In the play "Julius Caesar" written by shakespeare shows very tragic irony throughout the course of the play. Julius Caesar was played as the heroic figure that everyone had charished and loved. Roman general and statesman Julius Caesar turned the Roman Republic into the powerful Roman Empire. Though he had some flaws that Cassius began to find out that was so called his friend. He still liked him and so did all people of Rome. As the historical figure they thought of him the same he changed Rome by showing everyone that he was a great leader, and warrior. He was also a hero and also had many flaws of his own. Although many years have passed people still think of Julius Caesar a leader and the face of Rome. Literally because he has statue's all over the place there. …show more content…
The play begins on a Roman street with a confrontation between Flavius and Marullus (Roman tribunes) and a crowd of citizens out to celebrate Caesar’s arrival for the games. Charismatic military leader Julius Caesar returns to Rome in glory, having just defeated the sons of Pompey, a fellow member of the first Roman triumvirate. Caesar’s growing popularity inspires jealousy and fear amongst the Roman tribunes, and a conspiracy against Caesar takes shape, with Cassius at its head. Casca interprets all these signs to mean either the gods are engaged in civil war, or they are determined to destroy Rome. They mention Caesar’s plans to be at the Capitol in the morning . He is unable to sleep that’s night. The setting for the scene is before three o’clock in the morning of the ides of March, and Brutus is alone in his garden. His mind is still disturbed as he wrestles with what to do about
Shakespeare’s complex play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar contains several tragic heroes; a tragic hero holds high political or social esteem yet possesses an obvious character flaw. This discernible hubris undoubtedly causes the character’s demise or a severe forfeiture, which forces the character to undergo an unfeigned moment of enlightenment and shear reconciliation. Brutus, one of these tragic heroes, is a devout friend of the great Julius Caesar, that is, until he makes many execrable decisions he will soon regret; he becomes involved in a plot to kill the omniscient ruler of Rome during 44 B.C. After committing the crime, Mark Antony, an avid, passionate follower of Caesar, is left alive under Brutus’s orders to take his revenge on the villains who killed his beloved Caesar. After Antony turns a rioting Rome on him and wages war against him and the conspirators, Brutus falls by his own hand, turning the very sword he slaughtered Caesar with against himself. Brutus is unquestionably the tragic hero in this play because he has an innumerable amount of character flaws, he falls because of these flaws, and then comes to grips with them as he bleeds on the planes of Philippi.
Shortly before his death Caesar was given several warnings throughout ActsⅡand Ⅲ , however he still went to meet with the Senate due to the fact he thought he was needed. He had an alliance with his adopted sons and valued soldiers Octavius and Antony. The play is about the events that follow his death making him an important secondary character that also portrays a protagonist. Caesar faced many conflicts throughout his lifetime, some internal and some external. He fought a war against Pompey ,which lead to conspirators plotting his death, and he was troubled by the fact that his wife could not provide him with a child. He showcased this by publicly asking Antony to touch her as he passed her, hoping that this would bring healing to her barren womb. He also went through several character changes. When he returned from war, he returned believing that the people would be ecstatic to have him as an emperor. Nonetheless when the people of Rome did not respond the way he expected he knew he had to play on their emotions. He did this by refusing the crown three times and by offering to kill himself to prove his honesty and trustworthiness. This gave him the desired effect, so he returned to knowing that the crowd wanted him as a king. The driving force of the play was the unfortunate murder of Caesar or what happened afterwards. Throughout this play many of the characters go through many unique changes, although Julius Caesar experienced some very significant character changes. The theatrical work exhibits Julius Caesar’s actions, alliances, character developments, and internal and external conflicts which in turn showcase his various changes. The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare is a brilliant piece of work that thoroughly covers the story of Julius Caesar, a protagonistic secondary character. Julius Caesar was the unofficial emperor of Rome. He was a war General and he fought
Throughout the play many characters are not who they turn out to be. Julius Caesar is a very good judge of character, he does not ruts Cassius, he says “ He thinks too much man, such men are dangerous”( shakespeare,1.2.195). Caesar foreshadows now dangerous Cassius is, Cassius is one person who stabs Caesar. Unlike Caesar, Brutus trusts people too much to see who they are. After Caesar 's death, Brutus trusts Marc Antony to give his speech, but Cassius says “ You know not what you do. Do not consent./ that Antony speak in his funeral. I know you how much the people may be moved/ by that which he will utter.” (shakespeare,3.2.333-335). Caesar was an amazing military leader, Brutus was not. Before Caesar becomes king, he gained land back to Rome “ Julius Caesar has just returned to Rome after a long civil war in which he defeated the forces of pompey” (applebee) Caesar led his military to victory and has the chance to take full control of Rome. brutus is a humble military leader company to Caesar. After Brutus won his battle over Octavius’ army, he left his men begin looting. Instead of helping Cassius’ army “ O Cassius, Brutus gave the word too early,/ who, having some advantages on Octavius/ took it too eagerly. His soldiers fell to spoil/ whilst we by Antony are all enclosed .(Shakespeare,5.3.5-8) Brutus had a bad call when he did not send his army to help Cassius. With Caesars flaw being
shakespeare was one of the most famous writer in the western literary world. his works shine like the morning stars in the sky. julius caesar is one of his masterpiece. it is a script described julius caesar’s assassination and people around him. in julius caesar shakespeare exposes the disadvantages of leadership through the actions, conflicts and failure of brutus. there are many place in the play show that brutus is not a good leader. brutus is a tragic hero in this play, he is a noble man, he want to kill caesar not for himself but for rome. under his leading, the people who followed him to kill caesar going to fail step by step.
William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Julius Caesar is a tragic drama, set in Ancient Rome about the horrendous death of Julius Caesar. Brutus, leader of the conspiracy against Caesar, begins as Caesar’s friend. Cassius, instigator of the conspirator, manipulates Brutus into killing Caesar. Brutus agrees to this plan because of his plans for Rome. The bond between these two connects when Brutus agrees to Cassius about killing Caesar for the best of Rome. Cassius, very power hungry, comes up with a plan that will succeed in both of them killing Caesar. They both rely on each other because they want the power that Caesar has been requested to make the best of Rome. This dream of making Rome better was manipulated by Cassius to Brutus. However,
Although the title of the play, Julius Caesar, focuses on Caesar, the play itself is really based on Brutus. "Brutus had rather be a villager than to repute himself a son of Rome."(Shakespeare 172). This was said by Brutus after Cassius told him how Caesar had become a towering figure over Rome and how Caesar controls Rome. Notice the good in Brutus, and the extremes he will go to in order to protect democracy in Rome even if it means killing the one he loves, Caesar. Brutus possesses one of the most tragic flaws. He is too nice of a person and therefore he gets taken advantage of. He lets Cassius persuade him into killing Caesar for the good of Rome. Because he does for others more than himself he makes a fatal mistake, he lets Antony live. Brutus says to the conspirators, "For Antony is but a limb of Caesar"(Shakespeare 165) meaning that if Caesar is killed Antony will die off too. Brutus clearly does not regard Antony as being a threat, but little does Brutus know that Antony will stir up the town to seek revenge after the assassination of Caesar. This mistake will cost him his own life. When he dies he becomes a prime example of tragedy because not only did he bring about his own death he dies by his own hand.
2. The tragic hero in Julius Caesar is Brutus. His flawed character is what makes him a tragic hero. His tragic flaws consist of honour, poor judgement, and idealism. Brutus says that “If it be aught toward the general good, set honour in on eye and death in the other, and I will look on both indifferently. (act 1 scene 2 lines 85-91). Brutus is asking what Cassius wants and says that he will do anything as long as it benefits the Roman Empire. Brutus is only taking into consideration Cassius and what he wants. This is an example of Brutus having poor judgement. Almost everyone took advantage of his flaws and this is what causes his ultimate downfall. At the end of the play Brutus’ flaw of honour makes him kill himself instead of being captured. Brutus is also a character with high social status which is a characteristic of a tragic
With all power, comes great responsibility. But no man can ever live a perfect life, without being at fault sometime. The mistakes and flaws of our lives are what make us human, and respectfully similar. Yet, in some cases these flaws may become more serious especially when given much power. By definition, the idea of “a literary character who makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to his/her own destruction” (Bainbridge Island School 1), is called a tragic hero. All writings by Shakespeare include this type of “hero”, with the characteristics also, of being respected, and of high stature. But since the existence of one of his pieces, the idea of who is truly the tragic hero of the play has been debated. Titled,
The Julius Caesar play’s plot entails of Caesar returned to Rome and assuming absolute power (leadership) over the Roman Empire after defeating Pompey the Great and Crassus which transformed rule of three to the rule of one to govern the Roman Empire. Caesar stated he did want the crown of the Empire. Although the Caesar represented most of the people there were a group of people who did not trust him and who he did not trust because they were loyal to others. He was not believed by the group of people. As leader you have to represent and bring all parties together to unite the groups. Caesar failed at uniting the people. Caesar did not listen to disapprovals and dissatisfactions from the ruling society. He also castaway the cautions of the
Julius Caesar may have been a noble person, but the people of Rome did not think so. In Julius Caesar, Shakespeare shows the Caesar comes to an unhappy end when he is murdered by the people he loved most. Within this play Julius Caesar is portrayed as a tragic hero. A tragic hero is defined as “the main character of a tragedy [who is] usually dignified, courageous, and high ranking” (Novel Study Guide). Also vital to defining a tragic hero is that, “the hero’s downfall is caused by a tragic flaw” (Novel Study Guide). It is evident that Julius Caesar is William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar is a tragic hero given that he is of noble stature, has a fatal flaw and comes to an unhappy end.
Shakespeare shows Caesar to be, what you could say, a contradiction. The audience see how Caesar respects Antony's soldier-ship yet still fights him; they see how he clearly loves his sister, but uses her unscrupulously as a political device; and they are shown how he is very rational and dull, yet he surprisingly tells his soldiers, as well as some Egyptians about how he would parade the defeated Cleopatra. He wants to do this because he feels that 'her life in Rome would be eternal in our triumph.' This shows the reader how Caesar has strong emotional outcries, which contrasts his initial characteristics.
	Shakespeare illustrated Caesar as a tragic hero by showing that he was a historical figure with a tragic flaw which lead to his death. Julius Caesar took over most of the Roman Empire and his events are very important to history. First, Julius Caesar is very historical because if he wasn’t then, we would not be talking about him today. As Cassius ironically said, "...How many ages hence /Shall this our lofty scene be acted over in states unborn..." (III,i,112-113). Secondly, Every tragic hero has a tragic flaw that leads them to their death and one of Julius Caesar’s flaw was arrogance. As Caesar himself said, "But I am constant as Northern Star.../There is no fellow in the firmament" (III,i,60-62). Finally, Caesar made a big mistake which lead him to his downfall when he didn’t take the soothsayer’s warning. Again this was the fact that Caesar was arrogant. The soothsayer said warning Caesar, "Beware of ides of March" (I,ii,23) then Caesar replied that the soothsayer was a fake, and to dismiss him.
It shows the characteristics of all different types of people. Caesar was a ruthless man who would do anything to gain more land and control. Brutus was an honorable man. He was a good friend to Caesar, but killed him because he thought it was for the good of Rome. Cassius was manipulative. He knew if he could get Brutus in on killing Caesar the rest of Rome would approve of it. He put notes in Brutus’s house saying it was citizens of Rome and they wanted him to kill Caesar. Cassius was able to manipulate Brutus into killing Caesar. Antony was the loyal man. He would do anything for Caesar. When Caesar was killed he got an army together and fought against the conspirators. The play Julius Caesar is worth reading because it shows the characteristics of all different types of
In the play Julius Caesar, written and preformed by William Shakespeare, there are many characters, but two, Brutus and Cassius, stood out. The play begins in Rome where a celebration of Julius Caesar's victory over the former ruler of Rome, Pompeii. The victory leads to Caesar's betrayal by his jealous companions. Senators and other high status figures are jealous of Caesar's new and growing power, while others, like Brutus, fear the tyrannical rule Caesar could enforce. The conspirators, Brutus and Cassius being the most important, assassinate Julius Caesar and Marcus Antonius, better known as Antony, and Octavius Caesar, Caesar's heir to the thrown, revenge Caesar's death. Antony convinces the Roman populous to destroy the conspirators and eventually begins a war with Cassius and Brutus' armies. Both Cassius and Brutus commit suicide to save their honor and Antony and Octavius win the war. The characterizations of Brutus and Cassius show a distinct contrast in their character traits and motives for the assassination of Julius Caesar.
In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar , he reveals his historical influences by incorporating aspects of Roman Society, such as the plebeians struggle against Roman hierarchy. Additionally, Shakespeare formulated the play’s main conflict around Caesar and his ambition, which can be attributed to the cause of man’s demise, and he based Caesar’s character after the actual Caesar motivations and conquests. He also reflects English society by including parallels between Queen Elizabeth I and Julius Caesar. Lastly, through the play’s conflict, he conveys his political views on civil war and expresses his concern for the fate of England’s government. Most importantly, Shakespeare demonstrates how age-old stories, such as the betrayal of Julius Caesar, can be applied to current society. By understanding Shakespeare's motivations and influences, readers are not only able to glimpse into the age of Roman Empire, but also, they are able to understand the political turmoil in England during Shakespeare's