Comparing Things Fall Apart with Julius Caesar

In the novel, Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe, and the play, Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare, both have main characters who have hurbis. Okonkwo and Julius Caesar are main characters in both stories. An honorable man, Okonkwo tries to better than what his father was and gain great titles in his tribe. He then commits a female crime and gets exiled for seven years. When he returns, he realizes the missionaries have changed what his clan believes in. His clan no longer fights for what they believe in. Almost crowned dictator of Rome, Julius Caesar thought of himself as a great superior than all the rest. He was going to be crowned dictator of Rome until a group of men killed him. Caesar has faith in his own ideas. Okonkwo is masculine and has physical strength. Both men view their weaknesses as strengths; the differences between how they are seen and what they actually are results in their downfall.

Ignoring outside influences, Julius Caesar only believes in himself. Calphurnia has a bad dream about Caesar’s death; in the play it says, “Thrice hath Calphurnia in her sleep cried out ‘Help ho, they murder Caesar’” (Shakespeare 75). Calphurnia tried warning Caesar that her dream was a sign that he should not go to the crowning, but because he only believes in himself he ignores Calphurnia’s warnings. Calphurnia even mentioned how men were bathing in his blood, how lions roamed the streets, bodies rose from the dead, and it rained blood. A soothsayer also warned Caesar saying, “Beware the ides of March” (Shakespeare 15). Caesar was not cautious of the ides of March. He went on with his day as he normally would. Because of Caesar’s hubris, he thought that he was untouchable and no one could hurt him. Caesar says, “Yet Caesar shall ...

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Okonkwo and Caesar do not realize what they see as their strengths are actually their weaknesses. Because both men confuse what they actually are and what they are viewed as, it results in their downfall. Both men posses hubris. Caesar only believes in himself, none other. Okonkwo follows the rules of masculinity long after it suits his life. Both Caesar and Okonkwo sees themselves differently than what others perceive them as. Both men die as a result of discrepancy. Okonkwo and Caesar come from different social classes, different beliefs, and different strengths, but the both posses the same hubris qualities leading to their different deaths.

Works Cited

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New York: Anchor, 1994. Print.

Shakespeare, William, Barbara A. Mowat, and Paul Werstine. The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. New York: Washington Square, 1992. Print.