Julius Caesar is one of William Shakespeare’s most popular plays. It is a historical tragedy, which was believed to be written in 1599, and is still used in today’s generation. Some of the reasons why Julius Caesar is such a well-received play, is the themes of death, betrayal, love, and loyalty, which are used throughout the text. Death is the main topic I will also be focusing on, because I believe the historical context of Julius Caesar and the time of the fifteen century, life was not sacred, and death was an everyday ordeal. Due to this, I believed that the play Julius Caesar argues that the characters of Julius Caesar did not fear death, and that like everyone, fate will eventually catch up to them. The first example of the characters …show more content…
This is one of the reasons why Caesar had people conspiring against him. Caesar’s wife, Calpurnia also had dreams that Caesar would be murdered. There was even proof that Caesar should stay home, on the day of March the fifteenth, when the priest sacrificed an animal, and when the animal was cut open, there was no heart in the animal, a signal of what was to come for Caesar, death. Caesar again dismissed the warnings of his upcoming death by saying, “What can be avoided, whose end is purposed by the mighty gods” (Act II Scene II). It seems that Caesar is coming to terms with his death and feel that it is fate that he must die on March the fifteenth and, even though he could try to prevent his death, he feels that it is not his duty to prevent what should happen. It seems that another recurring theme in Julius Caesar, is that the characters feel indifferent toward death and feel that whatever fate has in store for them, they feel it is to up to them to change their …show more content…
At this point, Caesar is aware of his upcoming death, he had two different warnings, one from a man, that he deemed insane and the other from his wife. The warnings came in different forms, one in a vison and the other in a dream, but what they had in common, is that Caesar should stay inside and beware of the date March the fifteenth, as that is the day they predict that Caesar will meet his death. So, Caesar knows when he is going to die, so he has a choice and he could have used that choice to prolong his life, instead he chose to meet his fate, as he feels it is foolish to waste his presumed last hours of life hiding. Caesar wants to die with honor, instead of being a coward, especially for no reason, when Caesar acknowledges that death will come in every man’s life, so why prevent what will eventually
Themes play an integral role in the play Julius Caesar. The actions and the way that the characters express themselves define the themes in the play. The play is not comprised of one or two themes, but rather made up of an innumerable amount of them. A major theme in the play is fate. Fate is found from the smallest instance such as a dream to the prediction from a soothsayer. Another theme that is prevalent in the play is betrayal. Julius Caesar is betrayed along with many other people. Love is another theme that appears many times throughout the play. The love that is demonstrated in this play ranges from love between a husband and wife to the love for a country. Trust is another common theme in this play. Many characters in this play have trust in each other. They trust each other with their lives resulting in the death of many people. Loyalty is the final theme that is evident in this play. There are people who are loyal, and then there are people who are not loyal. The actions that these different characters make create a multitude of themes.
The play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare showcases many characters and events that go through many significant changes. One particular character that went through unique changes was Julius Caesar. The 16th century work is a lengthy tragedy about the antagonists Brutus and Cassius fighting with the protagonists Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus over the murder of Julius Caesar. Although the play’s main pushing conflict was the murder of Julius Caesar, he is considered a secondary character, but a protagonist. Throughout the theatrical work Julius Caesar’s actions, alliances, character developments, and internal and external conflicts display his diverse changes.
Caesar, a strong and powerful man that doesn’t appear to have any fears. With only revealing slight fears to very trustworthy followers Caesar seemed to be invincible. “But I fear him not. Yet if my name were liable to fear, I do not know the man I should avoid so soon as that spare Cassius.” (I, II, 208-211). The Conspirators saw this as a threat and from that moment planned vengeance on Caesar. While intimidating and harsh the people of Rome adored him. The lines of Flavius when Caesar returns to Rome “Hence! Home, you idle creatures, get you home! Is this a holiday? What, know you not, being mechanical, you ought not to walk upon a laboring day without the sign of your profession?” (I, I, 1-5). They treated his return like a holiday, a festival. Even with this in mind, the Conspirators worries worsened that Caesar would become an overpowering dictator that put Rome at risk. In this situation most citizens would say spare Caesar, but the Conspirators were set on killing him. In the end the Conspirators did what they thought was right and killed Caesar in the senate, but were they right?
As one of the most well known authors of the Elizabethan Era, Shakespeare had written numerous sonnets and plays reflecting the values of people of the time period. Shakespeare often display themes of love and death, fate and free will, and power and weaknesses throughout his works of literature. The play "The Tragedy of Julius” truly highlight the impact of fate and free will in the development of the plot, of the assassination of Caesar’s death. Some may argue that fate is actually the one responsible for the act, but they fail to recognize that it is the acts of men leading to the death. It is the free will at fault for this occurrence, that the Roman senators consciously killed Caesar and Caesar himself facing his mortality.
“Remember March, March 15th. Didn’t great Caesar bleed for the sake of justice?” afterwards Brutus reminds Cassias of the reason he killed Caesar it was to save Rome, Great Caesar bled so Rome could live. Brutus loved Caesar as a friend, but he did not think he would be right to lead. “The only way is to kill Caesar.
Caesar’s lack of somewhat savage Machiavellian traits foreshadows his downfall a multitude of times. From the beginning, the soothsayer warns him to watch out for the Ides of March. There are also bad signs; men in fire walks up and down the streets, and a lioness gives birth on the streets. Likewise, before he heads to the Senate House to receive the crown, Calphurnia tells him that she has had a nightmare, and pleads him to stay home. However, he ignores all the premonitions and moves toward where the Senators are, with no one to protect him when he is in danger. This action of Caesar contradicts the teachings of Machiavelli, “Before all else, be armed” (The Prince). As a result of his carelessness, the conspirators see that he has no chance of circumventing, and assassinates him. Similarly, he is unsuccessful in recognizing the outrage of Cassius and a few others; he isn’t doubtful enough of their secretive deeds and eventually loses the reigns to eliminate the defiance. "The same thing occurs in affairs o...
Calpurnia’s dream predicted Caesar’s death well, after being stabbed by all of his friends and bleeding to death, the men that killed him bathed in his blood happily thinking Rome will be safe. The omen of Caesar’s ghost visiting Brutus represented Brutus’s death. Caesar said “I will see you in Philippi,” meaning he will see Brutus at the place of the battle and watch him die, which he did. The Tragedy of Julius Caesar had the ongoing theme of Fate versus Free Will, but it seemed that fate was mostly shown.
Julius Caesar is a moral, ethical man. He is a selfless man who puts others before himself. When Artemidorus gets word of the conspirator’s plans, he writes a letter to Caesar to warn him of his impending fate and rushes to the Capitol to give him word. Upon telling Caesar the letter is concerning him, Caesar simply brushes it off and responds, “What touches oneself shall be served last”(III,I, 8). Caesar altruistically puts aside an urgent manner concerning him to accept the offer of becoming King of Rome, which is the reason he went to the Capitol in the first place, which shows he is a benevolent, thoughtful person. In
Julius Caesar is the leader of Rome and is seeking to become king in a matter of time. Though he is a good military strategist, he lacks knowledge in running government and is too greedy to have any concern for the peasants when he is alive. Caesar is all about conquering and power and he is afraid of nothing. Before he is murdered, he says “The things that threatened me ne’er looked but on my back. When they shall see the face of Caesar, they are vanished” (II, ii, 575). Th...
William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar is central to the debate of whether or not man is bound to a fate predestined by some divine force hidden within the stars, or a fate controlled by one’s own actions. Based on Sir Thomas North’s Plutarch’s historical accounts, Shakespeare depicts the characters within the play to believe that fate is either controlled by the divine, as indicated through portents or omens, Roman values, or human decision alone. However, Shakespeare ultimately makes the argument that the decisive actions of humans, both good and bad, are what ultimately shape history and therefore fate. Through the use of Plutarch’s writings, Shakespeare develops the life and death of Julius Caesar into a tragedy determined not by the fault of the stars, but one driven by the fault of the human condition. Calphurnia in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, based on Plutarch’s account of her having a nightmare where “Caesar was slain, and that she had him in her arms (“Sources” 107),” fears for her husband’s life on account of these superstitious happenings and states “O Caesar, these things are beyond all use, /
... too late to do anything about it. So, he kills himself. He did this because he realized what he had done and felt he needed to take accountability. Before he died, he says “Caesar, now be still, I killed not thee with half so good a will.” He is now realizing that he really didn’t have as good a reason as he thought to kill Caesar.
With this speech, Caesar seals his fate. After disregarding three separate warnings that his life would be in danger and he still goes to the Senate that day, Caesar sits surrounded by the noblemen and denies their request to revoke the banishment of Cimber. He denies fate and believes that his free will is enough to save him. His ego and self-importance grows stronger by the word, as he compares himself to the brightest star in the sky. He is stabbed to death by men who, until they were convinced otherwise, had been loyal to Rome and Caesar. By the end of the play, Caesar’s supercilious opinion of himself proves true.
Ultimately, Caesar’s pride helped cause the end of his life. He was so self-absorbed and so confident that Decius was telling him the truth that Calpurnia’s dream was taken the wrong way. Noble Caesar believed the Roman citizens loved him and that he was their lifeblood, but really they wanted him gone. It is possible that Caesar would have been killed by the conspirators another day, but since he did not listen to what the soothsayer and his own wife had to say, he was tragically taken for
The play ends in a tragic way, as most of the main characters are assassinated or chose to die themselves. In conclusion, Caesar is a man without fear, he believes in himself which leads to his arrogance, which is shown when he ignores the omens. Brutus realizes the faults of his actions and decides that death is the only way to put himself out of his misery. Both men made crucial mistakes which ultimately led to their downfall
Caesar's death was a most tragic event indeed, for he would have made a great Roman monarch. However, there were many unheeded warnings. caveats which might have averted his death. In the first act itself we see that Caesar comes across a soothsayer. who fore tells that the future holds terrible things for Caesar.