More handpicked essays just for you.
Shakespeare influences on modern langauge
Shakespeare's influence on modern culture
Shakespeare's influence on modern culture
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Shakespeare influences on modern langauge
John 1:1-2 (NIV) says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.” This verse displays that words hold power and can influence minds. Words were with God in the very beginning. God created the universe using words. How can anything be more powerful? In the play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, the power of words is a conquering theme throughout.
To begin, Brutus spoke words with a tone that was capable of altering thoughts of many people. Believe me in that I am still honorable, “and have respect to mine honor,” that you may agree (III, II, 14-15). Brutus states these words towards the beginning of his address to the crowd; he is declaring that he is still the loyal character that everyone knows him to be. This can persuade the crowd to get rid of all guilty charges that they may have in their head before he even begins to display the conspirator’s intentions. This was a highly intelligent decision by Brutus, this leaves him with almost a clean slate at the beginning of what is, constructing their own opinion, for...
In his speech, Brutus appeals to the loyalism of his audience by making intertwining arguments of ethos, pathos, and logos. He begins by establishing his ethos by asserting his status as an honorable fellow Roman worthy of their respect. He expands on this ethos by dividing it into three parts: his love of Caesar, his loyalty to Rome, and his relationship to his audience. Brutus tells his audience that he was a “dear friend” to the man he murdered, invoking a pathetic sense of sympathy from his audience. However, as he says himself, it was “not that [he] loved Caesar less, but that [he] loved Rome more,” strengthening his ethos as a loyal countryman with the interests of his audience at heart. After establishing an emotional connection to his audience and earning their trust, Brutus explains his logic
The first dishonorable act Brutus commits is not standing up for what he believes to be true. He agrees to kill Caeser only because Cassius convinces him that it must be done. Brutus did not mind Caeser until Cassius filled his head with all that poppycock. Although he didn’t want Caeser to have the crown, he did not actually consider killing his old companion until a good firm talking to from Cassius. Before talking to Cassius Brutus actually believed Caeser to be semi-noble. After a conversation with Cassius however, he viewed Caeser to be ambitious. If Brutus would have rejected Cassius’ proposal and stood up for what he believed in, then he could be viewed as an honorable man.
Brutus put his trust in Antony to not turn on him at the funeral. He was lead to believe that Antony would only speak good of the conspirators and defend them for the actions they have made. He trusted Antony when he told him he would not express such hate and talk of the bad they did and then later turned against them for the vengeance of Caesar. Brutus told Antony, “You shall not in your funeral speech blame us, But speak all good you can devise of Caesar” (III.i.245-246). He told him that the only way he is going to be able to speak at Caesar’s funeral is if he speaks good of the conspirators. After Antony said his speech, the whole crowd immediately switched and sided with him against them. They wanted nothing more than for Brutus, Cassius and the other contributors to be dead. This reveals that Brutus is shameful for putting his trust in someone who was so close to Caesar. Brutus trusted that Antony wouldn't do anything and just imagined he would be to scared to step up and speak out. This leads to Brutus losing the trust he had for Antony and starting a war between the people and the conspirators. As the war was about to proceed, they all prepped for what was about to happen. Antony and his army completely dominated Brutus’ and lead to many of them fleeing for their lives. Many people died by genocide while other committed suicide. Brutus was among the ones of suicide. He no longer wanted to be alive and felt that he had lived and fulfill what he had wanted. People were dead and he knew he was going to be one of them. Brutus’ last words were, “Caesar, now be still; I killed not thee with half so good a will” (V.v.50-51). He wanted Caesar to know that he can now be at rest because the vengeance he was looking for has been given. Because of all the trust he put in the people that were taking advantage of him, he ended up finishing his life. This reveals that Brutus really did
Brutus also places his faith in the honor of others, refusing to take a group oath assuming the honor of the individual is the strongest thing there is. Brutus lives his life based almost entirely on the idea of honor, yet he somehow fails to see the dishonor in killing his close friend to prevent him from rising to power.
As a “speculative man of high motives and refined sensibility”(Catherine C. Dominic) Brutus does have his confusion of motives. Act I, scene ii, is the first we see his weakness, “his concern with reputation and appearance, his subtle vanity and pride”(Gayle Green). Yet the main bases of Brutus’s bewilderment of motives takes place in Act II, scene I, with his famous soliloquy beginning with “It must be by his death”. This speech may be the turning point in which Brutus feels better about the assassination of his once called friend.
As one of the most well known authors of the Elizabethan Era, Shakespeare had written numerous sonnets and plays reflecting the values of people of the time period. Shakespeare often display themes of love and death, fate and free will, and power and weaknesses throughout his works of literature. The play "The Tragedy of Julius” truly highlight the impact of fate and free will in the development of the plot, of the assassination of Caesar’s death. Some may argue that fate is actually the one responsible for the act, but they fail to recognize that it is the acts of men leading to the death. It is the free will at fault for this occurrence, that the Roman senators consciously killed Caesar and Caesar himself facing his mortality.
Brutus was a devious man, even though what he thought he was doing was right. Brutus told his fellow conspirators to kill Caesar “boldly, but not angerly.”(3.1.256-257) Brutus was one of Caesars right hand men, and yet Brutus kills his own friend. When Antony asks to speak at Caesars funeral, Cassius says no, but Brutus tell him that Antony will speak, but only what Brutus tells him to say. Brutus also embraces the fact that he just killed his friend, and also tells the senators who had just witnessed it to not be afraid, but to stay because ambition has paid its debt.
Brutus has several tragic flaws. One of these tragic flaws is how he trusts people a lot. Brutus says that he “know[s] that we shall have [Antony] well to a friend” (1140). He trusts Antony will be a friend of the conspirators, yet he seems to not realize that Antony is obliviously against them, because they killed his friend. Brutus trusts Antony so much, that he lets Antony speak to the public alone. Antony turns the people against Brutus and the conspirators, leading to the wars where Brutus takes his own life. Brutus also receives letters, supposedly from the people of Rome. As he reads the letter out loud, Brutus remarks “‘Speak, strike, redress!’ Am I entreated to speak and strike? O Rome, I make thee promise, if thy redress will follow, thy receivest thy full petition at the hand of Brutus” (1118).
For example, when he addresses the crowd in his funeral speech, Brutus states, “Believe me/for mine honor and have respect to mine honor/that you may believe” (3.2.15-17). Brutus appeals to ethos and establishes his credibility by repeating “honor”. The public now believes that he does indeed have “honor”. He also convinces the public that he is trustworthy by appealing to ethos. Similarly after Brutus’ death Antony states, “This was the noblest Roman…/All of the conspirators, save only he/did that they did in envy of great Caesar” (5.5.74-76). Antony is the enemy of Brutus and yet he still refers to Brutus as the “noblest Roman”, which verifies that Brutus is actually honorable. Antony is stating that while all the other senators kill Caesar out of “envy”, Brutus’ intentions to kill Caesar was for the good of Rome and its citizens. This reveals that Brutus has no other hidden agenda for wanting to execute Caesar, and therefore Brutus has the most purest intentions out of all the other conspirators. This confirms that he is the most noble Roman because he is not thinking about what he wants. Instead, he is thinking about the people and how they would feel if Caesar becomes a dictator. Brutus possesses nobility and honor. Those two qualities are vital to being an effective leader because the people can then
Throughout his speech, Antony repeats the words “[Caesar] was ambitious” and “Brutus is an honorable man” to create a contrast between the two statements. (3.2.95-96). Through this repetition, Caesar successfully undermines Brutus. Everytime he calls Brutus an honorable man, he lists a positive trait of Caesar that contradicts Brutus’s claim that he was too ambitious. He tells the crowd about the times when Caesar showed compassion for the people and when he refused the crown thrice. Antony’s sarcasm about Brutus’s honor brings into question as to whether his honor deserved. This leads the audience to doubt their feelings upon Caesar’s ambition. Near the end of his eulogy, Antony uses apostrophe when he claims that “judgment ... art fled to brutish beasts” as a reason for why the Roman people believe Brutus. (3.2.114-115). Antony indirectly shames the crowd for their belief in Brutus in that Caesar was a tyrant. Fearing alienation of the crowd, he attributes this belief to a lapse in judgement that beasts have taken. Antony also makes a pun upon Brutus’s name when he comments “brutish beasts.” Antony implies Brutus has caused a lapse in judgement within the Roman people through his oration
Brutus made his speech effective in persuading the people by using tone and rhetorical devices. Brutus was compassionate when referring to how he loved Caesar as much as Caesar`s friends of his speech. Brutus was showing compassion on lines18 - 20 when he said, "If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of Caesar's, to him I say that Brutus's love to Caesar was no less than his." Brutus said this to help the people understand the sorrow he felt for the loss of Caesar, but he felt he killed Caesar for the good of Rome. Brutus anticipated an objection by the people when he said he loved Caesar , so he went on to say on lines 20 - 23, "If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer: Not that I love Caesar less, but Rome more."Brutus manipulated the people with rhetorical questions. He asks them on lines 29 - 33, " who is so base, that they would be a bondman, who is so rude, that they would not be a Roman, and who is so vile, that will not love his country," the people do not want to be against their country nor do they want to be so base to be a slave....
Consequently, unexplainable events and obscure beings of Shakespeare's tragedies indicate a diversion from God's natural order. They present the 'unnatural' in a sense of violation of certain established laws and norms, suggesting an inevitably tragic destiny for central characters, unable to deal with forces outside of their accepted reality (Randell 1976). Thus, for Macbeth, three witches and their occult powers, encountered in Act 1 and later in Act 4, conform to an image of abominations of nature, subverting moral principles of the protagonist. Other supernatural phenomena, such as Banquo's ghost or an air-drawn dagger, indicate an ever-present element of evil. Similarly, characters in Julius Caesar
Language is a powerful thing. Shakespeare gave the characters in Julius Caesar the power of speech. Shakespeare wanted the audience to know that having great word usage and control in a language can be powerful in many ways. In Julius Caesar, the characters used their power of speech to achieve respect, loyalty, and trust from others. Many respected men in the play used their words to deceive and mislead other intelligent characters. Cassius, through the powerful use of speech, managed to persuade Brutus to join the conspirators.
Tragedies most often refer back to the actions of men. The play Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, provides a good example to how the quote is shown to be accurate." The calamities of tragedy do not simply happen, nor are they sent [by the gods]: they proceed mainly from actions, and those actions of men." This statement is profoundly proven through the past and present actions of the conspirators throughout the play. From the beginning of the play, the reader can identify who will necessarily betray and plot to murder Caesar.