Comparison Of Zimbardo And Julius Caesar

An anonymous person once said, “The hard thing is, you try to help them but you’re still the bad one.” This is exceptionally true for Professor Philip G. Zimbardo and Cassius. Zimbardo is the main man in charge of the Stanford Prison Experiment, while Cassius is a conspirator who helped plan and execute Caesar’s death, in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Although both men lived roughly two thousand and thirty-six years apart, they share many qualities. They are both willing to forego their morals to accomplish a goal, believe they are doing the right thing, and are in a position of power to manipulate grown men. Philip Zimbardo and Cassius are both men with great ideas and intentions who execute them in a flawed way. Philip Zimbardo and Cassius

For example, in Zimbardo’s case with the experiment, the abusive words and heinous actions of the guards kept the experiment going for longer than it should have. Zimbardo did not cancel the experiment until after he, himself, had enough of the horrendous events happening, “...videotapes showed the guards were escalating their abuse of prisoners during the night…their actions had become “almost pornographic” and “degrading abuse” (“The Story: An Overview of the Experiment”). Numerous people would have stopped the experiment as soon as the humiliating verbal and physical abuse because of their morals; however, Zimbardo allows it to continue until he felt the need to stop it. He sets his morals aside so that he can finish his research and get all the materials he needs even at the costs of the prisoners’ and guards’

Zimbardo begins his experiment to test how social roles influence our behavior. He did not have any intentions or even any idea how everything would play out. He wants to know what happens when he puts good people in an evil place; would humanity win over evil, or would evil win completely? After the experiment, Zimbardo said, “Our planned two week investigation into the psychology of prison life had to be had to be ended after only six days because of what the situation was doing to the college students…our guards became sadistic and our prisoners became depressed and showed signs of extreme stress.” As said earlier, this experiment was simply to test how social roles influence our behavior. Just after a couple of days, it takes a completely different turn, which Zimbardo never expects. This just proves how an innocent experiment, that could help change later society, just completely falls apart. Similarly, Cassius fears for Caesar to have power in Rome. He gets with Brutus and they decide killing Caesar would be for the good of Rome. When Cassius is alone he says, “For who so firm that cannot be seducd?” (Shakespeare D21). He is by himself at this point talking about why he, himself, is wanting to kill Caesar. Cassius’s agreement with Brutus prove that Cassius wants to partly kill Caesar for the good of Rome; he is not just wanting to kill Caesar because he is