The Sacrilege: Caesar A Political Mastermind
Throughout the book "The Sacrilege," Caesar evolved from a political nothing, to a political mastermind. It is easy to see his progress through the eyes of a character by the name of Decius. He helps use to realize that Caesar wanted three main things in this scheme. He desired money, some military men, and finally a consulship. To get what he wanted, Caesar had to be smart, powerful, and a little sneaky. Decius changes his views on how he views Caesar through a series of events throughout the story. Decius gains respect for
Caesar and so does every else who has seen Caesar in action.
At first, Decius doesn't believe that Caesar will amount to much in his lifetime. He believes that Caesar would rather live a luxurious and relaxed life. Although Caesar didn't think so. Burra, who thought that Caesar would be brilliant if he enlisted and controlled a legion, was exactly correct. Caesar, as history as shown, is a brilliant leader. Caesar believed that by leading you must not just make a plan, you must carry it out with his own manpower. He was always on his horse leading his pack through the bloodshed, not like many other leaders. When Decius was talking to Milo towards the beginning of the story he says that Caesar is known for being "reckless." He recounts the story of the pirates that captured him. Also in that conversation, Decius puts down Caesar because he says that Caesar has no money and that even as Pontifex Maximus, he still doesn't have any money. So he thinks less of Caesar when Milo tells him about a huge loan from Crassus to Caesar because he couldn't pay off his debts.
Decius starts to gain respect for Caesar when he makes the announcement, as Pontifex Maximus, to label the "heinous" crime a "sacrilege." Caesar walks so seriously and confidently people "lose their stony faces" when Caesar arrives.
Although when Caesar makes the remark of "Caesar's wife must be above suspicion," Decius is the first person to burst out laughing. He loses some of the respect for Caesar that he will later notice.
Then Decius comes to a point where is gains full respect for Caesar.
When Clodius is chasing him down, and they end up fighting each other in hand to hand combat, Caesar breaks in. At that point Decius says that he realizes how
Caesar is able the manipulate people and break up crowds like "the parting of the sea." Caesar holds a very powerful position, Pontifex Maximus, which means
...ther gifts he asks “when comes another [as great as Caesar]?” (877) in order to make the crowd feel complete and utter guilt for their betrayal and anger towards the conspirators who killed their beloved idol.
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 ...
”(1.2.131-133) “Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world Like a Colossus, and we petty men walk under his huge legs and peep about to find ourselves dishonourable graves.” (1.2.136-139) "I will this night, in several hands, in at his windows throw, As if they came from several citizens, writings all tend where I will wear this dagger then; Cassius from bondage will deliver Cassius.”(1.3.90) “Caesar said to me, 'Dar'st thou, Cassius, now leap in with me into this angry flood and swim to yonder point.' " Upon the word, accoutred as I was, I plunged in and bade him follow; so indeed he did.
In this scene, Caesar shows no eagerness to gain power or fame as the citizens have assumed therefore showing no ambition whatsoever. The imagery and logical reasoning persuade the audience into rethinking if Caesar was ambitious and believe that Caesar was
that Caesar is just putting on an act and that once he becomes king he will not be as nice
Julius Caesar is the leader of Rome and is seeking to become king in a matter of time. Though he is a good military strategist, he lacks knowledge in running government and is too greedy to have any concern for the peasants when he is alive. Caesar is all about conquering and power and he is afraid of nothing. Before he is murdered, he says “The things that threatened me ne’er looked but on my back. When they shall see the face of Caesar, they are vanished” (II, ii, 575). Th...
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.
Shakespeare, William. “The Tragedy of Julius Caesar”. Elements of Literature. Ed. Deborah Appleman. 4th ed. Texas: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 2009. 843-963.
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.
However, when Decius arrives at Caesar’s home, he tries to convince Caesar that he has misinterpre...
Allen, Janet. "Julius Caesar." Holt McDougal Literature. Orlando, FL: Holt McDougal/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. N. pag. Print.
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. N.d. 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.
Alvin B. Kernan. The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009. Print.