Brenda Umana 15 July 2014 Daniels English 3 The Tragedy of Julius Caesar While reading the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar you see all the flaws that Julius possesses, although there is various ones, there is one flaw that will be most agreeable. The greatest flaw that Julius holds is his arrogance, and this brought his downfall. For starters, throughout the play Caesar displays extreme cockiness, and while confidence is a great trait to have, cockiness isn’t. It is shown when Caesar is speaking to Antony about fear. Antony ensures him that he shouldn’t fear Cassius, at which Caesar responds with “I rather tell thee what is to be feared Than what I fear, for always I am Caesar” (I.ii.212-13). He explains that although men like Cassius are worthy of fear, they are not worthy of his. And he goes on by saying that he is Caesar, as if it was obvious that he does not distress over anyone. With all that cockiness, it is no surprise that he has an enormous ego. This is projected many times in the play and it is no secret that he thinks highly of himself. For instance, when Calpurnia talks to him about him not going out for his own safety, he proudly answers her with “Caesar shall forth. The things that threatened me, Ne'er looked but on my back. …show more content…
When they shall see The face of Caesar, they are vanished” (II.ii.10-13). He tells Calpurnia, that although there are risks of him going out, no harm will come to him. Once they see he is the Caesar they will all run for fear will strike them. His pride was a huge part of his demise; he wanted to maintain the strong image of which many people had of him. He feared no one and he wanted all to know, and he never shied from anything. He would do anything to preserve his pride, no matter how foolish it was. You can easily see it when he is invited to go to the senate, although he knows how dangerous it is outside, he is willing to go so he will not be seen as weak to the gods. When Calpurnia is trying talking him out of it he answers her “The gods do this in shame of cowardice. Caesar should be a beast without a heart, If he should stay at home today for fear. No, Caesar shall not. Danger knows full well, That Caesar is more dangerous than he. We are two lions littered in one day, And I the elder and more terrible. And Caesar shall go forth.” (II.ii.41-48). He states that if he does not go, the gods will believe he did not out of fear, and he will not have that. Although he is aware of the awful in the streets, he is confident he can and will handle it. With all those strong traits, I believe he was the cause of his own down fall.
Although he didn’t literally kill himself, I believe he played the biggest part in it. While Cassius and Brutus were the ones who actually planned his death, he was the one who let it happen. The plan was to get to get Caesar to the senate and to murder him. Calpurnia dreamed that something bad was to happen to Caesar, and her attempts to keep him home safe were in vain. She told him to fake sick, but he found her request silly. He believed that he would like a coward if he dared to lie to the old men. Again he doesn’t go with his sense, but with his pride, and because of it he ends up getting murdered at the senate. (Shakespeare
II.ii.65-67) With as much arrogance, and pride as he did, I think he was doomed from the start. Those were his tragic flaws and it doesn’t matter how much time he bought for himself he was still going to have an unpleasant down fall, and that was the tragedy of Julius Caesar.
Cassius, a very suspicious character throughout the play tells Brutus to “be not jealous on me” (827), in the quote he tells Brutus to not be suspicious of him because he is just a friend who genuinely cares. Cassius does this to put himself on Brutus’ side and not seem like a distant person, this allows him to criticize Caesar and suggest that he is a bad influence on Rome which appeals to Brutus’ desire to keep Rome safe. After setting himself up as a friend to Brutus, Cassius uses harsh anecdotes on the weakness of Caesar to show that he isn’t fit to rule Rome. Cassius recollects a time when he and Caesar went swimming in the river Tiber and Caesar screamed “Help me, Cassius or I sink” (828) to depict Caesar as a little baby compared to the colossus he is said to be.... ... middle of paper ...
Julius Caesar, even though he is considered great, turns out to contain many flaws. He believes himself to be untouchable, and has a confidence that he cannot be harmed, even though that is not the case. He says so when he says, “Caesar shall forth. The things that threatened me ne’er looked but on ...
Summary opinion: Cassius is guilty of extenuating circumstances. He is overwhelmingly jealous of Caesar’s popularity and believes he must stop it by convincing Brutus to join his side. He does so by sending fake letters and speaking about the dictatorship of Caesar. His actions played the most prominent role in the cause of Caesar’s death. Facts: “Ye gods, it doth amaze me a man of such feeble temper should so get the start of the majestic world and bear the palm alone.
Brutus technically kills himself. He has someone hold his sword while Brutus runs into it. He did this because he knew the battle was over and did not want anyone to have the honor of killing him.
First of all, Caesar always felt entitled to himself and always had the audacity to see everyone as beneath him. A great example of Caesar’s bravery and fearlessness is when he was eighteen and was escape the punishment from the dictator Sulla, so in the process he was captured by pirates, who decided to be help for ransom. “When they demanded twenty talents for his ransom, he laughed at them for not knowing who he was, and spontaneously promised to give them fifty talents instead, Next after he had dispatched friends to various cites to gather the money…he felt so superior to them that whenever he wanted to sleep, he would order them to be quiet” . Even being surrounded by murderous pirates clearly out numbered, he refused to let them think that they were in charge while he was in their captivity for thirty-eight days.
... too late to do anything about it. So, he kills himself. He did this because he realized what he had done and felt he needed to take accountability. Before he died, he says “Caesar, now be still, I killed not thee with half so good a will.” He is now realizing that he really didn’t have as good a reason as he thought to kill Caesar.
Julius Caesar's Responsibility for His Own Death in William Shakespeare's Play. William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar is a tale of a very ambitious. Roman who is betrayed by his nearest and dearest, not to mention most. trusted, a friend of mine.
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
Brutus’ final flaw is his idealism. His idealism leads him to believe everything that everybody tells him. His idealism causes him to believe in Antony and Cassius. Cassius uses Brutus’ idealism by getting him to believe that they are killing Caesar for the betterment of Rome. Antony uses the idealism to get to talk to the com Brutus’ tragic flaws are part of what makes him a tragic hero. In Julius Caesar, Brutus is a great example of a tragic hero. His tragic flaws are honor, poor judgement, and idealism (Bedell). In Shakespeare’s plays, the tragic hero and his flaws cause the downfall of the play (Tragic Flaws).
Cassius is unhappy about Caesar potentially becoming king of Rome and Cassius works to encourage Brutus to plot against Caesar by saying, “except immortal Caesar, speaking of Brutus and groaning underneath this age’s yoke, have wished that noble Brutus had his eyes” (1.2.61-64). Cassius mentions to Brutus that people are speaking about Rome and how they wish Brutus would notice what could happen if Caesar is crowned. Cassius reveals to Brutus that the people are wondering why someone as noble as Brutus is not aware of what could happen if Caesar is crowned. Cassius is practically stroking Brutus’ ego to make him feel as though he is wiser than Caesar and should do something about Caesar. Once Caesar is dead and the triumvirate and Cassius and Brutus’ armies are in battle, Cassius yet again proves he is dishonorable when he exclaims that, “If this be known, Cassius or Caesar never shall turn back, for I will slay myself” (3.1.24-26). Committing suicide was not an honorable thing to do because it was not accepting the consequences of one’s actions. Cassius does not have the same honest reasons for the conspiracy as Brutus does, so he is constantly worried about being caught. Throughout the play, Cassius threatens to kill himself because to him, it is the easy way out and he can escape his problems without solving them. In Act 4, Cassius plays the pity card in order to make Brutus feel bad for him when he complains, “Strike, as thou didst at Caesar. For I know when thou didst hate him worst, thou lovedst him better than ever thou lovedst Cassius” (4.3.110-113). Cassius whines to Brutus that Brutus does not care as much about him as he did about Caesar. Cassius is manipulating Brutus to make him pity him. He knows that Brutus does not want Cassius to be upset so Brutus will try to reason with him, ultimately allowing Cassius to have his
sc. II, 97-99). Cassius is also enraged because Caesar doesn't like him. Caesar suggests, "Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look; / He thinks too much. such men are dangerous" (Act I, sc. II, 194-195). Cassius thinks that Caesar's temper is dangerous. He declares, "Ye gods! It doth amaze me, / A man of such a feeble temper should / So get the start of the majestic world, / And bear the palm alone" (Act I, sc. II, 128-131). See also & nbsp; Casca also is jealous of Caesar.
In addition, “Might fire the blood of ordinary men/ To think that Caesar bears such rebel blood” (III.i.41&44). This quote demonstrates Caesar’s arrogance because he is implying that he is not a commoner, but a more powerful figure. “I rather tell thee what is to be feared/Than what I fear; for always I am Caesar” (I.ii.221-222). This quote demonstrates that Caesar is arrogant because he would never admit to the words he says due to the fact that it is the shameful truth. Also, “Help ho, they murder Caesar” (II.ii.3). This quote shows Caesar’s arrogance because he calls himself from the third person. This can demonstrate his tragic flaw because every commoner refers to themselves using first person nouns and since Caesar is more superior then others, he will act differently around the commoners. In addition to that, “Delay not, Caesar; read it instantly/ What is the fellow mad” (III.i.9-10). This quote demonstrates Caesar’s arrogance because he does not listen to Artemidorus’ warning that during the Ides of March, the conspirators (Metellus, Brutus, Cassius, Cinna, Decius, and Casca) will kill him. The reason he does not listen to his warnings because “Danger knows full well/ That Caesar is
One source states, “The conspirators kill Caesar because of his egotism: as republicans, they fear he will become a dictator”(“Shakespeare ’s World of Death”p. 76). Brutus, Cassius, Casca, Cimber, Decius, Metallus, Lagarious, and many others were involved in the stabbing. His death is so tragic because he never would have thought that his best friends would betray him.
Shakespeare shows Caesar to be, what you could say, a contradiction. The audience see how Caesar respects Antony's soldier-ship yet still fights him; they see how he clearly loves his sister, but uses her unscrupulously as a political device; and they are shown how he is very rational and dull, yet he surprisingly tells his soldiers, as well as some Egyptians about how he would parade the defeated Cleopatra. He wants to do this because he feels that 'her life in Rome would be eternal in our triumph.' This shows the reader how Caesar has strong emotional outcries, which contrasts his initial characteristics.
	Shakespeare illustrated Caesar as a tragic hero by showing that he was a noble man of high rank. Every Roman followed his leadership and Caesar also defeated the great Pompey. First of all, At the Feast of Lupercal Caesar manipulated the commoners and made himself look noble to the commoners. Casca said, "Why there was a crown offered to him;...people fell a-shouting" (I,ii,221-223). Next, To show how noble and great Caesar was, the Romans would stand along the street sides to watch him pass by. "Madam not yet, I go to take my stand; /To see him pass on to the Capitol," said the soothsayer (II,iv,25-26). Finally, Caesar had the greatest rank possible as he would have been crowned king if it wasn’t for the conspiracy’s plot. As Casca said, "Indeed they say senators tomorrow; /Mean to establish Caesar as king..." (I,iii,87-88).