Fate or Free Will

In William Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caesar, two interesting forces, fate and free will, are shown competing for prominence over the other. Fate was exemplified in the many prophecies and omens the characters viewed throughout the play. Free will was the characters abilities to overcome and defeat their fate. Many characters have struggles with the power of their free will overcoming their fate, namely Caesar, Cassius, and Brutus. Although in the end all three of those characters succumb to their fate, Shakespeare shows that there is a delicate equilibrium between the two forces.

Free Will became a part of this when Juliet decided to take Friar Laurence’s advise in inhaling a potion that will make people assume she is died but will awake in 42 hours prier to when she took it. When Romeo had heard the news that Juliet was dead, he assumed it was true, and responded with the line; “Well Juliet, I will lay with thee tonight”. To me this line indicated how he feels for Juliet by dying in her will.

Shakespeare the former famous playwright, poet, and actor is well-known for many famous plays even in modern times. As many of his works are timeless they contain ideas that are still relevant today. One being the idea of being self-determining, which is discussed as one of the main points in Julius Caesar. As we continue to analyse Shakespeare’s work we can see the effect of self determination caused by the influences in his age.

First, Romeo and Juliet’s idealistic love is not logical, which constantly puts the lovers in danger. Only a short time after meeting at the Capulets’ party, Romeo sneaks into a courtyard by Juliet’s house. When Juliet finds him there, she tells him that he is going to die if, “[...]any of [Juliet’s] kinsmen find [Romeo] here [...] they will murder [him].”(2.2. 65-70). Instead of seeing reason, Romeo tells Juliet that he would rather die than be without her and that he would willingly accept such a death. Romeo’s actions show that he is not thinking logically about the situation and is instead relying upon his emotions. Juliet explains that there is very real potential of death in Romeo’s actions, yet neither of them are able to stop themselves

Brandon James Grayson ENG II/4th Block October 27, 2015 ESSAY William Shakespeare’s play, “The tragedy of Julius Caesar,” is a chronicle of amity and treachery. This correlation will result in the demise and decease of Brutus, whom some suppose is truly the tragic hero. As established by Aristotle’s definition of tragic hero, Brutus epitomizes what a tragic hero truly is. Brutus, after the happening, comprehends that the reversal of his fortune is brought about by himself when he realizes how fallacious he was in partaking in the assassination of Caesar.

One may believe their lives depend on fate, something destined to happen; whereas others may believe that their lives are in their own hands. The rivalry of fate versus free will is seen in our lives everyday. Shakespeare uses themes that people struggle with everyday and incorporates them into his works, Macbeth and Hamlet. There are different instruments and influences that set up in a way to determine someone’s fate; however, when people make their own choices through free will, ultimately, they alter their paths in life. In Macbeth and Hamlet, two characters struggle to obtain greater power through their own actions of free-will.

In William Shakespeare’s historical play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, there is a tragic hero who is responsible for the death of Caesar. The well renowned playwright constructed this tale to follow Marcus Brutus, a Roman politician and a friend of Caesar. Initially known as a confidant and ally of Caesar, there is a conflict brewing inside the hero Brutus. As the story unfolds, it is revealed that Brutus suspects that Caesar’s motives may not be something that will allow Rome to prosper in the future. Fated between his friendship and his dedication of Rome, his decisions soon lead to his downfall.

William Shakespeare’s tragedy called “The Tragedy of Julius Caesar” focuses on the psychological drama of Brutus, Caesar's friend, and his struggle between the clashing demands of honor, patriotism and friendship. Looking at the role of fate and freewill in the play could it be said that fate and/or freewill controls the lives of others. One cannot avoid fate, but rather settle for the outcome. Although Cassius feels that men are masters of their own fate one can say otherwise, because everyone has control of their choices but not of their outcome.

Of all the phenomenal, as well as tyrannical, Roman rulers throughout history, Julius Caesar is by far the most prominent. This fame is due in no small part to William Shakespeare and his play that bears the same name. However, although Caesar is the play’s namesake, the story’s central focus is on Brutus and Caius Cassius and their plot to assassinate Caesar. When discussing Antony’s fate in Act II scene 1 of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Brutus argues against what he perceives as the unnecessary and brutal action of killing Antony with imperfectly uniform sentence structure, juxtaposition of contrasting words, and symbolic physiological comparisons that illuminate both the confidence and unity of his rationale and highlight his tragic naivety and idealism.

The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare depicts the dictatorship of a powerful Roman emperor in 44 B.C. This play consists of various elements some of which are historical events, people and places, which disclose the conspiracy to overthrow Julius Caesar. The fates of the characters are predetermined although they attempt to avoid and ultimately change their own fate, which attributes to the humanity each character possesses giving a predetermined fate that is unavoidable and uncontrollable. Individual perception of omens and superstitions controls characters fates.

“Julius Caesar” by William Shakespeare, is an emotional roller coaster that takes you through a heart-wrenching journey about Brutus' struggle between love of his country and love of his friend. William Shakespeare submerges you in the world of Julius Caesar by showing the error of human nature through a riveting plotline, that includes; an eye-opening assessment of one’s downfall to idealistic thinking, the realization that words are more powerful than we acknowledge, and an utterly remarkable job of illustrating how black and white humanities thinking really is. Within the first 30 pages, you witnessed how idealism can cloud one’s judgment so abundantly they could lose all ability to see reason and ultimately become their greatest kryptonite. We all have the image of the perfect life, some seek money, some crave power and some think money equals power.

Shakespearean literature provides an illumination of otherworldly ideas, interesting concepts, and significant thoughts that encourage the reader to ponder about the question given. In “The Comedy of Errors,” Shakespeare presents the question, “is fate truly an active participant in how we live our lives?” In response to Barthes’ observation on how literature only provides a question but no answer, Shakespeare supports this note of Barthes’ by giving examples of how different effects result our destiny, and no one thing like “fate.” This impacts the reader’s understanding of the work as a whole because it conveys that many things possess a role in directly or indirectly effecting us, and the question of “is fate an active participant” is best

One is familiar with Shakespeare’s tragedies such as “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet”, “The Tragedy of Hamlet” and so forth. Shakespeare’s tragedies have been known for centuries as a reflection of the societies in different eras which appeals to many until today. They express the darkness that lies within the human’s soul and mind. “The Tragedy of Julius Caesar” and “The Tragedy of Macbeth” are both remarkable works of Shakespeare’s that although they are of different plots, they both share uncanny characteristics and themes such as a tragic hero, a tragic flaw, and the downfall.

Attempts have been made in this paper to justify Brutus as a tragic hero in Shakespeare’s play The Julius Caesar. He dominates the landscape so much so that some critics feel the play should rather have been named after him. Of course some of the great traits that Brutus possesses such as patriotism, vision, gentleness, oration, honour and honesty, gullibility, idealism make us consider him a hero. However, the dubious distinction of his being termed ‘a tragic hero’ rests on several grave errors of judgment that Brutus commits.

“Come I to speak at Caesar’s funeral. He was my friend, faithful and just to me. But Brutus says that he was too ambitious, and Brutus is an honorable man .” Mark Antony (Act 3,Scene 2,Line 85). “Julius Caesar” by William Shakespeare, is a classic play depicting the death of Caesar and the chaos that ensues afterwards. One theme in this play is fate vs. free will, the mood is serious and calm, while the conflicts of the play is primarily man vs. self, though there is some man vs. man and man vs. supernatural.