Julius Caesar is a great tragedy written by one of, if not the greatest, writer from the 15th century, William Shakespeare. To write the play Shakespeare based the events in the play on historical events that happened to Julius Caesar in reality. The only source for the play in that time would most likely to have been The Life Of Julius Ceasar by Plutarch. The main point of the play is the conspiracy against and the assassination of Caesar. The main part I can relate to today’s world is that the government of the time betrayed everyone and did all they could do to cover their mistakes instead of fixing the problem. Another big tactic that those in charge use that is also cohesive with today’s world is the “fear factor” used to manipulate people. In the play the officials made Caesar out to be a tyrant that was bent on destroying the world as they knew it. That is much like the tactics of our current political leaders. They play down the important issues while putting dire consequences on frivolous matters that only increase the severity of the state of things. Going further, this creates political turmoil that is not good for either the people on the lower end of the chain or those at the top swinging from it. Things rarely ever go according to plan and the leaders simply do not care. They turn love into hate with a lot of pandering and butt kissing. They make the most trivial and insane problems seem like everyday occurrences. They make average people believe that what the citizens want is not what they need if it gets in the way of what is best for the empire. The best method behind this is to get the people’s passion stirred up. Whoever gives the best speech wins them over. Brutus makes Caesar out to be the devil himself and... ... middle of paper ... ... and killed on the spot. The irony makes you either want to laugh at him or be sad for him. Some may even want to kill him for being so stupid and for calling everyone else beneath him on the great ladder of life. This play can be summed up by looking at one character in particular. Brutus is a prime representation of how our government is. He started out wanting to do what was best for the people of Rome and ends up being corrupted by hid and others greed. He not only loses the sanctity of Romans, he loses himself in every action he takes in becoming a traitor. No longer is he a caring member of society, he has blackened his soul to the point of no return. Brutus was only out for number one, he became the person he tried to prevent coming into power. Ironically, he ends up dead as well, so his mission was accomplished in the end. No one who was greedy took charge.
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 and foremost Brutus is the Tragic Hero of the play as has been said. Now with the
In William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, struggles occur between major characters, such as Caesar, Brutus, Antony, and Cassius. These towering political and military figures serve major roles in the play. For example, Brutus is a powerful supporter of the republic, and becomes the tragic hero of the play. Antony is Caesar’s close companion who brings about the undoing of the conspirators, and Caesar is a godlike being, who has just return from his defeat against Pompeii. However, the plebeians, or common folk, eventually serve a greater role. In the democratic government of Rome, the citizens influence politicians. Yet ironically, citizens are actually the ones being manipulated in the process.
Brutus’ leadership and compassion for others make him a popular figure amongst the Roman people, and it is his reputation that establishes him as an influential individual. For example, despite the fact that Brutus loves Caesar like a brother, he warily joins the conspiracy to assassinate him. He does this because he believes that Caesar’s ambition would become tyranny and that Caesar’s death is a necessary evil in order to preserve the liberties of the Roman people. In his own words Brutus claims, “It must be by his death; and for my part, I know no personal cause to spurn at him, but for the general.”(Act 2, Scene 1, Page 1116). In addition, Brutus takes the reins of authority from Cassius and becomes the leader of the conspiracy. He gains this prerogative because of his convincing tongue and powerful influence. His leadership is evidenced when he begins to challenge Cassius’ ideas. When Cassius asks the conspirators to “swear our resolution”(Act 2...
Another question could be asked about whether Brutus is an honorable man or a mistaken one. Analyzing Brutus’s logic, actions, and intentions can help the reader decide where they stand. I believe Brutus is a villain. The fine line that distinguishes a person as either a hero or a villain, or even a good and a bad person, is unclear. That makes the play so very unique.
In Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, the character Brutus, was portrayed as a malevolent and hateful person. Although he is forced to betray his best friend and suffer through the bitter passing of his wife, he never lets that distort the goal that he has set, which is to better his country. Throughout the play, Brutus shows very knowledgeable, perceptive, and noble qualities toward the Roman Democracy.
In the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, Marcus Junius Brutus, as the main character, develops extensively as a character throughout the play. From where he is first introduced to us until his last words, Brutus is shown consistently as a well-meaning individual who acts in what he believes is the best way possible. However, due to the role he plays in the assassination of Julius Caesar and the events surrounding it, Brutus is shown to have a changing personality although the core principles he is guided by remain sturdy. At the beginning of Julius Caesar, Brutus is framed as a loyal and honorable person, whose loyalty lies first and foremost with the citizens and city of Rome. As a consequence of this, Brutus is also able to be manipulated easily to do otherwise undesirable actions if the manipulator can persuade Brutus that his actions are for the good of Rome and his citizens.
Two powerful leaders, one power hungry whose ambitious ideas lead to his downfall, the other mindful of people who deserve their higher positions. A true leader is someone who has a vision, a drive and commitment to achieve what's best. In the play written by William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Brutus and Caesar are one of the main characters. They demonstrate leadership qualities that are still relevant to today. They are both very ambitious characters; however, they do so for different reasons and differ in their openness to others. There are many similarities and differences that lie between them. Both are noble and great men with loyal followers and neither man questions the rightness of his own path. Both made crucial mistakes that resulted in their death. However, Caesar acts out of love for for himself, his country, and to retain his power as ruler of Rome. Brutus on the other hand acts out of love for freedom of Rome. This essay will discuss and compare their qualities as leaders as well as their styles and how they are effective/ineffective in the play.
Both Caesar and Brutus were main characters in this play. Two sides formed during the play, and these two characters were the leaders of each side, respectively. Also, each character held a high rank in the Roman society. Caesar was the ruler of the Roman Empire, and could basically do whatever he wanted due to his outstanding power. Brutus was a general for the Empire and he was respected and was seen as a noble man and true “Roman” by many.
Throughout Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, readers are constantly thrown in the middle of a battle between Roman and Egyptian values. Antony, a noble warrior for the Romans, is the character that seems to have the most trouble between this dichotomy. He is constantly caught between reason (Rome) and passion (Egypt) and has a difficult time making the transitions. Cleopatra is the character that stays most true to her roots, but begins adopting the other side’s values toward the end of the story. She makes a smoother transition than Antony, which can be attributed to her self-confidence and open-minded spirit. Antony is a constant source of back-and-forth commotion while Cleopatra seems to posses Egyptian qualities until the end of the book when the reader’s eyes are opened to her new, Roman ways.
William Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra While Mark Antony is a great general, one of the three triumvant, it
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.
The play Julius Caesar depicts Brutus to be an extremely noble being who is well respected and honored by all Romans, even his enemies. Brutus was a loving friend of Julius Caesar and wished anything but death on his comrade, but his love and dedication to the majestic city of Rome would force him to commit anything. He fights a war to defend Rome from a king or emperor's tyrannical rule. When the war was finished, even his enemies saw that he was the most respectable Roman of them all.
Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare In Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, the presentation and development of the relationships among the triumvirs, Caesar, Antony and Lepidus becomes a pivotal concern. As the play progresses, the dynamics of the triumvirate changes and becomes more complicated, providing the audience with the main political conflict that sometimes overshadows the romance of the title characters in the play. Shakespeare provides the audience with several different images of the triumvirate through different characters. The play’s first mentioning of the triumvirate is, in essence, a masculine Roman perspective of a soldier.
Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra is aptly named, not just because the play centers around these two characters, but also because it encompasses the play’s fixation on the lovers’ oppositional relationship. On the surface level, Antony embodies the Roman ideals of a good, noble man, while Cleopatra represents the hyper-sexualized, dangerous Eastern woman. However, upon further examination both Antony and Cleopatra display complicated internal conflicts that effectively reverse these polar positions repeatedly throughout the play. In this way, the opposition between Antony and Cleopatra that exists on a simple, interpersonal level is echoed by more complicated, internal conflicts within each of these characters on a deeper, more individual level. The tension between the title characters creates the love that draws them together at the same time as it drives them further apart, thus establishing yet another layer of antagonistic relationships within the play. The importance of these oppositional relationships is underlined most starkly in Act II.2. In particular Enobarbus’ speech describing Cleopatra’s beauty functions as one of the greatest statements of the play’s conflicting themes. This speech reflects the antagonistic nature of the play’s central relationships through the invocation of equivalent antagonistic relationships between the violent descriptors used to depict Cleopatra.