Julius Caesar Free Will Analysis

Brutus’s motivations behind the death of Caesar is clearly evident in his speech after the assassination. Throughout his speech, Brutus relies on reason and logical rationale and syllogisms to explain the reasons behind the assassination “If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer: not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. Had you rather Caesar were living, and die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live all free man? /as he was ambitious, I slew him”. These strong and emotive words demonstrate Brutus strong love for Rome. Thus it can be said that, although Shakespeare presents various perceptions towards Julius Caesar, the composer’s bias is not negated.

At the beginning, Fate chose Caesar to be the king and this is not what Brutus wanted.

Making the right decisions is an ongoing struggle for man, because making decisions is never easy, and the wrong decision can lead to endless perils. Decisions must be made when dealing with power, loyalty, and trust. Yet, unlike other decisions, ones that are about these three fields are the most important, due to the risk involved, and because of the consequences that might follow.

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.

In the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, an honorable man, Brutus, is planning to overthrow the soon to be king, Julius Caesar. Brutus is persuaded by Cassius that Caesar is a liar, too ambitious, weak, and not fit to be Rome’s king. Brutus soon believed Cassius, and they and the conspirators made a plan to kill Caesar. After Caesar’s death, Brutus planned to justify his actions of killing Caesar at his funeral in his speech to the people. After Brutus’s speech, the citizens of Rome were all in agreement that Brutus did the right thing for Rome. Brutus then decides to allow Caesar’s best friend, Antony, to speak in honor of Caesar. Antony speaks, and he convinces the citizens that Brutus’s actions were unjust and turned the people against Brutus.

There have been many famous leaders in Roman history but none could match Julius Caesar[See Figure 1]. Julius Caesar was born on July 13, 100 BC in Rome and died March 15, 44 BC in Rome. Julius Caesar is best known for his military mind and how he laid the framework for the Roman Republic. One of the quotes he is famous for is "I came, I saw, I conquered." Caesar has not just influenced Rome, he also influenced the world too. The Roman Calendar was rigged to help political purposes. Caesar devised a new Calendar called the Julian Calendar to combat that manipulation[See Figure 2]. The Calendar still has an influence in Eastern Orthodox Christian countries such as Russia, Ukraine, Greece and much more. That is only one out of many

He does not want Caesar to be crowned king. Power meant more to Brutus than being noble to Caesar. The actions of Brutus do not reflect his intentions of being a nobleman. Contemplating the assassination, Brutus invokes the familiar Elizabethan analogy between the body politic and the body natural. In so doing he invokes the symbolic framework which establishes the relationships among the diverse issues and actions of the play and provides, in this case, an implicit refutation of the position he is about to take. For Brutus' political miscalculations, rather than being the almost inexplicable mistakes of a supremely virtuous character, are the manifestations of a clearly defined moral failing. Brutus, of course, misses the point of his analogy. Sensible of the hideousness of the "Insurrection" within the "little Kingdome" to which he likens himself, he does not go on to deduce, as he might be expected to, that "Rebels [ought] by the Justice of the law to be suppressed, even as the

Brutus is one of the more complex character in Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. Shakespeare added a lot of complexity to Brutus through dialogue, monologue, and soliloquy. Shakespeare created opposing desires in Brutus and created both hesitation and doubt. His major back-and-forth conflict is him trying to give himself an honorable reason for killing Caesar. He is manipulated by Cassius and the other conspirators into assassinating Caesar, a life-long friend of Brutus. “The ultimate factor in persuading Brutus to join the conspiracy is his belief, a belief based on the the letters cast in at his window or conspicuously left for him in public places” (Shalvi 71). When Caesar was attacked by the conspirators, it had been Brutus’ blade and betrayal that had finally killed him. During the beginning and the end of the play, Brutus struggled to accept that killing Caesar was not what he wanted to do. In his head, Brutus is content that he killed Caesar for the good of Rome. In a speech to Romans after Caesar’s death he says, “Not that I loved Caesar less, but

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.

“It must be by his death; and for my part, I know no personal cause to spurn at him, But for the general. He would be crowned” (Act II, Scene i, Line 10-12). In this quote, Brutus has solidified part of his reason to join the conspiracy and kill Caesar. Throughout the first two acts of Julius Caesar, Brutus struggles with an extremely difficult decision. He can either join the conspiracy or allow Caesar to be crowned. During the first and second act, Brutus’s thoughts change periodically about the whole situation. By the end of Act II, he persuades himself to cross over to the group that will take Caesar out of power. Therefore, he is completely and utterly convinced that Caesar must die before rising to power.

In the beginning of the play, we meet Brutus, a highly respected, much loved, senator of Rome. He loved Rome as a republic and he has a good life until he is led astray by Cassius. When he becomes embroiled in the assassination of Caesar, he is very reluctant to do so. In the way he acted, you could tell he has sleepless nights over what he should do. He decided to kill Caesar for

A person of great power has a large amount of control and influence over the vast majority of the population that they lead. Often times, their leadership position was gained through manipulation of the people as they try to sell themselves to them. This manipulation also affects any competition for that leadership position because a common technique to sway someone’s opinion is to make the competition look bad which then makes the people look down on the competition, causing the opposing side’s chances of success to plummet. William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar demonstrates this as a tale of manipulation leads to the downfall of the weaker link. Cassius, Mark Antony and Julius Caesar have perfected the art of manipulation as they are

In the beginning, Brutus faces inner turmoil in his decision on whether or not to kill Caesar, “Since Cassius first did whet me against Caesar” (ii.i. 64), causing Brutus to “have not slept” (ii.i. 65) due to his uneasiness about his situation. Especially since “for my [Brutus’] part/I know no personal cause to spurn at him;/But for the general” (ii.i. 10-12) as Brutus and Caesar are close friends. Nonetheless, Brutus makes his final decision based solely for the benefit of the public, as he thinks of this as his fate. When the conspirators stab Caesar, Brutus stabs Caesar as Caesar proclaims his betrayal: “Et tu, Bruté?—Then fall, Caesar./(dies)” (iii.i.84-85), which turns Caesar’s murder into a traumatic event for Brutus. Later on as Brutus encounters Caesar’s ghost, he has a mental break that, “makest my blood cold and my hair to stare” (iv.iii.323). Witnessing Caesar’s ghost, reveals Brutus’ guilty subconscious of killing Caesar (as Brutus is the only one to interact with the ghost) and also spurs Brutus into sending his troops out to battle. Arriving in battle, Brutus’ disadvantaged army faces a tremendously lost against Octavius and Mark Antony. In the midst of defeat and gnawing grief, Brutus says his last words, “Farewell, good Strato./(runs on his sword)/Caesar, now be still./I killed not thee with half so good a will./(dies) (v.v.55-57), for his belief in fate tore him down until he could only escape in honoring Caesar through

Moral Absolutes No character is entirely good nor bad. The dichotomy throughout Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar seen in Caesar, Brutus, and Antony. The dichotomy in the play is a large roll in making the play “tragic”. Tragic meaning that there is no happy ending; the play ends in sorrow and pain, this trait being seen in many other Shakespeare plays.

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