to happen. He foolishly ignores their advice, listening rather to Decius Brutus, one of the conspirators, who has come to escort him to the senate-house. The other conspirators accompany him, putting on shows of conviviality when we know that it is all just a deception.  

Even more dramatically ironic is the manner in which Caesar addresses his, unbeknownst to him, enemies at the end of Act 2, scene 2:

Good friends, go in, and taste some wine with me;
And we, like friends, will straightway go together.

It is also ironic that Caesar refuses to read Artemidorus' petition in Act 3, scene 1, which contains a warning of the plot against him. His vanity becomes his worst enemy, for he says:

What touches us ourself shall be last served.

These words are ironic for it is exactly what happens later, in a physical sense - the daggers which pierce him later in the senate is what he is served last. In the end, we can only conclude that, with all the warnings and predictions that had come before, Caesar himself is as much to blame for his death as the conspirators are since he foolishly and arrogantly refused to believe in his own vulnerability and that, perhaps, is the greatest irony.

How is Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar ironic?

In Julius Caesar, Shakespeare gives his audience a masterful lesson in the variations of irony in literature. The plot is rich in situational irony, and scene after scene illustrates the effectiveness of dramatic irony. In Antony’s funeral oration, the power of verbal irony is manifested as he contemptuously praises Brutus and the conspirators again and again as “honorable men,” turning the Roman citizenry into a mindless mob set on vengeance.

Just as life is filled with ironic situations and outcomes, so is the play. Brutus must commit dishonorable acts in order to preserve his honor. Caesar can defeat his enemies on the battlefield, but he fails to recognize his greatest enemy—his own ego. He trusts most those he should trust least, and he rebuffs those whose advice would have saved his life. Cassius cleverly manipulates Brutus into joining the conspiracy and then discovers he is powerless to manipulate or even influence Brutus after Brutus commits to murdering Caesar. Cassius believes the conspiracy cannot succeed without Brutus, only to be destroyed by Brutus’s disastrous decisions. Instead of preserving freedom in Rome, Caesar’s assassination creates civil war and a political power vacuum that is filled by an ambitious, self-serving Antony.

Since the audience already knows how Caesar died and who killed him in 44 B.C., the entire play is infused with dramatic irony. In two particular scenes, the dramatic irony is developed at length, emphasizing the deception of those caught up in the political intrigue of Caesar’s assassination and its aftermath. In Act II, Scene ii, when the conspirators come to Caesar’s house to escort him to the Senate, the audience, knowing their intent, watches as they play on his ego and ambition and as he finally succumbs to their manipulation. Preparing to leave for the Capitol, Caesar, in good humor, tells the conspirator Trebonius to stay near him in the Senate. “Caesar, I will,” Trebonius replies,” adding in a chilling, ironic aside, “And so near will I be / That your best friends shall wish I had been further.” After Caesar’s murder, the audience knows Antony’s hidden rage and his secret intent to “let slip the dogs of war” to avenge Caesar’s death. Thus the drama in Act III, Scene i, when Antony shakes the bloody hands of the conspirators and receives permission to speak at Caesar’s funeral, is intensified.

Driven out of Rome into Greece and battling the armies of Antony and his ally Octavius, Brutus and Cassius endure a final—and fatal—irony, each committing suicide in the mistaken belief that they have lost the war. The final irony in the play, however, is reserved for the victorious Antony and Octavius. Standing over Brutus’s body, Antony praises the character of the conspirator he once hated, and Octavius declares that the virtuous Brutus will be afforded the “respect and rites of burial” that an honorable soldier deserves.

How does irony illustrate a theme in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar?

One point of bitter irony found in Julius Caesar concerns the fact that Brutus makes the choice to assassinate Caesar to free Rome from potential tyranny; however, by the end of the play, Mark Antony persuades the Roman people to side with him in his support of the now deceased Caesar, and Brutus loses the battle, resulting in his own suicide. Hence, the bitter irony is that while Brutus meant to protect Rome, he has actually left Rome in the same tyrannical hands as before.  This type of irony can be considered situational irony. Situational irony happens when an audience is led to expect a certain outcome but the exact opposite happens instead (Baker, "Critical Concepts: Situational Irony"). At the beginning of the play, the audience is led to side with the protagonist Brutus and believes he will be successful, but then soon sees his failures. This instance of situational irony certainly helps illustrate the central theme concerning whether or not killing a ruler can be justified as a means of eliminating tyranny (eNotes,"Themes"). Evidently, Shakespeare uses this situational irony to say that the answer to the question of whether or not it is justifiable is, "no." As Brutus demonstrates, just the mere act of assassinating a ruler does not guarantee success at eliminating tyranny.

It is extremely evident throughout the play that Brutus made the decision to assassinate Caesar for the benefit of all of Rome. Many times we see him reflecting on the need to do something drastic in order to protect Rome, such as when in the very first act he tells Cassius that he would rather have the status of a slave, which is the social status that a "villager" had, than see Caesar become crowned king over what should be the Roman republic, not monarchy, as we see in Brutus's lines:

Till then, my noble friend, chew upon this:
Brutus had rather be a villager
Than to repute himself a son of Rome
Under these hard conditions as this time
Is like to lay upon us. (I.ii.-178-81)

However, both tragically and ironically, even though Brutus succeeds in assassinating Caesar, he fails to secure the freedom of Rome. The fate of Rome falls instead into the hands of Mark Antony, the same person who offered Caesar a crown three times in the very first act of the play.

What are three examples of irony in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar?

It is ironic that Brutus kills Caesar for being ambitious, that Antony calls Brutus an honorable man, and that Cassius killed himself when he thought that he was losing when he was in fact winning. 

There is irony throughout this play.  Irony is when something unexpected happens, or someone says something and means the opposite.

The first example of irony is when Brutus kills Caesar for being ambitious.  This is ironic because Brutus is actually being ambitious here too.  He says he is killing Caesar before he can do anything dangerous.

And, to speak truth of Caesar,

I have not known when his affections swayed

More than his reason. But ’tis a common proof

That lowliness is young ambition’s ladder,

Whereto the climber-upward turns his face (Act 2, Scene 1)

Brutus is basically saying that Caesar hasn’t done anything, but he might!  If he gets any more power, oh, he will be dangerous.       

Ah, Brutus, what did you think would happen?  The plot to kill Caesar was incredibly ambitious.  Brutus and the others thought that they could kill Caesar and they would be hailed by the people as tyrant killers.  They thought there would be parades in the streets.  That is not how it happened at all.  People were afraid.  Brutus tried to explain why they did it in a speech to the people.

As he was valiant, I

honor him. But, as he was ambitious, I slew him.

There is tears for his love, joy for his fortune, honor

for his valor, and death for his ambition. Who is

here so base that would be a bondman? (Act 3, Scene 2)

Granted, the people in that particular crowd seem convinced, but they also seem to be a pretty malleable crowd.  You have to remember that in Ancient Rome, politicians gave speeches quite a lot.  These same people are soon swayed by Mark Antony, and it does not take long.  Brutus was doomed.

That brings me to Irony Number Two.  This is of course the most famous one from the play.  It seems pretty close to sarcasm.  This is where Antony, is his eulogy-turned-political oration, declares Brutus and his cohorts, Caesar’s assassins, honorable men.  He means it not a lick.

I thrice presented him a kingly crown,

Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition?

Yet Brutus says he was ambitious,

And sure he is an honorable man.

I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,

But here I am to speak what I do know. (Act 3, Scene 2)

In one speech, Antony manages to undo any good will that Brutus acquired in convincing the people that he and the others killed Caesar for good reasons, and also convince them that he is Caesar’s heir and should be the one leading Rome. 

When Antony says that Brutus and the others are honorable men, he is saying just the opposite.  He means it in the most sarcastic and ironic way possible.  He is saying that they have no honor.  He is calling them liars and murderers.  He brings out Caesar’s body and points to where they stabbed him.  Antony calls the crowd into a frenzy, and they are ready to kill the conspirators and burn down their houses.  “Honorable” is the last word they would use to describe them.

Finally, when Brutus and Cassius are on the run and backed into a corner, on the battlefield, we have the last irony.  Cassius thinks that he is losing when he is actually winning.  He mistakes a victory for a loss and kills himself. 

Cassius sends Pindarus to tell him what is going on.  He reports back, and tells him that Titinius is captured.  Cassius is upset, to say the least.

Come down, behold no more.—

O, coward that I am to live so long

To see my best friend ta’en before my face! (Act 5, Scene 3)

Of the two generals, Brutus and Cassius, Cassius was definitely doing better.  When he thinks that Titinius is captured by the enemy, he basically gives up.  Unfortunately, what Pindarus sees and reports is friendly soldiers embracing Titinius, happy that they won, not capturing him.  Still, Cassius ironically completely misjudges the scenario, does not wait for confirmation, and kills himself (Pindarus stabs him).

Irony is a part of life. Sometimes things happen when we least expect it. It is part of history, too. Shakespeare makes good use of pointing it out, so that we do not miss it.