Manipulation in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar Essay

It was supposed to be an ordinary gathering like any other at the Capitol on March 15th, 44 B.C.E, but things ended up turning out very differently from what was normally expected. It started out with Caesar heading to the Senate house with all of the conspirators surrounding him. Caesar sees the soothsayer and blurts out with arrogance that the ides of March of have come and nothing bad has happened.

In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Caesar has become overly ambitious, so a group of men conspire to murder him. Many people and omens try to warn him of his doom, but he is too arrogant to think he will die. Calpurnia, his wife, tries to convince Caesar to stay at home; while Decius, one of the men who plots to kill him, insists that he comes to the Senate House. Calpurnia and Decius employ various rhetorical devices, which Calpurnia uses in an attempt to save Caesar from his fate, while Decius uses them to draw Caesar closer to his fate.

In Act 3 Scene 2 the passionate crowd listens to Antony’s speech at Caesar’s funeral. My speech is spoken in the voice of Cassius attempting to counter Antony’s words. Cassius specifically advises Brutus to not let Antony speak after him during Caesar’s funeral knowing how persuasive Antony can be. Cassius is a man who is jealous of Caesar’s power and glory but realizes he must put up a front to convey the audience. Therefore, his tone is hostile towards Antony and Caesar; however, very uplifting towards Brutus.

The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare is a tale not completely focused on Julius Caesar himself. But is instead focused more on the conspirators that surrounded him. Julius Caesar is unwilling to believe several warnings that could have saved his life, Julius Caesar ends up being murdered after ignoring all of the warnings, everyone has a different view of Julius Caesar. A tragic hero is a character of high standing in society that has a flaw that leads to their downfall and must feel enlightened in the end. Julius Caesar is a tragic hero.

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.

After the king to be, Caesar was killed by Brutus and others, Brutus gives a speech to explain why he had killed Caesar and what they should do after. After he gives his speech, he allows a close friend of Caesar to speak as well, named Antony. While Brutus had appealed to their logic and cultural beliefs, Antony mostly appeals to emotions, with barely any logic or culture.

absolute authority over Rome. Also, Cassius claims to throw a few letters, in different handwritings through Brutus’s window, so it seems as if the letters have come from several citizens implying concern

In the play Julius Caesar written by the whimsical, sophisticated William Shakespeare both beloved Brutus and noble Antony deliver their most thorough attempts to win over the delicate citizens of Rome into what they believed was correct. Brutus gave it a valiant effort in trying to convince the citizens that murdering the noble Caesar was the best thing to do for the people. In the end Brutus’ effort was not enough because Antony was able to turn every Roman against Brutus and the other deceitful conspirators during his speech with his extraordinary use of logos, pathos, and ethos.

All throughout Rome, Brutus is known as being nobleman, yet, in his funeral speech to Caesar, he purposely talks in prose, a way of speaking or writing that is not formal. Brutus’ ethos of nobility is so strong that patricians, noblemen, and plebeians, commoners, directly address Brutus as “the noble Brutus” (III.ii.11) Being as noble as he his, the commoners have a difficult time relating to him; yes, they may respect him, but believing or being convincing in what he says is more difficult for Brutus than Antony. In contrast, Antony can relate to the commoners and is not seen to have an overruling ethos; so, this is why Antony ultimately has a more persuasive speech. At the beginning of his speech, he is presented as not being at all against the conspirators, the group Brutus was apart of. He repeatedly kept reassuring the crowd that the conspirators were "all honorable men" (III.ii.81). By reassuring that the conspirators are honorable, the commoners believe in Antony's statement, which increases his authority power. Noticing that his authority is becoming more powerful, Antony decides to secretly turn against the conspirators. He questions on Brutus’ statement, again, on his reasoning for killing Caesar; yes, Antony is well aware that “[Brutus] is an honorable

The major conspirators that convince others to overthrow Julius Caesar were Casca, Cicero, Murellus & Flavius. These 4 manipulators play on the emotions of the towns people to make them believe that Caesar was an evil man, who once became their King, would treat them very badly and turn Rome into a dictatorship. They use some very unusual events that were happening in Rome at the time to prove to others that these signs were bad omens of things to come. They spread fear throughout the town and convince a mob of people that Caesar must be killed before becoming King of Rome.

	Julius Caesar vacillates, or changes, his mind throughout the play and this downfall is shown to be one of Caesar’s hamartias. On the day Caesar is to go to the Capitol, he changes his decisions frequently. Caesar defies the warnings of Calpurnia and the priests and Caesar says that she, Caesar, shall go forth to the Capitol this day. "Caesar. 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." Through this quotation, it seems Caesar has made his mind to go forth to the Capitol. Calpurnia, though, is able to persuade him to stay home and send word that he is sick. Caesar replies, "Caesar. Mark Antony shall say I am not well, And for thy humour I will stay at home."(2,2,55-56) Decius then flatters Caesar and is able to persuade him that Calpurnia’s nightmare is misinterpreted and that he

Antony's small speech depicts Brutus as a noble being and the ideal image of a man. Stating that nature would `stand and say to all the world', that Brutus was a man illustrates Brutus as being the idyllic man to become. Brutus is the only conspirator to maintain an honorable reason to assassinate Julius Caesar. Antony believes this, and states how only Brutus `in general honest thought and common good to all made one of them', implying that Brutus is the only one who possessed moral reasons for assassinating Caesar. Both Antony and Octavius, who were two of Brutus' most critical adversaries, state how Brutus is a dignified Roman.

With Caesar’s actions in Calpurnia’s presence we see the gentler, slightly less arrogant side to his personality. Also in having Portia’s presence, we see the more compassionate side of Brutus, her husband. We are shown Caesar’s gentler, less arrogant behavior when Calpurnia pleaded with Caesar that he not leave home that day, a request made due to her suspicions sparked by the soothsayer’s warning to beware the Ides of March. Caesar dismisses her feeling confident that the Soothsayer’s words were unimportant. However she continues in her attempts to convince him. “Mark Antony shall say I am not well,/ And for thy humor I will stay at home” (cite). Then, although he sees staying home on this day as a sign of cowardice, Caesar chooses to stay home. Although shortly after, Caesar reverts to his original plan, the fact remains true that for at least a moment, Caesar had made the less arrogant choice. Making this choice showed Caesar is capable of changing his arrogant way of thinking under certain circumstances.In having Portia, Brutus’s wife, we see a new characteristic in Brutus as well.After Portia’s death Brutus says to Cassius, “No man bears