The Tragedy of Julius Caesar

How Betrayal Led to Downfall in Julius Caesar In the play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare shows how friends often betray each other. Julius Caesar is about to be crowned king of Rome, when some well-known Romans decide that it is not a good idea for this to happen. They form a conspiracy and kill Caesar. Brutus, an honorable Roman and a very good friend of Caesar’s, betrays Caesar by killing him for the good of Rome. Antony, Caesar’s best friend and another honorable Roman, betrays Brutus by turning against the conspirators.

The senators and triumvirate governs the Romans; Cassius fears that Caesar would rise and the senators would lose their respect and status. Cassius begins plotting Caesar’s assassination and wants to replace him with Brutus. Nevertheless, Cassius could not erase Caesar’s honorable works for the people. Marcus Antonius, a loyal supporter of Caesar, reminds the people, “When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept” (III. ii.

Each conspirator has a different motive for killing Caesar. The plan works out well for the accomplices, and Caesar is murdered. After Caesar is gone, the play mainly follows Cassius and Brutus and how they too are forced to their deaths. All of these deaths however, were quite preventable had the characters chosen to be more modest and humble. Throughout the play, Shakespeare warns his audience that arrogance leads to downfall, and this can be seen through Caesar, Brutus, and Cassius.

When a close friend of somebody’s is murder and he or she cannot point his or her finger, literality, to the killer because he or she promised not to do so. What can he or she do? Well, Marc Antony accused Brutus, the murderer, using words, also known as rhetoric, as his weapon of choice. In the beginning Brutus murder Caesar, a close friend of Antony, in fear that Caesar will become Crown Emperor of Rome and become a corrupt leader. When he murder Caesar, Brutus use rhetoric, figures of speech, to win over the hearts of people, discredit Caesar’s reputation, and maybe gain some creditability for himself.

Brutus is a very cautious man. “Into what dangers are you leading me, Cassius, that you would have me look into myself for things that are not there?”(1.2.68-70) This quote is referring to act 1 where Cassius brings Brutus into the room and starts to talk about Caesar. When Cassius suggests to kill Mark Antony alone with Caesar, Brutus says, “Our plan will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius. We cut off the head and then hack the limbs, seem to kill Caesar in anger and then vent malice on his friends, for Antony is only a branch of Caesar.”(2.1.169-172) Brutus doesn’t want to just kill everyone, and be know as a killer, he just wants to do what he thinks is right for the people of Rome. Brutus was cautious, even near the end of the play when he was in his tent talking to Cassius,he told Lucilius and Titinius to go guard the door, until he had finished he conference.

He does this to convince the people that they should not be offended by him because he killed Caesar, as he does this with Rome’s best interest at heart. Antony lists “Friends, Romans, countrymen”-(Line 70). Brutus lists “Romans, countrymen, and lovers”-(Line 13); starting with “Romans”-(Line 13) this prevails his fatal flaw of loving Rome too much. This contrast shows that Antony is lowering his self standards ... ... middle of paper ... ... had stabbed him “You all do know his mantle... in this place ran Cassius’ dagger... what a rent the envious Casca made... through this the well-beloved Brutus stabbed.”-(Line 167-173). Finally Antony shows them Caesar’s dead body “Here is himself, marred, as you see, with tailors.”-(Lines 193), then he pulled the cloak and reveals Caesar’s body.

The soothsayer and Artimedorus both try to warn Caesar to no avail. He is killed at the Capitol, stabbed first by Casca with the words "Speak, hands, for me!" All the conspirators except Brutus follow Casca’s lead and stab Caesar. Caesar tries to fend off all the blows until he sees Brutus’s raised dagger. Caesar dies after Brutus stabs him with the words, "Et tu, Brutè? Then fall, Caesar!" Brutus then explains the conspirators reasons for killing Caesar at his funeral.

In Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Brutus faces an internal conflict involving his best friend Caesar becoming the ruler of Rome. Brutus must decide whether to let Caesar live, knowing he would be a bad ruler for Rome, or whether he should kill him for the good of the people. Based on Brutus’ knowledge, his decision to kill Caesar was justified with reason, being innocently misled and manipulated, and the intention of doing what was best for the general good of Rome. Julius Caesar was murdered before being crowned the ruler of Rome due to fear that his personality and many of his characteristics would lead to his rule being one similar to a dictatorship. Many of these characteristics that caused Caesar to be murdered also develop him as the tragic hero of the play.

Antony then persuades the plebeians that the conspirators had no reasonable judgement to kill Caesar and that all Caesar’s future plans were to help Rome. Though many characters appear to be rhetorical, Antony could be considered as the most. Persuasion and rhetoric are used throughout Julius Caesar when Cassius is trying to coax Brutus to join the conspiracy, and when Brutus and Antony convince the crowd at Caesar’s funeral. Brutus is considered an honorable, noble man in Rome and it is important to Cassius that he becomes part of the conspiracy. In Act 1, Cassius and Brutus agree that Caesar becoming king would be detrimental to Rome.

The murder takes place just before Caesar is to be crowned emperor in front of many citizens of Rome. Brutus convinces the manic plebeians that the murder was for the good of Rome and that Caesar would have been its downfall. Mark Anthony, Caesar's good friend also to the crowd and undoes Brutus's clever wording and turns the Romans against the conspirators. The play ends with Mark Anthony and his army winning a civil war against Cassius and Brutus and their pitiful army of conspirators. "Julius Caesar" is a cross between a Shakespearean tragedy and history play.