For most people, telling the truth is a highly revered trait that is taught at a young age. Parents are constantly telling their children to never lie and to always be honest. And yet, humans tend to resort to twisting the truth in order to get what they want. Whether it is a politician hiding the truth for votes or a young child crying crocodile tears to get their sibling in trouble, humans seem to require manipulation to receive what they truly desire. In William Shakespeare’s tragedy, Julius Caesar, this idea of falsifying information for one’s own gain is apparent. Characters such as Cassius, Antony, and Decius Brutus all demonstrate that manipulation is a requirement in order to achieve an overall goal.
(transition), Cassius uses a fair amount of trickery in order to recruit Brutus for his conspiracy. Many of the conspirators voice their desire to have Brutus on their side during the conspiracy. Casca states the benefits of working with Brutus by saying, “Oh, he sits high in all the people’s hearts, / And that which would appear offense in us, / His countenance, like richest alchemy, / Will change to virtue and to worthiness” (I,iii,159-162). The senators believe that anything they do to Caesar will look bad in the eyes of the people, but Brutus, whom the plebeians love, will make their actions appear honorable. In order to achieve this, Cassius creates a plan in order to prod Brutus in favor of the assassination:
In several hands, in at his windows throw,
As if they came from several citizens,
Writings all tending to the great opinion
That Rome holds in his name, and wherein obscurely
Caesar’s ambition shall be glanced at. (I,ii,312-316)
By deceiving Brutus into believing that the Roman people, who respect him, think t...
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...o happen in the way they had planned. Decius’ deception of Caesar is a key factor in the success of the conspirators’ plot.
All in all, many characters in Julius Caesar are not able to achieve what they set out to do without their ability to manipulate the people around them. Despite knowing that being untruthful is not looked kindly upon in society, people constantly lie and deceive. The human desire to achieve one’s goals and receive what they want pressures people into falsification. At some point in everyone’s life, they tell at least a white lie in order to satisfy their desires. Manipulation is something that helps to define humanity and is inside every single one of us. In the end, people believe that their manipulation will benefit themselves, but the consideration of others is not always in one’s mind. This is seen in both the play and in society today.
In addition to this characteristic of Cassius, he also has a devious nature. This attribute allows him to invent informed manipulative plans to eliminate his opponents. For instance, after saying his farewells to Brutus, he gives a soliloquy that reveals his idea of throwing writings of different handwritings in Brutus’ windows “as if they came from several citizens” all of which “tending to the great opinion that Rome holds of his name, wherein obscurely Caesar’s ambition shall be glancéd at” (Shakespeare I. ii. 306-309). Since Brutus and Cassius have been friends for a long period of time, Cassius holds an abundance of knowledge pertaining to his values--in this case being his honor and desire to please Rome’s citizens. This undermining plot Cassius has devised is based on an informed opinion of the most effective way to subvert Caesar’s authority, and because of the valid observations made of Brutus by Cassius, the likelihood that this clever scheme will be carried out successfully should make Caesar concerned about the intentions of his judicial
Additionally, Cassius shouldn’t be commended for saving Caesar from drowning because he remembrances that deed to convince others that Caesar is feeble than most, yet he is treated like a god. Cassius’s greed for power motivates his murderous motivations, but his ability to manipulate others to his will is also evident in his words. He refers to Caesar’s overwhelming power, similar to a Colossus, while he and the others “.walk under his huge legs. ” or are hidden in his glory. In reality, though, the senators are more esteemed than despised. Another way Cassius misleads others is by faking Caesar’s fascist behavior toward the commoners.
Every person has their own individual beliefs and values that they live by. There is a line that one believes they will never cross. However, people can also be easily persuaded to abandon these values if the reasoning is fair enough. This is human nature. To manipulate someone is to use or change them for a specific purpose. In Shakespeare's play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, he illustrates how easily people can change their minds through manipulation. He conveys how people can be manipulated, how they manipulate themselves, and how they manipulate others.
Cassius needed a reason to motivate Brutus to join the conspiracy so that the plan would develop. “Brutus, I do observe you now of late: I have not from your eyes that gentleness…” (1.2.34) Cassius is saying that Brutus hasn’t been as affectionate toward him as he typically is. Maybe he suspects something is wrong with Brutus and he thinks it has something to do with Caesar. But I think he didn’t really care about how Brutus was treating him, he was just “buttering him up” so to say. Brutus thinks that Cassius is just being his friend and trying to help, when in reality Cassius is manipulating him. This manipulation of friendship is what drives the rest of the play. Brutus has a hard time seeing through this manipulation of Cassius and it ends up driving him to assassinating his friend, Caesar. Cassius fabricated letters to make them seen like they were from the people of Rome saying that they wanted Brutus as their leader. These letters were really the controlling factor of the assassination because they gave Brutus another reason to assassinate Caesar. Cassius then realized how easy it was to manipulate Brutus. “Well, Brutus, thou art noble. Yet I see thy honorable mettle may be wrought from that it is disposed. Therefore it is meet that noble minds keep ever with their likes; for who so firm that cannot be seduced?” (1.2.320-324) Cassius is saying that even
Brutus’ tragic flaw was his perception that all men were identical to him in their motives. This factored allowed his decisions to be easily influenced by others whose motives were devious. Cassius was able to convince Brutus to join the conspiracy because Brutus thought the only reason behind the conspiracy was to prevent one man from becoming “Rex.” He allowed Antony’s speech to occur because he was sure that Antony was motivated by the same “honor” which motivated himself.
After analyzing the play of “The Tragedy of Julius Caesar” I found that the characteristics of betrayal, deception and exaggeration were abundant in the character of Cassius. Cassius was the leader of the conspirators against Caesar. There are similarities between Cassius and Adolf Hitler. Both had a hunger for power and control over their respective nations.
Throughout most of the play Brutus is constantly internally conflicted. Does he do what he believes is best for Rome or stay loyal to his friend and leader? Should he assist in the murder of one person to benefit many? Although killing Caesar was in the end a bad choice, Brutus always tries to do what is best for Rome and for the people. However even though all of Brutus’ motives are good he still has the tragic flaw of pride, which ultimately leads to his downfall. The reason that Brutus gets caught up in the conspiracy is because Cassias appeals to his pride and flatters him with forged letters from the Roman people saying he is a greater leader then Caesar.
In the beginning of the Book Cassius uses anecdotes of Caesar’s weakness and faults, argumentum ad antiquatum, and ethos on Brutus to persuade him to join the conspiracy to kill Caesar, this works on Brutus and shows that anyone, even people as stoic as Brutus, can be persuaded by appealing to their motivations. Cassius, a very suspicious character thru ought the play tells Brutus to “be not jealous on me” (827), in the quote he tells Brutus to not be suspicious of him because he is just a friend who genuinely cares. Cassius does this to put himself on Brutus’ side and not seem like a distant person, this allows him to criticize Caesar and suggest that he is a bad influence on Rome which appeals to Brutus’ desire to keeping Rome safe. After setting himself up as a friend to Brutus, Cassius uses harsh anecdotes on the weakness of Caesar to show that he isn’t fit to rule Rome. Cassius recollects on a time when he and Caesar went swimming in the river Tiber and Caesar screamed “Help me, Cassius or I sink” (828) to de...
In order to prevent this from occurring Cassius chose to conspire to kill Julius. Unfortunately,this plan of his to kill Caesar could not be accomplished without Brutus. Even though Brutus decided to betray his dear friend, his motives however were pure. He did it in order to prevent the downfall of the Roman government. Despite this fact, it wasn't all that easy to come to this understanding.
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.
Cassius is the greatest manipulator in the play, Julius Caesar. Cassius, an envious and ambitious man, believed that the ruler of Rome, Julius Caesar, had too much power over the senate and the people. To put an end to what he considered to be conspiracy, he fabricated a plan to eradicate Caesar for the sake of Rome. Cassius uses manipulation as his weapon of attack using Brutus as the target. Cassius succeeds in persuading Brutus, one of Caesar’s good friends, to join their plot. Cassius uses flattery, self-gain, and the people of Rome to manipulate Brutus into his likings.
William Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar is a story full of manipulation and jealousy that changes the way people think. Ancient Rome had umpteen different ways of handling situations that, in today’s world, would be considered unethical; such as battles that were very much horrifying and vivid. However, these battles were not important with the development of the plot. Shakespeare uses various ways of the idea of manipulation and betrayal to lead readers into the rest of the narrative.
Thesis: In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, the theme of using manipulation to persuade others is developed through flattery, speeches, and war.
This is first revealed when Cassius manipulates Brutus through flattery as he appeals to his ego and expresses his pity for Brutus since he “do[esn’t] have any mirrors that could display [his] hidden excellence” (I.ii.60). Brutus sees through the flattery in the first moment and questions Cassius, but his flaw of being naive allows him to see past it and trust that Cassius has the proper intentions and will guide him in the right direction. Brutus’s willingness to be manipulated by Cassius leads to Caesar also being tricked by Decius to come into the Senate. After Calpurnia warns Caesar about his death, Decius coerces Caesar into believing “the dream has been interpreted wrong…[and it really means that Caesar] will provide Rome with sustaining blood, and that great men will strive to get some token of approval from [his] holy blood” (II.ii.85-90). As Caesar is manipulated by Decius into ignoring the advice of his wife, the theme of manipulation is further revealed. As Brutus and Caesar are tricked into ignoring their logical responses, the theme of manipulation is seen throughout the
The power of deception/manipulation in the William Shakespeare play Julius Caesar was a major aspect of the play. Deception is a trick or scheme normally used to get what you want out of a situation. Manipulation is the ability to control or play upon by artful, unfair, or insidious means especially to one's own advantage. These are things normally used to someone’s advantage against someone else. They both played a major role in the development of the narrative role in Julius Caesar. Characters such as Cassius, Antony, Decius, and Brutus demonstrated that these two qualities are necessary to achieve an overall goal. Deception and Manipulation play a major role not only in the key moments of the tragedy of Julius Caesar, but also in the basis