Examples Of Ignorance In Julius Caesar

Walking down the urban streets of downtown San Jose, a blind, elderly man sitting on the sidewalk suddenly jumps up with a finger pointed at you and screams “If thou walketh into Subway for a meal, thou shall receive an ill-roasted egg”. Hearing this, there are three actions triggered. One is to scoff at the man, run away, and still go to Subway. The second is to politely acknowledge what the man says, but considers the fact that eggs are not cooked by roasting and order scrambled eggs in your sandwich. The last way is to fully acknowledge what the man said and avoid going to Subway. Similarly, in the play Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare and edited by Barbara A Mowat and Paul Werstine, when presented with an omen, characters in Julius

Another case of Caesar’s ignorance is when he sees the soothsayer on the ides of March and brags of how nothing bad has happened to him yet. Wittily, the soothsayer responds with “Ay, Caesar, but not gone.” (3.1.2) Caesar teases the Soothsayer by saying that the Ides of March has come and nothing has happened to him yet. However, the day has not ended, so it is too early to say that nothing bad will happen to him. These quotes both show how Caesar disregards the soothsayer’s warning and even mocks him about the warning. Also, Caesar misses an important hint that would have caused him to reconsider his actions on the ides of March when Artemidorus tries to vey for his attention. “Hail, Caesar. Read this schedule...O Caesar, read mine first, for mine’s a suit that touches Caesar nearer. Read it, great Caesar.” (3.1.3-7) Artemidorus vehemently tries to get Caesar to read a scroll which also warns him of the danger approaching him. If Caesar had taken the time to read the scroll, he may be convinced that he is in danger. In contrast, he looks down upon Artemidorus and carries along with his day, missing a vital hint that would have changed his fate. For these actions, when brought information, Caesar doesn’t acknowledge omens but does the total opposite, ignoring it. Instead of completely acknowledging but not ignoring either, some characters acknowledge omens but misinterpret

In addition to that thought, “a beast without a heart” can be interpreted as the conspirators being cowardice. (2.2.45) They plan on killing Caesar because they assume that his ambition will make him take advantage of his power. As a result, the conspirators want to kill Caesar before he takes the crown. Calpurnia goes on to explain her dream to Caesar of how people will be bathing in his blood, and for a moment, is able to convince Caesar to stay home from the Senate meeting. However, Decius enters into Caesar’s home and influences Caesar to attend the meeting. “It was a vision fair and fortunate/…./ Signifies that from you great Rome shall suck/ Reviving blood, and that great men shall press…” (2.2.89, 92-93) Decius completely takes Calpurnia’s dream out of context by saying that Caesar should go to the palace since the dream conveys how he will be crowned king. He purposely did this to convince Caesar to go to the Senate meeting, so the conspirators could murder him. This causes Caesar to drop his wife’s interpretation of her dream and follow what Decius told him. Caesar and Decius misinterpret omens, both purposely and unconsciously, in order to fit a