Cassius: An Old Man's Failure

Cassius, since the weakness of Caesar reveals that he is not almighty and has some fragility. In the same

Jenaveve Richards was an only child, born and raised in Lawrence, Kansas. Her entire life since she was two, she trained as a gymnast. She progressed very well in her youth years, and often times as she likes to say, “brought home the hardware,” from competitions. She qualified second all around in a Junior Olympic Gymnastics Preliminary meet. Although Jenaveve was not satisfied with second. She strived for greatness and came back from that meet better than ever.

In particular, Cassius was never a very trustworthy person. In the play Cassius was jealous of Julius because he was more loved than Cassius ever was. On the contrary, he had some somewhat good times. At the same time one could never trust him. Notwithstanding that he never bothered to consider anyone in his life.

Ex. 2: “Although Cassius was a great manipulator, especially towards Brutus, he dug himself too deep into the Caesar situations. There were many moments in the play that Cassius was manipulative. He convinced Brutus to kill Caesar out of revenge, persuaded Brutus that he could be king, and then led them to war.”

In society, people are told not to bring each other down for their weaknesses, and to turn someone’s weakness into their greatest asset. However, Caesar’s small weaknesses prove that he is not able to rule such a large country. Cassius tells Brutus two stories in which Caesar exhibits his physical weaknesses. In the first, he is unable to swim and needs to be saved, and in the second, he acts like a little girl and expects to be waited on hand and foot when he is sick. Cassius says, “‘Ye gods, it doth amaze me a man of such feeble temper should so get the start of the majestic world and bear the palm alone,’” (Shakespeare I.ii.130-134). This remark by Cassius proves that Caesar is unfit to take care of himself. Cassius argues that Caesar cannot do things as simple as swimming, and cannot even take care of himself, so he it most unfit to rule Rome all by himself. Caesar’s weaknesses prove that he should not rule Rome.

In this vignette, the narrator hears about his cousin who is becoming a gymnast, and he then also wants to be one also. He tries to teach himself, but everytime he fails and he gives up on the dream to be an Olympic athlete. He thought it was more important to look like a gymnast, than to be actually be one. When, he was unable to do a backflip without hurting himself, he realized that to be a gymnast, you have to do lots of hard work. If I was the narrator at this point, I would ask my parents for lessons, so that I can do the hobby I like , while being cautious.

Cassius’s jealousy caused all the events in the play to be set in motion, and thus led to his downfall. A prominent example of this would be when Brutus and Cassius are speaking and Cassius is trying to convince Brutus to join his plot by telling a story of how Caesar had to ask for Cassius’s help because he was too weak and tired to continue swimming. This leads Cassius to say, “Did I the tired Caesar. And this a man / Is now become a god, and Cassius / A wretched creature and must bend his body / If Caesar carelessly but nod on him” (I.ii.115-118). This quote in modern times would say, “Caesar was tired. And this man is supposed to be a god, and I am a wretched creature who has to kneel to Caesar.” Cassius is implying that Caesar is supposed to be this strong god and Cassius a wretched creature, yet Cassius had to save Caesar from drowning. This quote leads to Cassius’s downfall because it shows his jealousy through what he is feeling towards Caesar. His downfall is also shown because this scene is Cassius trying to convince Brutus to join his plot. Another quote that proves Cassius’s tragic flaw occurs after Brutus has died. Messala is asking

The drug cartel has been a problem for the United States, as they import illegal substances into the states. There are many different cartels that run in the nation of Mexico. All of them have a lot of power and money. Some of the income of the cartels is drug trafficking, moving illegal substances, or drugs, to buyers in the United States. With all of the illegal movements and events happening, violence arises quickly.

Cassius is a talented general, and does not like the fact that Caesar has become `god-like' in the Roman people's minds (see above quote Act I, Scene ii). Cassius can be seen as a

This perspective makes the reader consider how different this story would be if it were written in Fortunato’s point of view. Would we know what he did to dishonor

Wednesday, April 7th, 1994 started out like any other day, I was attending Jr. hHigh sSchool, in St. George Utah. As a I was a young 12 year old girl that was obsessed with gymnastics, I breathed it, studied it, and lioved it. Gymnastics was my Life.! I daydreamed about competing in front of hundreds of people, lights dimmed down, the spotlight right on me as I performed each skill I worked so hard at perfecting each day at practice. I would picture myself going over my routines, every step, every pose, each body positions, how I’d present myself, f . . . . everything. I wanted to be a college gymnast.

     Cassius, up to the end of the play, was very aware of his fate and took the largest strides to overcome that. This is due to the fact that Cassius followed the Epicurean philosophy, which believes that the gods do not involve themselves directly in the fate of man. This belief was highlighted when he told Brutus “Men at some time are masters of their fates: the fault, dear Brutus, is not in our starts, but in ourselves, that we are underlings” (I. ii. 139-141). Because of this belief, he never resigned himself to live in the world in its current state. He always felt that there was something he could do to better his standing in life. This diligent effort to better himself led Caesar to comment “such men as he…are very dangerous” (I. ii. 209-210). Cassius’ role in the play was using his free will to overcome the fate that would come true, the fate that Caesar was one day going to become emperor. Because he was so driven by the desire to overcome this fate, he was

Throughout my life, me and my family have moved around a lot, from Toronto’s east to west end, and even the countryside. While this has helped me gain experience and important knowledge, the challenges of constant moving have affected my life heavily and made me who I am today. I have also experienced multiple viewpoints and how different life is in different places. While this had helped me greatly in life, the difficulties I had to face were also challenging, such as keeping friendships, struggling to keep up with different school curriculums, and lack of stability.

         For years gymnastics has been a sport that many children participate in. But as the years have gone by it has turned into something other than a place for kids to grow and learn. Its overwhelming commitment has continued to replace kids’ childhoods with stress, mental and physical pain and eating disorders. Many results have come from this change in the gymnastics society. Gymnasts have come to a point where they have been told and directed to understand that winning is the only important factor in gymnastics. “ It’s about the elite child athlete and the American obsession with winning that has produced a training environment wherein results are bought in at any cost, no matter how

At the start of the timelessly classic play, Julius Caesar was in the final stages of parlaying his military prowess and growing cult of personality into enthronement as the long absent autocrat of Rome. His brother-in-arms, Marcus Brutus, after fighting at Caesar’s side for so long, was forced to weigh his loyalty to Caesar against his loyalty to Rome, setting the stage for the troubling events to come. As Caesar’s divine right to rule and infallibility were trumpeted throughout Rome, others were not so convinced of his purity and worthiness. Cassius, a dissident Senator, opened Brutus’ eyes to the circumstances unfolding before them and to what could be lost should Caesar take the throne. Cassius voiced his opposition strongly, saying: