Ambition can almost always lead to the downfall and or death of a person. To elaborate, when one has ambition, one needs to be careful because having ambition can go wrong quickly, especially when in the wrong hands. For example, in Julius Caesar, when Brutus is jealous and has ambition against Caesar. Also, in the Lord of The Flies, Jack is jealous of Ralph because he has most of the power and Jack wants more power than Ralph. Additionally, “Caesar and the Corruption of Power” by John H. Collins, “Brutus's Noble Heroism is Superficial” by James C. Bulman, and “Adolf Hitler” by Alan Axelrod all support the claim that power and ambition can be extremely bad if used the wrong way. Power and ambition can ultimately lead to death and destruction …show more content…
For example, “Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. as he was Valiant, I honor him. But, as he was ambitious, I slew him”(Shakespeare Acts III.II.23-28). Brutus is speaking in front of everyone in Rome and declares it was just to kill Caesar because it is best for Rome. Brutus cares for Caesar and thinks he is an admiral person, but Brutus also decides Rome is more important, which is why Brutus kills Caesar. Brutus also says Caesar was ambitious, but one can see this is not true and is actually the other way around. In “Caesar and The Corruption of Power” by John H. Collins, he explains that Cicero and everyone else believes in Brutus and that it is right and just for his reasons to kill Caesar. For example, “But Cicero never changed his mind about either the wisdom or the justice of the assassination”(Collins 450). Brutus convinces everyone, including Cicero, that everyone truly believes it is right for Brutus to kill Caesar. Cicero never doubts Brutus for a second, as well as everyone else. In “Brutus's Noble Heroism is Superficial” by James C. Bulman, he describes how Brutus takes pride in murdering
In his speech, Brutus appeals to the loyalism of his audience by making intertwining arguments of ethos, pathos, and logos. He begins by establishing his ethos by asserting his status as an honorable fellow Roman worthy of their respect. He expands on this ethos by dividing it into three parts: his love of Caesar, his loyalty to Rome, and his relationship to his audience. Brutus tells his audience that he was a “dear friend” to the man he murdered, invoking a pathetic sense of sympathy from his audience. However, as he says himself, it was “not that [he] loved Caesar less, but that [he] loved Rome more,” strengthening his ethos as a loyal countryman with the interests of his audience at heart. After establishing an emotional connection to his audience and earning their trust, Brutus explains his logic
“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
Ambition is a force that helps drive societies forward. When the power of a nation falls in the hands of a single person ambition takes many spectacular and ugly forms. It can be both the making and destruction of that person but regardless of the net effect, ambition will have deep socio-economic, political, and cultural roots. Three dictators were taken by ambition and it pushed them into a costly, long, battle to obtain and maintain power. Those leaders are Macbeth, Idi Amin, and, Napoleon Bonaparte.
Specifically, Brutus has too much pride in himself to realize that he might have a wrong political standpoint, and that killing Caesar might not have been the best option. “Stoop, Romans, stoop, and let us bathe our hands in Caesar's blood up to the elbows, and besmear our swords. Then walk we forth, even to the marketplace, and, waving our red weapons o'er our heads, let's all cry "Peace, freedom, and liberty” (3.1.117)! Brutus shows pride in his actions and thinks it will only bring out great in the world. However, Caesar is going to take the crown when he is slain by Brutus and the conspirators. Turmoil is inevitable which causes a war to break out and many people to
In the book, Plutarch lives he discusses Caesar’s life and his position as a Roman leader. Plutarch describes Caesar as a man with an ambition that knows no limit. According to Plutarch Caesar aspires to obtain total control and will do anything to achieve it, which in Plutarch’s point of view is a bad characteristic. Plutarch presents Caesar as a powerful Roman leader with the capability to use his spirit and ambition to transform civilian men into ambitious soldiers. Caesar’s will to conquer additional territory and lead Rome represents his desire to obtain power and a powerful empire. Plutarch frames Caesar’s ambition as destructive and complicated. Plutarch makes the reader believe that Caesar’s ambition is ultimately a negative aspect
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.
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.
Brutus was a devious man, even though what he thought he was doing was right. Brutus told his fellow conspirators to kill Caesar “boldly, but not angerly.”(3.1.256-257) Brutus was one of Caesars right hand men, and yet Brutus kills his own friend. When Antony asks to speak at Caesars funeral, Cassius says no, but Brutus tell him that Antony will speak, but only what Brutus tells him to say. Brutus also embraces the fact that he just killed his friend, and also tells the senators who had just witnessed it to not be afraid, but to stay because ambition has paid its debt.
In Julius Caesar, Shakespeare illuminates the themes of human motivation and manipulation. He examines the relationship between actions and motivations, cause and effect, and word and deed, using the symbols of hands and hearts. Throughout the play, the characters Brutus and Marc Antony express their different understandings of this relationship rhetorically. In his 1953 film interpretation, Joseph L. Mankiewicz demonstrates these characters’ understanding through both the play’s original dialogue and his own interpolated action. It is interesting to see the different effects of spoken rhetoric, as we experience it in the play, and the visual rhetoric of the film. The play itself complicates matters of motivation and therefore does not answer the question of blame. When reading one character, the audience feels connected with their point of view, and when reading the other, they are made to feel unsure about their initial opinion. In the end, it is nearly impossible to discover the characters’ inner motives, and it is therefore difficult to place blame on one or the other. However, Mankiewicz visually presents the complex relationship between these two symbols and in doing so, he creates a more sympathetic persona for Brutus than the one in the play. He focuses on the hands as a symbol of unity, love, and friendship, and where characters use hands for evil acts, he is quick to juxtapose the actions of hands from the motivations of the heart. While Shakespeare uses this juxtaposition to merely complicate the matter without solving it, Mankiewicz uses it to simplify the question. For Mankiewicz, Brutus’ involvement in the murder of Caesar, does not wholly reflect his character, and the audience is made to see a more human, vulne...
First of all, Marcus Brutus has the character flaw of poor judge of character. He cannot discern a person’s character or true motivation. He, however, acts on his judgments, regardless of whether they are true or not. Brutus feels that Caesar is too ambitious for power, and that he, along with the other eight men plotting the demise of Caesar, must prevent it, “And therefore think him as a serpent’s egg— / Which, hatched, would as his kind grow mischievous— / And kill him in the shell” (911). Brutus decides that Caesar must die because he ambitious. Ambition is not necessarily an evil and virulent thing. Ambition causes men and women to strive towards reaching an attainment. Brutus assumes that Caesar will turn his back on his supporters due to this ambition. One of the most famous lines in Julius Caesar is the dying words of Caesar: “Et tu, Bruté?—Then fall, Caesar” (938). If Caesar had truly turned h...
In front of the people of Rome at Caesar’s funeral whilst giving his speech, Antony makes up Brutus to up to be this honorable and noble man, nonetheless Brutus is one of the conspirators who ended Caesar’s life. Caesar has been slain by, Trebonius, Cinna, Cassius, Brutus, Ligarius, Decius, Metellus and Casca. All because most had felt that he was too ambitious for their liking, Cassius has manipulated each one of them into committing the crime alongside him. Once Caesar is killed, Brutus delivers his speech, saying, “Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more”(lll.ii.20). Basically just trying to justify the reason he helped to kill one of the most loved Romans in all of Rome. Antony then comes out and begins his speech at Caesar’s
The motif of ambition runs continuously throughout Julius Caesar, written by William Shakespeare, which originates in Ancient Rome and highlights the power struggles, politics and deceit of those vying for power. Ambition leads many of the characters such as Caesar, Cassius, and Brutus to a fate different from what they expected. The play revolves around Caesar, his ascent to power and his eventual loss of everything. Although ambition may lead these public officials to power, it is the same ambition that will be their downfall, ultimately resulting in the death of Julius Caesar, Cassius, and Brutus.
Through out history money, wealth and capital have dictated a way of life to the masses. Wealth dictated the lives that the rich lived and the lives of the poor that worked for and surrounded them. In some cultures your class could never be escaped in life, you had to wait for your next incarnation, while in other cultures the idea of wealth transcended a life and allowed for growth from one class to another. This is the reality of a capitalist society that was first discussed by Karl Marx in the 19th century.
Brutus’ speech at Caesar’s funeral is said in order the people of Rome, to better understand why the blood of Caesar was spilt. “Only be patient till we have appeased the multitude, beside themselves with fear” (74). Brutus realizes that the assassination would not look good in the eyes of the civilians; until explained. “Our reasons are so full of good regard that were you, Antony, the son of Caesar, you should be satisfied” (76). He truly believes that what was done, had to be done, for the good of Rome.
Ambition is defined as a strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work. Some may look at this to as a bad thing or a good thing. Some may say that i moderation it is fine. For example, in Julius Caesar, Brutus kills Caesar for having too much ambition. A tragic fall is considered when the main character lets something less than what they are bring them down. When they let their flaw get to them and drive them towards their own demise. The reason people see this is a bad thing is because it can lead to making the person do bad things that will result in possibly dangerous consequences. The reason why some may think ambition is good is because sometimes it is the only thing motivating someone