“Behind every man, there is a woman.” As seen throughout history, society has dumped women into a lower “rank.” Women have been seen as much less significant and less important as pertaining to men. This idea of society’s own patriarchal illustration can be seen in William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, in which Julius Caesar’s wife, Calphurnia, is left widely unnoticed and highly insignificant although she holds an image that is really quite important. In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Julius Caesar is seen as what the image history has portrayed him as, a fine general of Rome’s vast military but also a general of an ill mind and ignorance that is upon him. This ill mind and ignorance is derived from his power and the abuse that came with the power. His abuse of power is widely seen throughout The Tragedy of Julius Caesar as he seizes his power from the Rome senate and everyone and everything. This abuse is also summarized in Brutus’s response of Caesar’s power as he describes Caesar as a “serpent egg” and provides a forewarning of the dangers of Caesar’s power as it becomes more and more prevalent throughout the first half of the story before his death. As it is shown that the assumptions pertaining to Caesar are true; it is also developed that Caesar begins to overlook his surroundings, of which includes his beloved wife, Calphurnia. As the story progresses, we find that Calphurnia’s nature can be described as shy, reclusive, and very quiet in her ways.
Calpurnia’s second argument begins with a metaphor, “[w]hen beggars die, there are no comets seen” With this device, she emphasizes the intensity of the events happening, she compares the importance of royalty to the powerless, to play to Caesar’s ego. Her next device is hyperbole as she argues against her husband. She claims that the “heavens themselves blaze forth the deaths of princes” to exaggerate how much the people and their gods care about Caesar and to compare her husband to a prince. She then equips herself with influential word choice to flatter Caesar and to place herself as less than him, so he feels that he still holds the power in their relationship. She addresses Caesar as “my lord” while begging him to stay home. Her following device is personification. She accuses his “wisdom [of being] consumed in confidence” to emphasize his clouded judgment to show the realism of what Calpurnia is saying. She next uses an understatement to ask him to “not go forth today.” She is desperate for him to stay, but the understatement highlights the urgency by making it seem negligible. She wants Caesar to “call it [her] fear”, as to why he is staying at home. This selection of detail is her using logos, a logical escape that avoids him seeming weak. With juxtaposition and the connotation of the word choice in each phrase, Calpurnia makes their own home appear safer than the Senate House Caesar wants to go to, telling him to blame her fear for keeping him “in the house and not [his] own. [They’ll] send Mark Antony to the Senate House.” Ending her argument with rich word choice, she tries to implement pathos to convince him that the omens are dangerous because of her own fear. She wants to “prevail” in trying to convince Caesar to
Julius Caesar, a Roman general, dictator, and leader, is considered to be one of history 's most influential and powerful rulers to this day, in which his rise to power, conquest of Europe, and controversial downfall all remain to be told during modern days. The play Julius Caesar written by William Shakespeare, portrays the events leading up to Julius Caesar’s assassination, and how those who conspired against him banded together and plotted Caesar’s demise. Many of those conspirators assassinated Caesar due to his quick rise to absolute power, his “acts” of disrespect against the senate such as his failing to stand to receive the title of becoming a “god,” and pure jealousy and anger towards Caesar’s success and rule over the Roman empire. Caesar, an ambitious man, was able to conquer many lands and peoples for Rome through successful military campaigns in which he became one Rome’s best generals due to the amount of successful battles he had won and the amount of blood he had shed for Rome’s expansion. However, Caesar’s trait of ambitiousness would prove to be a double edged sword.
Gender stereotypes are not a modern notion and as such expectations and limitations have always existed for both men and women. Fortunately women, who have formerly beared great burdens of discrimination, now have very liberated roles in society as a result of slowly shifting attitudes and values. Shakespeare was integral in challenging the subservient role expected of women in the 16th century. Throughout the play, ‘The Merchant of Venice’, women are expressed as powerful characters who behave, speak and live in a way that breaks away from the conformist role of females during the 16th century. Therefore, the submissive stereotype expected of women in Shakespearean time is confronted and defied through
In the tragic play Julius Caesar there is a leader everybody looked up to named Caesar. Although people looked up to him he was not always loyal,trustworthy, or honorable. Some seen it before others and want to make a change and within that change Caesar had to be kilt. Brutus being Caesar friend knew the games that he played and became one of the ones that put an end to his games. With him being his friend he honoured him for all the good but as he was ambitious Brutus slew him. Maybe Caesar knew he was no good to Roman because once he seen Brutus standing upon the conspiracy something switched in him he no longer fought for his life. Caesar last words were “Et tu, Brutus(you too Brutus)then falls Caesar”.
Well, honor is the subject of my story. I cannot tell you what other men Think of this life, but for my single self, I had as lief not be, as live to be In awe of such a thing as myself” (1.2.90-96.). Brutus goes through with killing Caesar,but talks the men out of killing Mark Antony out of the belief he has done nothing wrong. Caesar believes he has done the correct thing and has saved the people of Rome from a corrupt leader, and he performs a speech to the people of Rome explaining his actions and why he murdered Caesar. This leads to his downfall in the end, because the act of not killing Mark Antony creates a war that is order to kill Cassius and Brutus.
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
Out of the many flaws that Julius Caesar had, one of the largest flaws that he had was his pride and his ambition. Having both of these attributes led to him being power hungry as well. For the most part Shakespeare’s play focuses on the idea of Julius being ‘power hungry’ for immortality. Despite his several flaws he is still able to be considered a hero for several different reasons. For one, he recognized his flaw, he was aware of what was thought of him because he saw it that way himself.
In the given excerpt from Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, Caesar is stuck with the decision of attending a meeting of the Senate or not. His wife, Calphurnia attempts to persuade him to stay home due to a dream she experienced, but ultimately fails in the process; As a representative part of the scheme, Decius strives to inveigle Caesar to make an appearance at the meeting where he will be assassinated, resulting in a success and thus marking the 15th of March as the day he died.
Along with the actuality and the attempts of manipulation in this play reside many forced manipulations. In the same scene in which Calpurnia convinces her husband to not go to the Capitol, a group of conspirators meet at Caesar's house to make sure he does not decide to stay at home, simply so that the planned assassination can, in fact, take place. Brutus, one of the conspirators, tells Caesar that his wife is superstitious, and that he should not be listening to her.
Centuries after the murder of a rising dictator, students, historians, and linguists alike continue to study the death of Julius Caesar as immortalized by William Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. In this tragedy, Shakespeare examines the days preceding Caesar’s downfall, and the aftermath that ensues. The tragedy describes Marcus Brutus, a character with noble and honorable intentions, influenced by Cassius to support a conspiracy against an ambitious politician, Julius Caesar. Brutus, Cassius, and other conspirators succeed in ending Caesar’s life, but are forced to flee when Rome turns against them. Much controversy has arisen over who is the tragic hero of the play. A tragic hero is a noble character who, despite his greatness, is led to destruction by his own fatal flaw. Although many argue Brutus is the tragic hero due to his prominent role in the play and his heroic, yet flawed, character, Shakespeare remains justified in the naming of his play. In Shakespeare’s accurately titled tragedy, Julius Caesar, rather than Brutus, remains the tragic hero of the play due to his heroic qualities, his fatal flaw, and Brutus’ ineligibility as the tragic hero.
Throughout many pays and novels, women have had important roles of helping form the main characters, in the way they think, move or change the story. Women have always been subordinate to men all through history, but in plays, novels, short stories, etc, they have been given large enforcing roles, showing the power within women. William Shakespeare and Sophocles use guilt, pride, and influence to demonstrate the importance of the women’s role to support the main characters in both the plays of Macbeth and Antigone.
“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
For thousands of years, humanity has been ruled mainly by a Patriarchal society. In this society women have often been seen as objects or inferior humans through the eyes of their male counterparts. The Elizabethan era was no exception to these beliefs, and works of literature often supported these misogynistic views. In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, however, the author appears to portray the characters of Portia and Calphurnia in a positive light, ignoring the common stereotypes often associated with female characters. Although Portia and Calphurnia have minor parts in the play, their strength is discernible. Both female characters are portrayed as
When observing gender in our society, women and men are stereotyped with specific roles. Men have always been seen as the family’s main source of income whereas the women take care of their home and children. However, Shakespeare challenges these gender roles in his play with the three female characters Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia. While all three are independent, powerful women and even lead their armies into battle, the men seem to be foolish and weak such as King Lear and Albany. Furthermore, Mira cel Batran makes a point in her essay, “Feminist Reading of William Shakespeare’s King Lear”, that although women are regarded as dependent on men, Shakespeare explains that it can be the exact opposite. The men seem to depend on the women such as King Lear depending on Cordelia and Albany depending on Goneril. Shakespeare, in his play, King Lear, portrays women who are strong and intelligent and men who are weak or overpowered by female characters, challenging the societal belief that women are inherently less than or dependent on men.
In the Middle Age literature, women are often presented or meant to come off as an unimportant character; which can also reflect on how the author wants the women character represent. Women are usually shunned, have no say or control in what they do; due to what men desire; like Ophelia and Gertrude did in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. But these female characters that I will discuss are women with power, control, and a voice. Majority of the female character’s appearances are made to represent wickedness, evil, or a seducer who challenges a man belief; and does not symbolize perfect women.