Calpurnia and Portia are portrayed as strong and passionate women who supported their men.
Shakespeare takes advantage of the Romans' superstitious nature by playing up the supposed supernatural abilities of both Calpurnia and Portia. Caesar’s wife Calpurnia supposedly had a dream predicting his assassination, and Portia seemed to know that Brutus was in danger.
Brutus’s wife Portia is shown as a strong and confident woman, but possibly also a little unstable. She worries about her husband’s role in the conspiracy. She does not really know what is going on, but wants him to tell her what he is doing.
Yet I insisted, yet you answer'd not,
But, with an angry wafture of your hand,
Gave sign for me to leave you: so I did;
Fearing to strengthen that impatience
Which seem'd too much enkindled… (Act 2, Scene 1)
Portia worries about her husband, feeling that he might have gotten himself in a dangerous situation. She urges him to tell her what is going on, chiding him that he is treating her like a “harlot” rather than a wife. She can't stand being out of the loop, even cutting herself to prove her loyalty and dedication to him.
When Brutus does not tell her what is going on, Portia has him followed. She reminds us that women are not just meek watchers from the sidelines.
O constancy, be strong upon my side,
Set a huge mountain 'tween my heart and tongue!
I have a man's mind, but a woman's might.
How hard it is for women to keep counsel! (Act 2, Scene 4)
Portia speaks to the soothsayer, trying to find out what is really going on and if her husband is in danger. We do not hear again from Portia, but Brutus learns that she killed herself while he is away fighting Antony and Octavius, supposedly by swallowing hot coals. Portia always does things on her own terms.
Calpurnia is a strong woman in her own right. More superstitious even than Portia, she has a dream the night before the Ides of March that she interprets as prophetic of danger to Caesar. She also mentions a variety of other omens and portents that worry her.
A lioness hath whelped in the streets;
And graves have yawn'd, and yielded up their dead;
Fierce fiery warriors fought upon the clouds,
In ranks and squadrons and right form of war,
Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol … (Act 2, Scene 2)
Calpurnia seems respected by Caesar, because she makes some progress with him. He is ready to stay home after she tells him she is worried because of her dream. Unfortunately for her and him, Decius Brutus convinces him that the dream has a different meaning and is actually a positive omen.
In the first act, Caesar calls public attention to Calpurnia’s infertility. He may have been trying to explain why they never had children. Caesar asks Antony to touch Calpurnia during his run on the Feast of Lupercal. Both of them go along with it. For whatever reason, Caesar never had any children with Calpurnia, but he had one legitimate child. His daughter Julia died in childbirth. Before his death, Caesar made a will naming his sister’s grandson Octavius his heir. This left Calpurnia basically out of it.
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