Power of Jealousy in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar

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Power of Jealousy in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar

Brutus, the "noblest Roman of them all" (Julius Caesar,5.5.68) is the only innocent conspirator, according to Marcus Antonius. This tragedy presents the epitome of jealousy, along with envy, greed, and avarice. It is a true story based on Plutarch's "Life of Julius Caesar." Several of the major players are struck by jealousy and greed -- certainly Cassius, who begins this evil conspiracy to assassinate Caesar out of personal jealousy, but needs Brutus' credibility to make it happen. We eventually see Mark Antony gloat in his new-found influence and power over the mass of citizenry when he pronounces their interest in Caesar's will.

All: Most true, The will! Let's stay and her the will.

Antony: Here is the will, and under Caesar's seal.

To every Roman citizen he gives,

To every several man, seventy-five drachmas.

Second

Citizen: Most noble Caesar! We'll revenge his death.

(Julius Caesar,3.2.27-31)

When the play opens, Rome is enjoying a time of peace and prosperity after several years of civil war. Caesar has returned, victorious over Pompey, and the treasury is full. Some noble Romans fear Caesar's great power may turn him into a tyrannical dictator. Some are jealous of him.

Cassius: Why, man, doth he bestride the narrow world

Like a Colossus, and we petty men

Walk under his huge legs and peep about

To find ourselves dishonorable graves.

Men at some time are masters of their fates.

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars

But in ourselves that we are underlings.

(Julius Caesar,1.2.135-140)

Caesar was without a doubt the most powerful man in the known world. He was a military geni...

... middle of paper ...

...assassination, Brutus makes an analogy of man as a microcosm and the fallout of his will on the macrocosm of society, correspondent to the beginning of his own degeneration.

(The Elizabethan World Picture,91-94).

Brutus: Between the acting of a dreadful thing

And the first motion, all the interim is

Like a phantasma or a hideous dream.

The Genius and the mortal instruments

Are then in council, and the state of man,

Like to a little kingdom, suffers then

The nature of an insurrection.

(Julius Caesar,2.1.65-71)

By the end of the play, civil strife is rampant, many noble Romans are dead, and armies fight and die in battle. Even Caesar's ghost appears to Brutus.

Work Cited

Shakespeare, William. "The Tragedy of Julius Caesar." Houghton Mifflin Company. The Riverside Shakespeare. Ed. G. Blakemore Evans. Boston, 1994.

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