The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare is an intimate portrayal of the famed assassination of Julius Caesar and the complex inner workings of the men who committed the crime. In one particularly revealing scene, two of the men closest to Caesar, one a conspirator in his murder and one his second-in command, give orations for the deceased. Despite being simple in appearance, these two speeches do much of the work in developing and exposing the two characters in question. Though both have a love for Caesar, Mark Antony's is mixed with a selfish desire for power, while Brutus' is pure in nature, brought to a screeching halt by his overpowering stoicism. These starkly-contrasted personalities influence the whole of the play, leading to its tragic-but-inevitable end.
The speech given by Brutus exemplifies his defining characteristics of stoicism, morality, and justice. At one particularly polarizing point in his speech, Brutus tells the commoners, "If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer: not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome
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While Brutus sees life as something to be solved with logic and guided by morality, Mark Antony views life as something that he can twist and mold into whatever he needs it to be at any given moment. Mark Antony uses the audience of the funeral speech as tools to wrench the Roman Republic from the hands of Brutus and place the crown on his own head. He inspires rage and distrust in the plebeians, and directly spurs on the Battle of Philippi. Brutus is roped into this situation despite his unselfish motives, and has to defend himself and his fellows against the armies of Mark Antony and the young Octavius. From beginning to end, the characters of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar are true to their defining qualities and do not depart from the molds they have cast of
Shakespeare’s complex play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar contains several tragic heroes; a tragic hero holds high political or social esteem yet possesses an obvious character flaw. This discernible hubris undoubtedly causes the character’s demise or a severe forfeiture, which forces the character to undergo an unfeigned moment of enlightenment and shear reconciliation. Brutus, one of these tragic heroes, is a devout friend of the great Julius Caesar, that is, until he makes many execrable decisions he will soon regret; he becomes involved in a plot to kill the omniscient ruler of Rome during 44 B.C. After committing the crime, Mark Antony, an avid, passionate follower of Caesar, is left alive under Brutus’s orders to take his revenge on the villains who killed his beloved Caesar. After Antony turns a rioting Rome on him and wages war against him and the conspirators, Brutus falls by his own hand, turning the very sword he slaughtered Caesar with against himself. Brutus is unquestionably the tragic hero in this play because he has an innumerable amount of character flaws, he falls because of these flaws, and then comes to grips with them as he bleeds on the planes of Philippi.
The play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare showcases many characters and events that go through many significant changes. One particular character that went through unique changes was Julius Caesar. The 16th century work is a lengthy tragedy about the antagonists Brutus and Cassius fighting with the protagonists Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus over the murder of Julius Caesar. Although the play’s main pushing conflict was the murder of Julius Caesar, he is considered a secondary character, but a protagonist. Throughout the theatrical work Julius Caesar’s actions, alliances, character developments, and internal and external conflicts display his diverse changes.
Would an honorable man murder his best friend? In William Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Caesar started as an innocent citizen of Rome, but soon made his way to the throne. Caesar started bettering Rome, but certain men accused him of becoming too ambitious. The conspirators, the men against Caesar, brutally murdered him because of his “ambition”. Marcus Brutus was Caesar’s supposed best friend but led the revolt against him. Brutus is characterized in the play as being gullible, noble, and naïve.
Brutus has a naive view of the world. He is unable to see through the roles being played by Cassius, Casca, and Antony. He does not even recognize the fake letters were sent from Cassius. Then Brutus says,“You shall not blame us Antony, in your funeral speech, but speak all the good you can of Caesar.
Julius Caesar Act I Graphic Organizer Name Character Notes Important Quotes Evidence of Loyalty (to whom?) Flavius Annoyed with the crowd because they are too fickle. It is no matter.
The Roman Republic has acted as a model for most Western countries and some empires have even tried to name themselves the heirs to this powerful empire. One of the most famous plays about this ancient empire describes the death of Julius Caesar, a well known general dictator of Rome. As we all know, Caesar was murdered by the Roman Senate in order to terminate his dictatorship. The play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, was written by William Shakespeare and includes two speeches which are analyzed frequently for their rhetorical appeals and figurative language. One speech is given by Mark Antony while the other was given by Brutus. Both of the speakers were close friends of Caesar and delivered effective speeches using powerful rhetorical
Julius Caesar was born on 100 C.E. in Rome, Italy. Rome was in disarray at this time, with weak leadership and ineffective government. Only adding to the chaos in his life, Caesar’s father died when he was only 16 years old. This dissention in the leadership throughout his childhood may have helped create the hunger for power and control that led him to be such an important leader. Caesar began his rise to power by winning a seat senate. While in office, he formed an alliance with a general, Pompey, and a patrician, Crassus. The trio took over control of the empire together, and Caesar was placed in the position of consul. Julius Caesar was historically significant because he greatly expanded Roman territory, established the Roman empire,
In Julius Caesar there was a character named Caesar. My thesis is that Caesar was loved by many but he needed to die, in fear of becoming too powerful. In this essay I will prove my thesis statement. To make you better understand I will talk about it. His wife Calpurnia had a bad dream, doesn’t think nothing of the weird stuff that is going on in the Roman streets, danger should fear Caesar, he enjoys Decius’ flattery swayed, and compares himself to the North Star.
Antony tells the people of Rome that they should not turn a blind eye to the actions of Brutus and his accomplices, he tells them that they should remember Caesar for the great leader and war hero that he was. In Antony’s speech he uses Repetition, Pathos, and Ethos to turn the crowd on Brutus and his accomplices without them even
William Shakespeare is one of the greatest playwrights of all time. He has written over 30 plays that include comedies, histories, and tragedies. One of his greatest tragedies is the story of Julius Caesar. A tragedy is about the downfall of a tragic hero. The tragic hero’s downfall is caused because of this tragic flaw.
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare is a historic tragedy about the brutal murder of the Roman senator, Julius Caesar. Within the play, Caesar has two close friends—Brutus and Antony. Antony is a loyal friend, supporting Caesar and encouraging him in his climb to kingship; Brutus is a king-fearing traitor who leads the plot to murder Caesar. After Caesar is murdered, both friends make speeches—Brutus to justify his actions and Antony to passive-aggressively disprove his claims. In the speeches, they use three rhetorical literary devices: ethos, the appeal to gain the crowd’s trust; pathos, stirring the crowd’s emotions to influence behavior; and logos, the use of logic to reason with the crowd. By comparing the use of ethos, pathos, and logos in each speech and by
In William Shakespeare's play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, two speeches are given to the people of Rome about Caesar's death. In Act 3, Scene 2 of this play Brutus and Antony both try to sway the minds of the Romans toward their views. Brutus tried to make the people believe he killed Caesar for a noble cause. Antony tried to persuade the people that the conspirators committed an act of brutality toward Caesar and were traitors. The effectiveness and ineffectiveness of both Antony's and Brutus's speech to the people are conveyed through tone and rhetorical devices.
Shakespeare wrote Julius Caesar around the early 1600s, and even today scholars argue whether Brutus or Caesar is the tragic hero of the play. The definition of a tragic hero is a person of nobility and honor who unfortunately falls after a struggle against an opposing force. However, the true tragic hero of the play was Marcus Brutus.
Brutus was a supporter of the republic as well as Caesar’s truthful friend. However much he loved Caesar, he opposed the fact that a single man ruled Rome and he feared Caesar would rise to hold that power. Brutus was a good leader. He was truthful and honourable. Brutus tries to justify his reason for killing Caesar and he says
In the play Julius Caesar, written and preformed by William Shakespeare, there are many characters, but two, Brutus and Cassius, stood out. The play begins in Rome where a celebration of Julius Caesar's victory over the former ruler of Rome, Pompeii. The victory leads to Caesar's betrayal by his jealous companions. Senators and other high status figures are jealous of Caesar's new and growing power, while others, like Brutus, fear the tyrannical rule Caesar could enforce. The conspirators, Brutus and Cassius being the most important, assassinate Julius Caesar and Marcus Antonius, better known as Antony, and Octavius Caesar, Caesar's heir to the thrown, revenge Caesar's death. Antony convinces the Roman populous to destroy the conspirators and eventually begins a war with Cassius and Brutus' armies. Both Cassius and Brutus commit suicide to save their honor and Antony and Octavius win the war. The characterizations of Brutus and Cassius show a distinct contrast in their character traits and motives for the assassination of Julius Caesar.