Julius Caesar's Responsibility for His Own Death in William Shakespeare's Play

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, friends. Caesar, a famous military general had great hopes of

one day becoming sole ruler of Rome,- but was prevented from doing so

by his own death . Caesar was a great man,- brave and noble,- having

all the virtues of a hero,- but most terrible in his ambitiousness.

Ultimately,- it is his great ambition that leads to his downfall.

Caesar's death was a most tragic event indeed, for he would have made

a great roman monarch. However, there were many unheeded warnings and

caveats which might have averted his death.

In the first act itself we see that Caesar comes across a soothsayer

who fore tells that the future holds terrible things for Caesar. The

seer warns Caesar to 'Beware the ides of March' (the fifteenth of

March), which he foresees to hold terrible danger for Caesar. However,

Caesar thinks him to be a common fool and does not pay attention to

him. However, it is later seen that if Caesar had heeded the

soothsayer's warnings he might have escaped his death as the

conspiracy chooses that very day to carry out their planned murder.

Caesar always likes to hear good things, and bad news upsets him,

which is why he declares the seer to be a crazy dreamer and does not

heed his caveats, which he has to indeed pay for in the end.

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In the second act, several strange occurrences convince Calpurnia,

Caesar's wife, that something is ind...

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...ack. And so, it is finally this one

small flaw in him, which leads to his ruin. In Caesar's case,- his

arrogance and overconfidence, his greed for flattery, his ignorance,

and most of all,- his ambitiousness, were the cause of his downfall.

When discussing the death of Julius Caesar and the various ways in

which it might have been avoided, one comes across many 'if's',- If

Caesar had done this, or if Caesar had done that… he might have been

saved. But fate, it seems had deemed a different course for Caesar.

Despite the many warnings, omens, and chances of escape,- death, like

a cold shadow, did indeed sweep its cold fingers over him, in the end.

Everything went as planned, and Julius Caesar was stabbed to death in

the Capitol, that fateful day, by the very men he trusted the most.

And so fell the mighty Caesar ….