Julius Caesar Seminar Questions Essay

Composers of texts present a biased attitude to the events, personalities or situations represented. In various texts such as Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” and Leunig’s cartoon “Yet another picture with the wrong caption”, the composers bias is evident even though conflicting perspectives towards the personality are presented.

Cassius’s thinking is that when Caesar falls, Antony is not to be trusted and will most likely seek revenge. However, Brutus once again disagrees with Cassius’s opinion thinking that Antony is an honorable man who, without Caesar, is too weak to actually take revenge against them. Brutus and Cassius’s contradicting thoughts on Antony are shown when Brutus says,

The qualities a tragic hero, in Shakespeare's plays, normally displays consists of the hero falling from a place of glory, or rank, or happiness. We are astounded by the extent to which they fall, or allow themselves to stoop. The resulting catastrophe from the hero's mistake is of monumental proportions. With the discussed play Julius Caesar, Cassius exhibits Jealousy, Rashness, and Impulsive behaviour. Cassius makes mistakes, each with a disastrous effect.

     Of the three men, Caesar’s fate seemed most obvious to him and to the reader. However, Caesar used his free will in many instances to in large

     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. Cassius, a respected Roman, and Brutus betray each other by arguing and destroying their friendship. All this betraying lead to many deaths in the play.

In this play, Julius Caesar returns to Rome to find that he has the unconditional support of the Plebeians. As he gains more power, his friends worry that he will completely take over the city, and so they conspire with one another to kill him. Preceding the attack, the conspirators notice many strange occurrences in Rome, such as a “lion who looked at [them] and strutted by without bothering to attack,” a “threatening” and “destructive” storm, and a “common slave” whose “hand did flame and burn.” The conspirators perceive these bizarre circumstances as omens that they should kill Caesar and quickly carry out their plan. When the conspirators confront him, they stab him thirty-three times, and then announce his death to the citizens of Rome, expecting a positive response but receiving the opposite. Rome is plunged into violence as the plebeians attempt to find the conspirators responsible for Caesar’s death. Citizens swarm the streets of their city, killing innocent people, such as Cinna the Poet, believing that they are among the group of people responsible for killing Caesar. This violence and death represents the weak condition that Rome continues in throughout the play. Caesar’s body represents the body of Rome, and when he is wounded, the entire city feels wounded as well. The chaos that Rome undergoes after Caesar’s death is symbolic of his importance to the city. The

Conflicting perspectives, What are they? Conflicting perspectives are a clash of ideologies and belief systems. When studying conflicting perspectives we are able to generate diverse and provocative insights, like the idea that is appealing to an audiences logic and reason is less effective in persuading them as opposed to appealing to their emotions which is more effective. This can be seen through the texts Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, the article 'Arguments Against Abortion' by Kerby Anderson and the essay ‘Abortion and the Alternatives' by Voula Papas.

He also believes this will bring him power. His downfall is shown in this quote because it shows what he’s going to do to no longer feel this way. It is also shown because the plot is based on his jealousy of Caesar.

Answer in complete, detailed, grammatically correct sentences. Each question must have at least one paragraph response. Use support from the play!

He compares Caesar to a serpent in an egg which he must kill before it hatches. Brutus knows that Caesar is gaining too much power too quickly and it must come to an end. He shows his belief in a republic government by saying, “We all stand up against the spirit of Caesar / And in the spirit of men there is no blood" (II.i. 180-181). Cassius is a character who is jealous of Caesar’s power and also wants it to end. He forms a group of conspirators who are against Julius Caesar. He persuades Brutus to help him and the other conspirators to kill Caesar during the ides of March. Brutus joins but only due to his love for Rome and its people. He proves this by saying "Let us be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius." (II.i. 179). This also proves his love for Caesar because he wants to kill him with some sort of honor. Brutus wants the citizens to look at him not as a murderer but for someone who cares for his country. He expresses his ideas toward the stabbing by saying , “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" (III, ii, 17-19).

The final demonstration of the theme is when Antony, a follower of Caesar, cleverly uses pleasant words against Brutus and the conspirators. In the scene where Antony speaks, Caesar is already dead and Antony could publicly speak only if he did not dirtied Brutus’s name or Caesar’s. He blatantly calls the conspirator honorable: “The noble Brutus/ Hath told you Caesar was ambitious. / If it were so, it was a grievous fault, / And grievously hath Caesar answered it. / Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest/ (For Brutus is an honorable man, / So are they all, all honorable men), / Come I to speak in Caesars’ funeral” (3.2. 912-13). The power of Antony’s speech and the manner her referred to his enemies was fabulous. He achieved the plebeians’ ultimate approval and will succeed in avenging Caesar’s death. He did so by using wise and well-chosen words.

Shakespeare creates an image of Caesar being an unkind, selfish, and ambitious leader. For example, in the beginning he returns from a successful military campaign. The people are celebrating in the streets; however, two of Caesar’s government officials Hannah and Emily point out the negatives of the situation instead of looking at the positive attributes. They say that Caesar is somewhat traitorous for killing Pompey, who was one of his fellow triumvirs. He also implies that the people are fickle and should not be celebrating the murder of one of their previous leaders whom they loved very much. In this scene and many others, Shakespeare makes it seem as if Julius Caesar is arrogant and feels that he is superior to everyone else. For instance, towards the beginning when the crow is

Caesar’s pride is shown by his response, "Caesar. …Danger knows full well that Caesar is more dangerous than he. We are two lions littered in one day, And I the elder and more terrible, And Caesar shall go forth."(2,2,44-47) Caesar shows that his pride overrules any advice given by others. If not for Julius Caesar’s pride, he may have avoided the assassination and had more time for the conspiracy to be uncovered. This clearly shows that Caesar’s pride is a hamartia that leads to his downfall.

“Even the noblest men can be seduced by power; it has the power to kill, to distort, and to corrupt” Through this passage, Matthew Sims captures in essence how individuals often turn to betrayal and deception in order to gain their heart’s desires. This characteristic is not only present in life, but can also be seen in modern and classical literature, including the well known work of Julius Caesar. In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, the lust for power transcends any one individual and ultimately leads to death and corruption of not only Caesar, but also of Brutus and Cassius. The play begins with Caesar parading through the streets of Rome as he triumphs in his victory over Pompey. However, Brutus, Cassius, and many others hatch a plot to

Julius Caesar is and was one of the most influential people in history. He created laws, stuck wars, and developed new strategies for leadership and battles. "Caesar is widely considered to be one of the greatest military geniuses of all time, as well as a brilliant politician and one of the ancient world's strongest leaders (Julius Caesar pg.1)." He transformed the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire and he extended his land all the way through Gaul to The Atlantic Ocean, as well as fighting a civil war and being proclaimed as dictator for life.