Free Will In Julius Caesar

Calpurnia dreams that Caesar will be murdered and thinks it is foolish. It is a mistake by Caesar to think it is foolish because it foreshadowed his death that eventually happened. His personality got in his own way and ended up costing his life. Caesar ignoring the signs and foreshadows throughout the play ended up costing his own life as his personality got in his own way.

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.

Caesar says that cowards die many times before their death and death will come when it will come. Then Caesar asked a servant what the augurers say about the subject and they say they found no heart within the beast. This is a simple act of showing how superstitious Caesar is sends him in to a rage and he decides he will go to the capitol. Then Calpurnia (the voice of reason) says “your wisdom is consumed in confidence” and tells him to tell them it is her fear and not his own that keeps him from the capitol. And Caesar grudgingly agrees. Then Decius Brutus comes in and ruins the whole thing by telling Caesar that her dream was telling how great he is and Decius manages to flatter Caesar enough that he decides to go to the capitol and he tells Calpurnia how foolish her dreams seem now and he leaves. Calpurnia, as we know was right the whole time and Caesar gets assassinated at the capitol. This scene was important in foreshadowing Caesar’s death and showing how overconfident Caesar is, and although Calpurnia’s warning was only one of many she seems to be the only warning with real impact, that is until Decius Brutus comes in to play.

“The Senate have concluded to give this day a crown to mighty Caesar” (2.2. 98-99). While his statement may be true, he follows this statement up with a string of falsehoods. Decius plants the idea in Caesar’s head that if he were to tell the senate that Caesar was to “hide himself” away from the senate due to Calpurnia’s dreams, there would be no reason for the people not to whisper of the likelihood of him being cowardly (2.2.105). While a possible blow to Caesar’s ego is motivation enough for the political figure, Decius continues his sentiments by further toying with his pride. Decius claims that if he were to tell the senate that Caesar was a no-show, “their minds may change” about the decision to present him with the title as their ruler (2.2.101). He knows Caesar would not refuse the crown. The suggestion of power is too tempting for him to pass up, it is all it takes to lure Caesar to his demise. Caesar’s pride and desire for power renders him unaware, as well as blind to Decius’

Nobody can truly predict someone’s future, or behavior. Without any definite proof, the conspiracy believed that Caesar would become a dictator. Many times the play references how Caesar might act out, but they do not know for

Caesar is a very ambitious, which means he is eagerly desirous of gaining power and that he believes he can control his own fate. This quote from Caesar gives an example of Caesar being ambitious “Caesar shall forth, the things that threatened me ne’er looked but on my back when they shall see the face of Caesar, they are vanished.” Basically what Caesar is saying is that when danger sees his face it will run away and hide. This shows how Caesar thinks that he can control his own fate, but this is not the case.

Fate has always been of interest to society, and even today, people continue to question whether someone’s life is destined for a certain fate, or if it is shaped by their own free-will. Such thoughts come into play throughout various acts and scenes of Shakespeare 's Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare’s play often strongly suggests that Romeo and Juliet’s relationship is built upon fate and free-will. There are many critics who argue fate is what makes up this play in its entirety due to the various fate related ideas evoked throughout it. Although fate does indeed play some roles in the shaping of Romeo and Juliet’s relationship, overall, it is free-will that plays a much greater role throughout their tragedy and is ultimately at work in this play.

William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Julius Caesar is a story of envy, downfall, dishonesty, and true loyalty. The story begins with a celebration of Julius Caesar’s return home from a victorious battle. The people of Rome are excited for Caesar’s return, as they value and respect him as a potential leader, but there are also a handful of people that express their unhappiness with all of the attention surrounding Caesar. Caius Cassius is among those handful of individuals unhappy with Caesar’s popularity. Cassius is envious of Caesar and does not understand why he has gained so much power over the people of Rome, which brings him to the conclusion that he needs to bring about the fall of Caesar. Cassius expresses the issue to his brother-in-law

The events in Oedipus show that his past actions were determined by fate but what he did in Thebes, he did on his own free will. Oedipus’ actions, temper, impulsive nature and pride, as well as his erroneous judgment show free will. Personality is what decided their own free will. In Oedipus’ case, one of these was the desire for knowledge and truth about his life. This driving force in the play led to the truth of his origin. This ties in with his own aspect of free will. His free will is based on his drive for knowledge.

The warnings against the Ides of March, first heard from the soothsayer, are specifically the most repeated omen throughout the play. It is repeated so much because it is predicts the impending doom upon Caesar. Caesar’s refusal to listen to the soothsayer, and the various other warnings against the Ides of March, shows that there is no difference between fate and free will. Caesar, who is completely cocky and confident in himself, such that he can put off fate, has the free will to ignore the warnings, to ignore the signs, and he does just so. Because of Caesar’s ignorance, his fate is sealed from then on. If Caesar had somehow read the warnings correctly, or even at all, his fate would be completely different; but his fate is not the only one which would be different. Whether or not Caesar would be king is arguable, but what is not, is the fact that if the warnings about the Ides of March would have been taken with more seriousness,

Julius Caesar happens in Rome amid around 100 BC. The inquiry is the way a play that happens a great many years identify with current times. Despite the fact that Julius Caesar and alternate individuals from the play lived a huge number of years back, they still pocess the same human instinct that we see today in our cutting edge society. Every character in the play is typical to a kind of individual that is discovered seeking force. A considerable lot of the occasions that occured in Julius Caesar have occured all through time, making a hefty portion of the scenes and topics widespread. The circumstance that Julius Caesar got himself into can in any case be a danger to individuals in force today.

Numerous omens have been displayed throughout the entirety of the Tragedy of Julius Caesar that have given purpose and meaning to the play. If these omens had been ignored, often times negativity was the outcome exhibited towards the characters. All of the events that had lead up to the death of Caesar were predicted by many characters, but almost all of these occurrences were disregarded. Even after Caesar is pronounced dead supernatural events and omens occur, which divulged the conspirators’ ashamed and guilt ridden natures. The Tragedy of Julius Caesar had shown that there is consistently a relationship between omens and nature in daily living and it affects those who believe and choose to act upon them.

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:

One of the major concerns presented by Shakespeare in Julius Caesar is the struggle between fate and free will. This struggle is evident throughout the play through Shakespeares continual presentation of the supernatural. The supernatural is present in many different forms in the text, for example through omens, nightmares and sacrifices. Shakespeare believed that life was a combination of fate and freewill, he presents this idea to the audience through different events that occur throughout the play, events such as the Feast at the Lupercal, the Soothsayers prophecy, the animal sacrifice, Calpurnias dream and the presence of animals and Caesars ghost. These events build dramatic tension throughout the play, illustrating the struggle of

Caesar employs this phrase to establish his power and to suggest his struggle. He stresses “for always I am Caesar” to allude to the idea that he is given a new identity where he is responsible for projecting strength and bravery. Hence is unable to act upon warnings or even his own feelings. During the Feast of Lupercal, the soothsayer marks Caesar’s death on the “ides of March” (1.2.23). Caesar dismisses the warning and ridicules the Soothsayer, labeling him as a “dreamer.” His disregard of the warning is due to his mindfulness of his position as he hopes to mask all of his fears. Caesar’s overweening haughtiness takes an immense toll on him once again, when he fails to listen to his wife’s plea. Calpurnia informs her husband that she envisioned Romans rinsing their hands in Caesar’s blood in a dream. However, Caesar is swayed when Decius Brutus interprets the dream as “a vision of fair and fortune” (2.2.95). Furthermore, aware that Caesar prizes his reputation, Decius Brutus toys with his pride, stating that if Caesar decides to not show up, the senate will whisper “Lo, Caesar is afraid?”