Julius Caesar Flaws

Julius Caesar was a great leader of Rome and because he was a great leader, he felt that nothing could harm him. He felt so powerful because of his accomplishments in the Roman Empire and that it led to him being prideful, arrogant and ambitious. These tragic flaws together result in a great leader, however, it led to Caesar’s death.

From the beginning of the play, Julius Caesar had so much power that it caused him to be weak minded when it comes to fear. For example, Caesar was talking to Antony and said to him “I rather tell thee what is to be feared than what I fear; for always I am Caesar” (Shakespeare, 1.2.221-222). He is telling Antony what to be fearful about but Caesar is saying that he doesn’t fear anything since he’s the great Caesar. Because of the power he has, he becomes so arrogant that he thinks nothing could hurt him and stop him. All he could think was about himself rather than everyone

else around him.
Also from the beginning, Caesar got a warning from Soothsayer saying “Beware the ides of March” (Shakespeare, 1.2.21). Once Caesar heard that twice, he looked at him and said, “He is a dreamer. Let us leave him. Pass” (Shakespeare, 1.2.29). At that part, Caesar showed his arrogance and he did not want to take into consideration of what Soothsayer said.
Throughout the play, Julius Caesar had gotten many chances to avoid his death.

His wife, Calphurnia, had a dream and “thrice hath Calphurnia in her sleep cried out ‘Help ho, they murder Caesar!” but Caesar just thought that something was wrong with her or she was just having a bad dream (Shakespeare, 2.2.2-3). Her dreams foreshadows that harm was coming his way and she was warning him. However, Caesar does not believe it because it is just a dream. When Caesar decided to leave the house, Calphurnia convinced Caesar that he should stay safely at home. She told Caesar how she never believed in omens, but they are frightening her. She also told him about a servant who told her that the watchmen saw horrible sights and how she’s afraid and didn’t want him to go (Shakespeare, 2.2.13-26). Decius, however, persuaded Caesar to go because “if Caesar hide himself, shall they not whisper ‘Lo, Caesar is afraid’” (Shakespeare, 2.2.105-106). People would think that Caesar is afraid of showing up just because his wife had a bad dream and he didn’t want people to think

that.
Another scene where he gets a warning about the upcoming tragedy is when Caesar receives a letter from Artemidorus telling him to watch out. Artemidorus wrote specifically about each person, their plot and how they all are aiming directly toward Caesar (Shakespeare, 2.3.1-10). Instead of reading the letter and ignoring it, Caesar hands it to the conspirators and moves his attention to the piece of paper he receives from Decius.
In the end, Julius Caesar received multiple warnings about harm was coming towards his way. However, he let his pride, arrogant, and ambitious get in his way and put himself in danger to his downfall. If Caesar did not think that he would look cowardly in front of everybody just because his wife told him not to go, he would have been safe and he would have been murdered.