Who does Caesar say has a lean and hungry look?

• A. Caesar
• B. Cassius
• C. Brutus
• D. Casca

Answer: (B)

A single line about appearance conveys a character’s inner drive and foreshadows danger. When Caesar notes a lean and hungry look, he’s describing Cassius as wiry in build and, more importantly, hungry for power and opportunity. The phrase signals Cassius’s ambitious, plotting nature and his willingness to take action to achieve his ends. That interpretation fits Cassius’s later role in the conspiracy against Caesar, making him the one who fits this description. It wouldn’t describe Caesar, Brutus, or Casca in the same way at that moment, since they aren’t presented as consumed by that kind of calculating ambition.