The Nature of Change

Humans have a tendency to point out the flaws in their peers, simply because it is easier to find someone’s flaws instead of their strengths. Bertrand Russell’s essay, “Individual liberty and Public Control,” supports this idea by suggesting that all societies are quick to judge and immediately reject any change that makes itself present in the community. In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Julius Caesar, Marcus Brutus, and Mark Antony are innovators that gain direct support of the Roman masses and refute this idea of societies direct resistance to change. Bertrand Russell’s views on society’s reaction to innovators and the upheaval of the status quo are not an accurate depiction of the Roman republic’s reaction to the three key innovators of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.

Julius Caesar was an innovator that used his bravery and skilled military tactics to establish an empire and create a republic that adored and respected him. Shakespeare manifests this respect for Caesar in the opening scene of the play, when Marullus says,“Knew you not Pompey? Many a time and oft have you climbed up to walls…to see great Pompey pass the streets of Rome,” (1.1.42-43, 47). Pompey was the ruler that the Roman masses originally supported, but as soon as Caesar became powerful they rejected Pompey and immediately began to support Caesar. Humans want to side with the person that will bring them success and happiness, and clearly the majority of Romans are willing to change who they favor if it is in their best interest, proving them to be much more open to change than Russell would like to think. Russell suggests several reasons why societies would resist change,“The most important of these [reasons] is the instinct of conventionality,” (Russell 1). Russ...

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...to exist and work,” (Russell 1). He maintains that all innovators who attempt to overthrow the status quo will face extreme adversity and will rarely be successful. This is not true in Mark Antony’s case, because he faced little hardship in getting the Roman masses to agree with him and set his plan of anarchy and chaos into motion.

The representation of human nature through the characters of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar refutes Bertrand Russell’s argument that humans resist change whenever possible. Julius Caesar, Marcus Brutus, and Mark Antony were innovators that were at some point successful, largely because of the Roman masses being so open to change. The Roman masses and their overall ability to change from one opinion to the next is indicative of man’s ability to easily accept change when it is in their best interest and not always feel the need to resist it.