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The speech of julius caesar
Julius caesar acte iii scène i
Honor in julius caesar
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Caesar Final Essay
William Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar, has a heavy focus on honor. The characters in the play have a tendency to refer back to honor and the honor of Rome, but are they really as honorable as they say? Honor is a very abstract concept that is widely applicable in many situations, but what is it? To honor someone is to show them respect, and to be honorable is to act in a way that deserves respect and admiration. The characters of Julius Caesar, for the most part, are all seeking some form of honor, but do they achieve it? Three of the best examples of honor in Julius Caesar are Brutus, Cassius, and Portia. With varying levels of honor, these characters display the spectrum well. First is Brutus, the conflicted
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Brutus also places his faith in the honor of others, refusing to take a group oath assuming the honor of the individual is the strongest thing there is. Brutus lives his life based almost entirely on the idea of honor, yet he somehow fails to see the dishonor in killing his close friend to prevent him from rising to power.
Although Brutus attempts to act with honor, and despite the fact that he places all of his trust into the honor of others, there are times when Brutus fails to see the most simple and obvious things, such as clear manipulation by Cassius, and this simple flaw leads him to betray his friend and his honor. The next character is Cassius. Cassius has an interesting relationship with honor, based on all outward appearances, Cassius is as far away from honor as one can venture, he manipulates others, such as when he tricks Brutus into joining the conspirators by using verbal manipulation and false letters. By doing this he fools Brutus and based on lies and half-truths trick Brutus into becoming a murderer. He also plots a murder out of fear for himself and he betrays the trust of his friend and goes as far as killing him. However, in the eyes of the world, he does all of this for Rome and its
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Think you I am no stronger than my sex,
Being so father'd and so husbanded?” (2.1.215-218)
This plays into the belief at the time that women were not as strong as men, and as a result, would not be as honorable. This is an incorrect belief of course, but does this belief actually have an effect on Portia’s honor, or just the perception of her honor?
In the end, the characters of Julius Caesar all have more complicated relationships with honor than they appear at first glance. Brutus, while well intentioned and seemingly honorable, cannot see the line that separates honor from murder, Cassius who appears dishonorable in every way aims, at least in part, to protect rome and its people and Portia who appears dedicated loyal and honorable, commits suicide and believes the lies she is told about her self, beneath the surface of these characters, lies complex motives and twisted logic, which makes singling them out as honorable or dishonorable, nearly impossible, as they are very human, and humans are rarely one or the
Even though Brutus knew that Caeser had turned down the crown three times, he still felt he was too ambitious to rule over Rome. If only Brutus would have had a level head on his shoulders like Antony. If anyone can call a murderer honorable, let them know. The third and final act Brutus committed that left him with a dishonorable image, was that he ran and then killed himself just to avoid battle. In early Rome, a man was thought to be noble and brave if he fell from an enemy’s sword, not if he ran and committed suicide.
In addition to this characteristic of Cassius, he also has a devious nature. This attribute allows him to invent informed manipulative plans to eliminate his opponents. For instance, after saying his farewells to Brutus, he gives a soliloquy that reveals his idea of throwing writings of different handwritings in Brutus’ windows “as if they came from several citizens” all of which “tending to the great opinion that Rome holds of his name, wherein obscurely Caesar’s ambition shall be glancéd at” (Shakespeare I. ii. 306-309). Since Brutus and Cassius have been friends for a long period of time, Cassius holds an abundance of knowledge pertaining to his values--in this case being his honor and desire to please Rome’s citizens. This undermining plot Cassius has devised is based on an informed opinion of the most effective way to subvert Caesar’s authority, and because of the valid observations made of Brutus by Cassius, the likelihood that this clever scheme will be carried out successfully should make Caesar concerned about the intentions of his judicial
In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, one must read the text closely to track the shifting motivations and loyalties of each character as the play progresses. An important factor that must be kept in mind while reading is the degree of loyalty, in other words, the degree to which characters act out of a motivation to help others. Throughout the play, each character's current degree of loyalty to others is clearly exhibited by words or behavior – this holds true for the characters of Brutus, Cassius, Antony, Portia, and Calpurnia. The focus on loyalty is critical because before the play ends an even-handed justice is meted out to a number of people who fail to live up to an expected standard of loyalty to others.
Honor and power is what drives the conspirators to assassinate Julius Caesar in William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar. Caesar is now the single leader of Rome, and members of the Senate have concerns that he will abuse his sole power. Therefore, they plot and accomplish the assassination of Caesar in an attempt to rebuild the balance of Rome. Rome falls into chaos with an unknown future with no central leader for the people to follow. In Act I, Scene 2, Cassius, a member of the Senate, explains to his friend, Brutus, that Caesar is not the god he makes himself out to be. Instead, he argues both he and Brutus are equal to Caesar and are just as deserving of the throne. Cassius’ speech to Brutus diminishes Caesar’s godly demeanor through
One of the first occasions presented was the plotting of Caesar’s assassination. Cassius, Casca, Trebonius, Ligarius and the other conspirators all wanted to rid Rome of Caesar. However, not one of them could give the green light.” They needed one who held a high place in the hearts of the people, to support them and to justify their actions. They needed an “honorable” man.
An “ambitious’ man had left them land and parks for recreation. As Antony said, “Did this Caesar seem ambitious?” (Acts III, Scene 2, line 93). The dignity of the conspirators represented in the word honorable had gone with each use and these men were now hated for back stabbing such a truly honorable man. The “honorable” Brutus was “Caesar’s angel” and “For when the noble Caesar saw him stab, Ingratitude, more strong than traitors’ arms, quite vanquished him” (Act III, Scene 2, line 183-188).
Julius Caesar is a moral, ethical man. He is a selfless man who puts others before himself. When Artemidorus gets word of the conspirator’s plans, he writes a letter to Caesar to warn him of his impending fate and rushes to the Capitol to give him word. Upon telling Caesar the letter is concerning him, Caesar simply brushes it off and responds, “What touches oneself shall be served last”(III,I, 8). Caesar altruistically puts aside an urgent manner concerning him to accept the offer of becoming King of Rome, which is the reason he went to the Capitol in the first place, which shows he is a benevolent, thoughtful person. In
At all times Caesar “[felt] concerned that his image and his honor could be tarnished” maybe because he was given the crown and had such a duty to uphold (Adney Blooms). Additionally, him being married and only worrying about his honor really put him in the situation of death. When Caesar “merely tries to preserve his honor and, in the process, loses his life” was really when he realised that life was not all about being the best it should have been about satisfying those in his life (Adney Blooms). The idea that if honor did not overtake him come when if he “stuck to his convictions, and respected his wife wishes, he might not have been killed” (Adney Blooms). Not only did Caesar think that he was very honorable Brutus also believed he deserved much honor. There was many cases that Brutus called himself “the most honorable and noble character” (Adney Blooms). That belief that you are so much greater than everyone including the female sex, shows the amount of masculine that such a guy
Brutus values honor so much so that he says, “I love the name of honor more than I fear death” (JC 1.2.). He would rather die than have life without honor. In contrast of the honor Brutus expresses, Cassius is a dishonorable man. Cassius’ actions throughout the play are very similar to those of Brutus, but Cassius’ intention is worse. He is very manipulative and envious.
Brutus’ ignorance creates an expectation that develops a path which leads him awry. When Brutus mentions,“ I would not Cassius; yet I love him well” (1.2.81-88 ), he portrays his internal conflict. Brutus depicts the rendering struggle between Cassius’ acquisitions and Caesar’s actions. His oblivion toward the truth and goodwill concerning the greater health of Rome prompt him astray. He acts with the innocence of a child, deceive and swindle by Cassius, Brutus is an
Brutus has several tragic flaws. One of these tragic flaws is how he trusts people a lot. Brutus says that he “know[s] that we shall have [Antony] well to a friend” (1140). He trusts Antony will be a friend of the conspirators, yet he seems to not realize that Antony is obliviously against them, because they killed his friend. Brutus trusts Antony so much, that he lets Antony speak to the public alone. Antony turns the people against Brutus and the conspirators, leading to the wars where Brutus takes his own life. Brutus also receives letters, supposedly from the people of Rome. As he reads the letter out loud, Brutus remarks “‘Speak, strike, redress!’ Am I entreated to speak and strike? O Rome, I make thee promise, if thy redress will follow, thy receivest thy full petition at the hand of Brutus” (1118).
An honorable person can be defined as someone who rarely commits a sin and someone who is right and just throughout their whole entire life. There is a dispute going on about whether Marcus Brutus is an honorable man or not an honorable man. Most of the people that form the conspirators kill Caesar because of jealousy. However, Brutus kills him because of what is the best for Rome. Marcus Brutus is the hero in the play Julius Caesar because he is loyal to Rome, he is respectful to his people, and humble to those who are less fortunate than him.
Both Cassius and Brutus conspire against Caesar, yet Shakespeare depicts Brutus as doing a noble job compared to Cassius as doing a greedy and envious task. Cassius believes that he is stronger than Caesar. Therefore, Cassius does not understand why Caesar is in power and he is not. Cassius is also envious of Caesar. In Act I Scene II, Cassius describes to Brutus the time he had to save Caesar in a swimming race. Since then, Cassius feels superior to Caesar. In Cassius’ mind, kings’ right to rule should be based off of strength, not intelligence or virtue. On the other hand, Brutus knows that although a king should be strong, he must also be virtuous. Brutus always elaborates on the topic of honor. In fact, his first priority is to keep his own honor intact and Brutus fears that Caesar will change when he is crowned. Brutus says, “He would be crowned: How that might change his nature, there’s the question.” (Act II, Scene I, Page 49, lines 12-14) He senses Caesar’s greed for power, and ...
Brutus was a stoic, a person who remains calm and self-controlled and appears to be indifferent to pleasure and pain. That was his philosophy. In Act II Scene 1, Cauis says, " I am not sick if Brutus have in hand/Any exploit worthy the name of honor" (374). In the same scene, Cassius states, "No man here/But honors you; and everyone doth wish/You had but that opinion of yourself/Which every noble Roman bears of you." Cassius believed that Brutus would have provided an honorable front for his own selfish deeds. Brutus was a man who cared more about the power of Rome than the people of Rome. This is how he justified murdering Caesar. Brutus admitted that he killed for the wrong reasons and the killing was justified. He came across as a moral snob who disliked debate or compromise and always insisted on getting his own way. His pride caused him to dismiss Cicero, a potential rival, even though Cicero was the greatest orator of the times. In his refusal to accept his human limitations, Brutus was as vain and ambitious as Caesar.
In Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, Brutus and Cassius are both considered honorable men by the public. But, like all traits, honor is in the eye of the beholder. Honor is defined as evidence or symbols of distinction. Those who are placed in power are often chosen because of their traits, which include being honorable. If those in power have any faults, it could diminish their position in the eyes of the public.