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Leadership qualities in the characters of Julius Caesar
Julius caesar corruption of power
Julius caesar quizlet
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In the famed author William Shakespeare’s playwright Julius Caesar, we are introduced to an extraordinary plot of a powerful ruler, Julius Caesar, who gained power through astonishing victories and remarkable strategies but fell victim to betrayal. The betrayal that led to his demise was led by some of the very people that surrounded him the most, even some people that he considered as friends. The theme of betrayal and the notion of friendship and its validity are both topics that are worth examining but perhaps the most prevalent topic that drives this plot is the image of Caesar. Caesar ascended into power after a long period in Rome where the rise of tyranny had been fought systematically and physically. He had to not only be a powerful leader but also a wise politician when it came to his decisions. His image tarnishes more and more as his power increases and he too chases after it. He becomes so ambitious over power that he begins to feel immortal and free from danger. His conspirators do not just want him out of power for the simple sake of it but because some of them, either persuaded or not, earnestly believed that Julius Caesar’s death would save Rome not hurt it. What makes this playwright’s so extraordinary is not the dynamic drama alone, but also the depiction of Julius Caesar and how even in the monstrosity of his murder, his image was still arguable causing division amongst men. Although William Shakespeare has, for a very long time now, been known for his great writings it is clear that he himself depicted a ruler that would win favor in the eyes of the great Italian political philosopher and writer Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli but not the profound Italian writer Baldassare Castiglione. Both writers wrote ab...
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...tature and refusal to see the realistic fact that he was in danger brought him to his end. He was ambitious, as we all should be, but he allowed his stature and achievements cloud his judgments and even the advice of those nearest to him, like his wife. A leader is not always loved and Machiavelli would not have had a problem with Caesar not being loved by all and in fact he may not even have had a problem with Caesar’s overzealous nature. Castiglione on the other hand, would not have been a fan of the image of Caesar. He, overlooking reality because of his societal stature, would anger Castiglione. That is not poised nor brave but rather ignorant and a stubborn nature.
Works Cited
Castiglione, Baldassarre, and George Anthony Bull. The Book of the Courtier. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1976. Print.
Shakespeare, William. Julius Ceaser. New York: Pocket, 1992. Print.
Julius Caesar (100-44 BC) was one of the most outstanding leaders in history. He was the first ruler of the Romano-Hellenic civilization and achieved his goals with great success throughout his life of 56 years. He was assassinated by the conspirators, who accused him for practicing tyranny. This essay will discuss whether it was right for the conspirators to murder Caesar and what its consequences were.
Julius Caesar is the leader of Rome and is seeking to become king in a matter of time. Though he is a good military strategist, he lacks knowledge in running government and is too greedy to have any concern for the peasants when he is alive. Caesar is all about conquering and power and he is afraid of nothing. Before he is murdered, he says “The things that threatened me ne’er looked but on my back. When they shall see the face of Caesar, they are vanished” (II, ii, 575). Th...
“Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.” (3.2.24) This quote reflects the motive of Brutus for the assassination of his friend, Caesar. I believe Brutus killed him not out of disrespect, but in a selfless act to protect Rome from the decree of Caesar yet to come. I also believe that he did this out of force from the manipulation from his “friend” Cassius. In Shakespeare's “Julius Caesar”, Brutus’ two most significant characteristics are virtue and unconscious hypocrisy. In order to fully understand these characteristics, it is necessary to analyze all other contributing characteristics, the manipulation of friendship that Cassius uses against him, and the motivations for
Greed, ambition, and the possibility of self-gain are always constant in their efforts to influence people’s actions. In Julius Caesar, Marcus Brutus, a venerable politician, becomes a victim of the perpetual conflict between power-hungry politicians and ignorant commoners. He is a man of honor and good intentions who sacrifices his own happiness for the benefit of others. Unfortunately, his honor is strung into a fine balance between oblivion and belief and it is ultimately the cause of his downfall. His apparent obliviousness leads him to his grave as his merciful sparing of Mark Antony’s life, much like Julius Caesar’s ghost, comes back to haunt him. Overall, Brutus is an honest, sincere man who holds the lives of others in high regard while he himself acts as a servant to Rome.
Two powerful leaders, one power hungry whose ambitious ideas lead to his downfall, the other mindful of people who deserve their higher positions. A true leader is someone who has a vision, a drive and commitment to achieve what's best. In the play written by William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Brutus and Caesar are one of the main characters. They demonstrate leadership qualities that are still relevant to today. They are both very ambitious characters; however, they do so for different reasons and differ in their openness to others. There are many similarities and differences that lie between them. Both are noble and great men with loyal followers and neither man questions the rightness of his own path. Both made crucial mistakes that resulted in their death. However, Caesar acts out of love for for himself, his country, and to retain his power as ruler of Rome. Brutus on the other hand acts out of love for freedom of Rome. This essay will discuss and compare their qualities as leaders as well as their styles and how they are effective/ineffective in the play.
In the play Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, one of the main characters, Brutus, is faced with a major problem. He has to decide whether or not to join the conspiracy, which is to kill his best friend Caesar or let him get crowned king. Thoughout the play he has to decide and his choice may effect Rome forever. Brutus decides to join the conspirators and help kill Julius Caesar. His actions show that he is a very patriotic, one who loves his country and upholds its interests, citizen of Rome. First, he shows great courage in killing Caesar for the love of his country. Second, all the people of Rome adore him because of his loyalty and finally, Brutus is willing to stand up to the fact that he helped kill Julius Caesar.
Marcus Brutus is a man that can be described as many things: honorable, loyal, intelligent, and honest to name a few, but many arguments have arisen pondering if he can also be characterized as “noble”. There are two emotions that firmly define nobility: unflinching faith and unconditional love. Brutus exhibits this nobility when he unites with Cassius and the conspirators to save Rome from Julius Caesar, when he exclaims that the conspirators do not need an oath to bind them, instead only relying on each other’s word, when he kills himself at the end of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar as punishment for his wrongdoings to Julius Caesar and all of Rome, as well as when he tries to protect his wife from the conspiracy in order to spare her hardship from his wrongdoings.
Canfora, Luciano. Julius Caesar: The Life and times of the People's Dictator. Trans. Marian Hill and Kevin Windle. Berkeley: University of California, 2007. Print.
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.
One of William Shakespeare’s most revered Roman plays and a tragedy that has stood alone in its place of magnificence in world literature, Julius Caesar is accredited to have been written in 1599. It portrays the 44 BC conspiracy against the Roman dictator Julius Caesar, his assassination and the defeat of the conspirators at the battle of Philippi. It is one among several plays written by Shakespeare that were based on true events from Roman history, others being ‘Coriolanus’ and ‘Antony and Cleopatra’. ‘Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans’, written in the First century A.D. and translated by the Renaissance English writer Thomas North, is the source of these plays on a certain level. Shakespeare seems to have agreed with Plutarch’s philosophy that history is made, written and altered by the actions and beliefs of a few great men, that is to say the rulers, rather than by the public or the people as a whole. He depicted the actions of the leaders of Roman society rather than class conflicts or larger socio-political movements as having determined history. That being said, while Shakespeare focuses on these key political figures in his play, he does not ignore outright the fact that their power rests at least to some extent on the fickle favour of the populace.
Julius Caesar is a tragic drama written by William Shakespeare in 1599. This tragedy takes place in ancient Rome around 44 B.C when Rome was a great empire. Julius Caesar was a very important figure at this time as he was a very successful general who helped spread the Roman Empire and after his defeat of his political rival Pompey, he took on the role of becoming a dictator of Rome. But many citizens “feared that Caesar’s power would lead to the enslavement of Roman citizens by one of their own. Therefore, a group of conspirators came together and assassinated Caesar. The assassination, however, failed to put an end to the power struggles dividing the empire, and civil war erupted shortly thereafter.”1 The tragedy explains Caesar’s declaration of a dictator and the events later leading up to his assassination and “the subsequent war, in which the deaths of the leading conspirators constituted a sort of revenge for the assassination”1 and how the characters use persuasion to emphasize a specific point.
In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar (1599), much of the play’s tragedy stems from the characters’ neglect of private feelings and loyalties in favor of what they believe to be the public good. Similarly, characters confuse their private selves with their public selves, hardening and dehumanizing themselves or transforming themselves into ruthless political machines. Throughout play, the public selves of Brutus and Caesar are skewed by what other people will think of them, so much so that their private selves which are their voices of reason are overshadowed.
At first glance, historical literature may seem like mere retellings of repeated events. However, by analyzing the author and their intentions, one can understand the underlying message and its applications to society. The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare is a rendition of Julius Caesar’s demise and the civil war sparked by it. Shakespeare uses his play as a political mouthpiece to voice his concern for the future of England’s government, since during Queen Elizabeth’s reign, the tensions were high due to the threat of a civil war. By examining events and occurrences associated with the Elizabethan time period, Julius Caesar, and the Roman Empire, one can understand William Shakespeare’s political motivations and historical influences.
Rome is under complete shock over the dramatic and unexpected loss of Julius Caesar. The people are confused, so who shall they listen to and believe about this tragedy? Will it be the conspirators by having Brutus reason with the roman people or Antony with his heartfelt, persuasive words spoken? In act three, Brutus decided to speak first to the plebeians before Antony could praise Caesar’s short life. Little did the conspirators know, Antony was seeking revenge to the people who took Caesar’s life (III,i,254-275).
An ideal leader is someone who is intelligent enough to rule but is also sympathetic enough to please the people. In Roman times, Brutus stands out as being an ideal leader to the Plebeians. The roman people love Brutus and listen too him. Even though the romans are persuaded easily they know and trust Brutus judgment. Brutus may not be very intelligent but his love for Rome makes him an ideal leader. His act of persuading the plebeians also works in his favor.