Portia and Calpurnia are the two main women in the story of Julius Caesar. They
had two totally different parts in the story. One was kind of a servant wife and
the other was a equal but not equal wife. Shakespeare shows the two characters
as supportive figures but not very important ones. Portia is the wife of Brutus.
Portia considers herself as an equal to Brutus. They share a mutual relationship
and they both contribute to it. No one is better or considered better. They had
shared a perfect relationship up until the point when the conspiracy of killing
Caesar started. Portia figured it out pretty easily that something was wrong
with Brutus because they had such a close relationship. She begged him to tell
her and when Brutus said that he couldn’t then she knew that their relations
had faded a little. Of course, Brutus ended up telling her what was going on.
This quote resembles there relationship. "By all your vows of great love
and that great vow Which did incorporate and make us one, That you unfold me,
yourself, and your half, Why you are heavy, and what men tonight Have had resort
to you;" This quote tells the reader how much she cares for Brutus.
Calpurnia on the other hand is the total opposite in the eyes of the husband.
She is the wife of Caesar. Caesar treats Calpurnia as if she was the scum level
of his servants. He orders her around and never pays any attention to her. One
example of this was when she warned and begged him not to go to the capitol that
day. She had a feeling that something was going to happen and sure enough did.
(Caesar was stabbed by the Senate who had been planning against him.) Therefore,
the two important wives in the story had two totally different roles. One was a
servant woman and the other was a equal but one that was left out of the most
important thing that was ever done by her husband. They were both similar in
that they both had husbands that were deeply involved in the conspiracy, and the
major difference between them was how they were treated as wives.