“Even the noblest men can be seduced by power; it has the power to kill, to distort, and to corrupt” Through this passage, Matthew Sims captures in essence how individuals often turn to betrayal and deception in order to gain their heart’s desires. This characteristic is not only present in life, but can also be seen in modern and classical literature, including the well known work of Julius Caesar. In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, the lust for power transcends any one individual and ultimately leads to death and corruption of not only Caesar, but also of Brutus and Cassius. The play begins with Caesar parading through the streets of Rome as he triumphs in his victory over Pompey. However, Brutus, Cassius, and many others hatch a plot to assassinate Caesar in order to save the Roman Republic from a dictatorship (Shakespeare). The conspirators lure Caesar to the Senate, where they carry out their ominous plans. As a result, many of Caesar’s supporters, such as Mark Antony, seize power drive the conspirators from the city. As the months pass, both the conspirators and Caesar’s supporters raise armies and eventually wage battle in the Italian plains (Shakespeare). As the battle comes to a close, it becomes clear that the corrupt and appalling actions that had previously taken place had been rectified when supporters will triumph and many conspirators take their own lives as their army crumbles.
Speaking of corruption, by the time of the play’s start the Republic is rank with fraud and manipulation. The reader is introduced not to a democracy, but to a tyrannical government controlled by an ever exploitive Caesar. Caesar’s overwhelming obsession with power tempted him to abuse his position of power, a temptation that was too much f...
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...th guilt, greed, and remorse (Henze). It is clear that the longing for power was the source of the sequence of events that lead to the death of Brutus.
Works Cited
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Henze, Richard. "Power and Spirit in Julius Caesar." EXPLORING Shakespeare. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Student Resources in Context. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
Levin, Richard A. "Brutus: `Noblest Roman of Them All'." EXPLORING Shakespeare. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Student Resources in Context. Web. 13 Nov. 2013.
Sims, Matthew. "The Political Odyssey: Shakespeare's Exploration of Ethics in Julius Caesar." Bloom's Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 13 Nov. 2013
McManus, Barbara F. "Julius Caesar: Historical Background." Vroma. N.p., Mar. 2011. Web. 21 Feb. 2014.
Shakespeare, William. “The Tragedy of Julius Caesar.” Elements of Literature: Kylene Beers. Austin: Holt, 2009. 842-963. Print.
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Shakespeare, William. "The Death and Life of Julius Caesar." www.shakespeare.mit.edu. N.P., n.d. Web. 22 Feb 2016. ;.
Livius, Titus. "The History of Rome, Vol. III." Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library. 8 11, 2005. http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/Liv3His.html (accessed 3 1, 2010).
The play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare showcases many characters and events that go through many significant changes. One particular character that went through unique changes was Julius Caesar. The 16th century work is a lengthy tragedy about the antagonists Brutus and Cassius fighting with the protagonists Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus over the murder of Julius Caesar. Although the play’s main pushing conflict was the murder of Julius Caesar, he is considered a secondary character, but a protagonist. Throughout the theatrical work Julius Caesar’s actions, alliances, character developments, and internal and external conflicts display his diverse changes.
Allen, Janet. "Julius Caesar." Holt McDougal Literature. Orlando, FL: Holt McDougal/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. N. pag. Print.
Shakespeare’s complex play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar contains several tragic heroes; a tragic hero holds high political or social esteem yet possesses an obvious character flaw. This discernible hubris undoubtedly causes the character’s demise or a severe forfeiture, which forces the character to undergo an unfeigned moment of enlightenment and shear reconciliation. Brutus, one of these tragic heroes, is a devout friend of the great Julius Caesar, that is, until he makes many execrable decisions he will soon regret; he becomes involved in a plot to kill the omniscient ruler of Rome during 44 B.C. After committing the crime, Mark Antony, an avid, passionate follower of Caesar, is left alive under Brutus’s orders to take his revenge on the villains who killed his beloved Caesar. After Antony turns a rioting Rome on him and wages war against him and the conspirators, Brutus falls by his own hand, turning the very sword he slaughtered Caesar with against himself. Brutus is unquestionably the tragic hero in this play because he has an innumerable amount of character flaws, he falls because of these flaws, and then comes to grips with them as he bleeds on the planes of Philippi.
Cambridge UP, 1994. Palmer, D. J. & Co., Inc. The "Tragic Error in Julius Caesar." Shakespeare Quarterly. 21-22 (1970): 399.
In William Shakespeare's play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, two speeches are given to the people of Rome about Caesar's death. In Act 3, Scene 2 of this play Brutus and Antony both try to sway the minds of the Romans toward their views. Brutus tried to make the people believe he killed Caesar for a noble cause. Antony tried to persuade the people that the conspirators committed an act of brutality toward Caesar and were traitors. The effectiveness and ineffectiveness of both Antony's and Brutus's speech to the people are conveyed through tone and rhetorical devices.
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.
will change to virtue and to worthiness" (Act I, sc. III, 157-160). See also. & nbsp ; Brutus is the only conspirator who does not act out of jealousy and envy.
Alvin B. Kernan. The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009. Print.
Shakespeare, William. "The Tragedy of Julius Caesar." Houghton Mifflin Company. The Riverside Shakespeare. Ed. G. Blakemore Evans. Boston, 1994.
Revenge. Revenge causes one to act blindly without reason. It is based on the principle of an eye for an eye, however this principle is not always a justified one to follow. In Julius Caesar, Antony seeks to avenge the death of Caesar. Antony acts on emotion which leads to the demise of Brutus, who is a noble man that does not deserve to be killed. Revenge is a central theme within Julius Caesar. This is demonstrated through Antony's desire to avenge Caesar's death, and also the return of Julius Caesar's ghost. Revenge is again exemplified through the violent course of action, which is taken by the Plebeians in an attempt to seek justice for the assassination of their Roman superior.