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Characterization of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
An analysis of julius caesar as a tragedy
The play Julius Caesar as a Tragedy
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In Shakespeare's “The Tragedy of Julius Caesar”, between the two extremes of being a tyrant or sympathetic, Caesar would definitely be more leaning toward a monstrous tyrant. One example of Caesar’s power hunger is his brutal acts towards his opponents. Early on in the story that civilians began to cheer in the streets for Caesar’s victory in killing Pompey when the soldiers confront them about it.“To see great Pompey pass the streets of Rome./ And when you saw his chariot but appear,/ Have you not made a universal shout/...And now you strew flowers n his way/ That come in triumph over Pompey’s blood?” (I.i.42-51). The soldiers chide the civilians for their utter ignorance to Caesar's rule and become worried for Rome itself from the conduct of these citizens. By Caesar killing In a well functioning republic, the leaders must listen to all that the people say and not do whatever he wishes. This part of the play displays Caesar’s sexism but also his lack of thought for others concerns that is similar to a tyrant view. Lastly, Caesar shows arrogance subtly through his words to make himself feel powerful. When Calpurnia warns Caesar of her visions, Caesar starts speaking in third person that personally seems like the zenith of someone being supercilious. “Caesar shall forth. The things that threatened me/Ne’er looked but on my back; when they shall see/ The face of Caesar, they are vanishéd.” (II.ii.10-11). Caesar basically says that because he is so great and powerful he will never be defeated. He also talks in third person which is quite arrogant of a leader to do. Whenever people feel too anxious for leadership they may let it all go to their head, another reason why he turned into a tyrant. People need to watch for tyrannical or corrupt politicians as they can get too power hungry and cannot be
First of all, Caesar always felt entitled to himself and always had the audacity to see everyone as beneath him. A great example of Caesar’s bravery and fearlessness is when he was eighteen and was escape the punishment from the dictator Sulla, so in the process he was captured by pirates, who decided to be help for ransom. “When they demanded twenty talents for his ransom, he laughed at them for not knowing who he was, and spontaneously promised to give them fifty talents instead, Next after he had dispatched friends to various cites to gather the money…he felt so superior to them that whenever he wanted to sleep, he would order them to be quiet” . Even being surrounded by murderous pirates clearly out numbered, he refused to let them think that they were in charge while he was in their captivity for thirty-eight days.
How ruthless was Julius Caesar? Well, first, who was Julius Caesar? Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general, statesmen, Consul, and Emperor born in 100 B.C. He played a critical role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire. He did many appalling things for power, and many would consider him to be very ruthless, while others would say that he was not ruthless. Well, what does it mean to be ruthless? To be ruthless means having or showing no pity or compassion for others. If a person is ruthless they are very harsh, merciless, and cruel, and will do anything necessary to achieve what they want; they do not care about how their acts affect other people. So, was Julius Caesar ruthless or not? Did he sincerely care about other people, show compassion and pity, or did he do whatever necessary to get what he wanted? Although some of
In the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, Act I, scene ii, lines 135- 150, Cassius emphasizes Caesar tyranny by stating “Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world like a Colossus, and we petty men walk under his huge legs and peep about to find ourselves dishonorable graves.” To get to be the dictator that Caesar was, he had to start from the ground up. At a young age, Caesar decided that to become a “somebody” in politics, he had to buy his way in. Caesar conducted bribes, gladiator shows, banquets, contests, and games to gain popularity in the political world. He also married into fame; his first wife being Cornelia Cinna minor, whose father was a politician and a political ally to Caesar’s family. When he became a general in an army, Caesar began to demolish several different tribes of people and take their land to create provinces for Rome. He invaded Germany and Britain, as well. After those triumphs, Caesar went back to Rome and took it over by force. He and his army defeated the last remaining member of the First Triumvirate, Pompey, and drove him away to Egypt, where he was assassinated. This is briefly mentioned in Act I, scene i, lines 32- 35 by Marullus, a follower of Pompey: “Wherefore rejoice? What conquest brings he home? What tributaries follow him
“Tis very like: he hath the falling sickness”. (2.2.45) Caesar showed his arrogance and ambitiousness to his people. He didn't want to take the crown from Antony for defeating Pompey. If Caesar would have taken the crown from Antony if would had made him not so arrogant. He would have been more of a stronger leader. “Ambition should not be soft. Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, and Brutus is an honorable man.” (3.1.58) Caesar was also a hard headed man. He didn’t like to listen to anyone. He had his servant get the priest for the sacrifice after Calpurnia cried three times her in sleep, “Help someone! they’re murdering Caesar.” Caesar told his servant to perform the sacrifice immediately and to bring him the results. Caesar done things that could have put him in a bad
Was Caesar a hero or a tyrant? Caesar did many things that show he was a hero, and a tyrant, but which was he really. Did Caesar deserved to be praised like he was, or assassinated? “A law authored by Caesar had been found, but not yet introduced, which would proclaim Caesar a living god.” Caesar did seem the type of person to be a tyrant, but what he actually did while he was in power was good for Rome.
Julius Caesar was a great leader for Rome. He was able to obtain large amounts of food. All the food combined was enough to hand out to all the hungry hordes of people in Rome who were not fed when the senators where in charge. “The hungry hordes in the city were now given free bread.” This shows that Caesar cares for all the people in Rome. Instead of keeping all the food for himself he handed it out to the people that needed it more. If Caesar was a
Some nobles were jealous because Julius Caesar was so successful. Others believed that it was bad for one man to have so much power. Was Julius Caesar a Hero or Tyrant? Despite, the fact that he killed many to get where he was and in his willingness to gain power he lost his life, Julius Caesar was the best thing that could have possibly happen to Rome. He was a great leader because he led well and gained glory and wealth for the Empire. Caesar is known to be a very great leader but in Spain and Gaul, Caesar betrayed Roman allies by terminating their towns and enslaving friends of Romans. One wouldn’t say he was or was not good, evil, or bad. It was simply the fact that people dedicated themselves to his leadership until their own downfalls of death; without even being forced to, that’s how powerful he was. He certainly wasn't a tyrant, though his enemies tried to portray him as so. He was a Roman of the first class,
Julius Caesar was a Roman politician and military general who experienced true betrayal from who he believed were his closest friends. As close as he was to becoming Rome’s new leader, he was just as far away. In the play, “Julius Caesar” Shakespeare portrayed Caesar as almost clueless but a power-hungry politician who was willing to take over Rome any second. Unfortunately for Caesar, he was killed before he had a chance to truly fight for the right of the crown. With the exemption of Brutus, Cassius and Decimus were those who suffered from severe jealousy. Brutus simply wanted what was best for Rome and Julius Caesar was not it. What ultimately lead to Caesars death was his greed and plain ignorance.
IP One could agree that Julius Caesar was a tyrannical dictator when examining these areas of his life:Caesar was involved in a civil war with pompey.During this time caesar was after pompey to have a serious discussion.After the civil war tragedy caesar went on to conquer Rome.When Caesar was getting comfortable as a ruler his fate was near.
One major reason Caesar was a tyrant is because he was tremendously deceitful. It started out when he was elected high priest “allegedly by heavy bribes” (McGill). This shows us that whe would do anything to gain power. Caesar was also in great debt from taking loans to fun and win-over the audience by using gladiator fights. These beloved fights made the people of Rome love caesar. Another prime example of he deceitfulness is when the “senate supported Pompey” and Caesar attacked Pompey and chased and killed him in Egypt (McGill). Caesar was willing to steal, kill, and bribe to rule. Caesar deceived many people including the Roman public, political figures, and would stop at nothing to gain power.
He put on a false impression of invincibility and power to gain public support. After he defeated Pompey, the previous leader, the people greatly admired him and wanted him to lead Rome. However, few knew that he was not as invincible as he seemed. Brutus claimed that Caesar “had a fever when he was in Spain and when the fit was on him, I did mark how he did shake. ‘Tis true, this god did shake” (I.2.121-123). Not only was Caesar extremely susceptible to disease, but he also cried like “a sick girl” (I.2.130). Cassius also tells a story about Caesar’s weaknesses. Caesar once dared Cassius to swim in the Tiber River with him, yet Caesar almost drowned and cried, “Help me, Cassius, or I sink!” (I.2.113). Although Caesar is clearly seen as weak and vulnerable, he portrays himself as powerful and invincible to the general public to gain their support. Although the people elected him as their ruler, he was assassinated shortly afterwards by the people who knew his true self. His assassination tore Rome apart and resulted in a civil war. By writing about Caesar’s contrasting personalities, Shakespeare implies that one’s internal strife will lead to general
In addition, he prevails his weaknesses by say this in that he shows that he realizes anyone with power could easily kick him off the throne; this is the reason that he is trying to take complete control of Rome and deplete everyone else of any power. Obviously, this is a terrible mentality to have as a leader and always leads to a corrupt government that takes away all the rights of its citizens and this mentality that Caesar had justifies his
Even though Julius Caesar portrayed positive qualities while performing negative actions, they were still positive in that as a leader, he was seen as strong and reliable. Keeping promises, though brutally, and obsessing over the image of himself and his empire did make Rome one of the greatest Empires of all times. Therefore, Caesar may have been harsh, but he was honest and committed to being a powerful leader and establishing a powerful
The theme of the Shakespearean play Julius Caesar is the ultimate demise of inflexible individuals. Throughout the play, specifically portrayed in the characters Brutus and Caesar, individuals who have inflexible morals end up being blinded by their beliefs and do not try to compromise with others, causing a downwards spiral to happen. Julius Caesar was so completely adamant on becoming the king of Rome, just as Brutus was completely adamant on maintaining his honor, that he began to ignore everything around him and refused to compromise or conform in any way because of his personality. With this, we see how Julius ultimately fell, as he was oblivious to the fickle people around him, due to his inflated ego, refused to pay attention to
“Caesar was a brilliant general, a clever engineer, and administrator of genius, and a leader who demanded and commanded loyalty. He also was a corrupt politician” (Dando-Collins 4). Caesar would go on to be a dictator and his gain in power would corrupt him. He often bypassed the Senate, taking their power away. With Caesar’s growing power the Senate feared that they would soon lose their political relevance.