35 pages • 1-hour read
Cato, a Tragedy
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Act VChapter Summaries & Analyses
Act V Summary
Act V takes place in a chamber, where Cato is ruminating on his impending suicide. “Thus am I doubly arm’d: my death and life, / My bane and antidote, are both before me,” he says (54). Portius enters and attempts to stop Cato from killing himself, though he asks Cato to forgive him for that after Cato tells him to “learn obedience” and calls him “rash” (55). Cato tells Portius to check in on Cato’s friends as he takes a “moment’s sleep,” and Portius exits. He seems optimistic that Cato won’t kill himself, telling Marcia that “there’s hope / Our father will not cast away a life so needful to us all” (56).
Lucia admits that she “tremble[s]” when she thinks of the “stern and awful” Cato, but Marcia convinces her that her father is “all goodness” (57). Lucius enters, having just seen Cato sleeping peacefully, but Marcia worries that “his mind still labours with some dreadful thought” after Lucius reports that Cato said “Caesar, thou canst not hurt me” in his sleep (58).
Juba enters and announces that Caesar’s troops are approaching. Lucius advises they wake Cato, as Caesar is waiting to hear back from Cato before they approach. Portius then enters to report that the son of Pompey, a Roman military leader, wants to go to war against Caesar to avenge his father’s death and “[rouse] the whole nation up to arms,” suggesting that Cato should be the one to lead them (58). As he goes to tell Cato the news, though, he hears Cato groaning. Marcia recognizes the sound as “agonizing pain” and the sound of death, and Portius reveals that Cato has attempted to kill himself (59).
He is not dead just yet, however, and Cato enters in a chair. Cato says he should not spend his final moments alive “in vain” and declares that Portius and Lucia should be together, as should Marcia and Juba (59). Cato worries that he has “been too hasty” with his death, but soon dies (59). Portius declares, “There fled the greatest soul that ever warm’d a Roman breast,” and warns “fierce contending nations” of the “dire effects from civil discord flow” in a final speech (60).
Act V Analysis
Cato’s death is the centerpiece of Act V. His suicide is the ultimate symbol of his allegiance to Rome and adherence to virtue, as he chooses liberty and principle over keeping his life but succumbing to tyranny. Cato ultimately asserts the importance of virtue through his death but also demonstrates how he values honor over personal relationships in his conversation with Portius. As Portius grieves over his father’s imminent death and wishes for him not to die, Cato chides him, calling him a “rash youth” and saying, “Wouldst thou betray me? […] Retire, and learn obedience to a father” (55).
As much as this act asserts Cato’s towering virtue, it also humanizes Cato more than any other act. He questions his sense of morality and principle for the first time, wondering whether his death in the name of liberty will be rewarded in heaven as he hopes, and questioning if he’s “been too hasty” just before he dies (59). Marcia and Lucia’s exchange also asserts Cato’s compassion, as after Lucia calls Cato “stern and awful as a god,” Marcia insists that he is “all goodness” and “the kindest father” (57). Cato then uses his final breaths to give his children happiness through love, even if he acknowledges that Marcia and Juba’s union goes against his own Roman principles. In acknowledging that the two can be together because “Caesar’s arms have thrown down all distinction,” Cato suggests that the Roman principles to which he so strictly adheres will die with him, as his death paves the way for a new era of Rome that Caesar will helm unchallenged (59).
After Cato dies, Portius’s final speech asserts Cato’s goodness in sacrificing life for liberty, making it clear that the audience should celebrate Cato’s decision to take his own life and regard him as the play’s hero. As Addison’s play was written in 1712, long after the days of the Roman Empire, Portius’s speech offers modern-day audiences a broader warning against the evils brought about by “civil discord” (60).
Unlock all 35 pages of this Study Guide
Get in-depth, chapter-by-chapter summaries and analysis from our literary experts.
- Grasp challenging concepts with clear, comprehensive explanations
- Revisit key plot points and ideas without rereading the book
- Share impressive insights in classes and book clubs