The Social Hierarchy Of Julius Caesar

Although conflicting perspectives are present in Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”, the composers bias is still evident. Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” is a play which reflected the anxiety of England over succession of leadership. When the play was written in 1599, intense censorship prevailed and Shakespeare chose Caesar’s story in order to convey significant ideas and messages to the Elizabethan audience about the

Ancient Rome is known for some of the most powerful leaders, rulers, and kings to ever walk the earth. With many powerful leaders came many different political styles, ideas, and philosophies ranging from the democracy we have in America today to power driven tyrants consumed by their greed for new land and more cities to rule.

In his soliloquy, Antony praised Caesar’s great personality but at the same time, he would keep saying positive things about Brutus. An example is when he says, “He was my friend, faithful and just to me; / But Brutus says he was ambitious, / And Brutus is an honorable man.” (3.2.85-87). The way in which he spoke and by telling the citizens the context of Caesar’s will, turned the mob against Brutus and the rest of the conspirators. The anger possessed by the countrymen can be shown when a plebeian says, “Most noble Caesar! We’ll revenge his death!” (2.2.244). This betrayal by Antony caused Brutus to break off their friendship.

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.

Both Mark Antony and Marcus Brutus are great at using people’s emotions to grab their attention. In Brutus’s speech, he used the feeling of slavery: “Would you rather have Caesar alive and all die slaves, than Caesar dead to all live free men?” Nobody wants to be a slave and would feel angry if they were. Brutus is using this feeling to make it sound like Caesar would have made them all into slaves but because he is dead, they are all free. If one thinks about it some more, the people were like slaves under Caesar’s power. They weren’t free to do as they liked due to the fact that if it upset Caesar, you’d be executed. After Caesar was dead, the people were free to do as they pleased. Brutus used the emotion of anger to show that he killed Caesar so the people could be free of his controlling power.

Antony prepares the crowd for his heart wrenching tales of Julius Caesar, and his injustice. “If you have tears prepare to shed them now” (III.ii.166). He goes on later in his speech, saying, “Look, in this place ran Cassius’ dagger through. / See what a rent the envious Casca made. / Through this well-beloved Brutus stabbed; / And as he plucked his cursed steel away, / Mark how the blood of Caesar followed it, / As rushing out of doors to be resolved / If brutus unkindly knocked or no; / For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar’s angel” (III.ii.171-178). Antony lets everyone know that Brutus has done so much wrong by Caesar, not only because he killed him, but because he was his trusted friend. “...These are gracious drops. / Kind souls, what, weep you when you but behold / Our Caesar’s vesture wounded?...” (III.ii.191-193). Antony tells everyone that it is okay to cry, which evidently makes him look kind, but also sparks up a fire in the citizens. They continue to scream, “Revenge! About! Seek! Burn! Fire! Kill! Slay! / Let not a traitor live!”

Cassius, since the weakness of Caesar reveals that he is not almighty and has some fragility. In the same

Brutus misjudges and underestimates Antony’s abilities and his audience. When giving his speech, Brutus makes the subject on honor and abstract ideas using logos and ethos but no pathos. The mistake that Brutus makes is that he does not appeal to the crowd’s strong feelings over the death of Julius Caesar. Meanwhile, Antony easily overmatches Brutus because he does not overestimate his audience. Understanding the people, Antony begins in his eulogy appealing to the citizen’s feelings. Because of the lack of emotion in Brutus’s speech, Antony’s highly emotional and extemporaneous speech captures the minds and hearts of the crowd through use of pathos and causes them to become an angry mob that sought to scorn those that took part in the murder of

In Shakespeare’s play, Caesar is a highly respected man that holds great power, and as he gains more power there are men who stand to oppose him. This is how Caesar shows so many good qualities of leadership, like keeping an open ear to the people, being observant and proud, as well as being honest. The attributes that Caesar shows has gained him the trust of all of the people, already proivng just how worthy he is to be called the greatest authority figure in Shakespeare’s drama The Tradgedy of Julius Caesar.

Julius Caesar was popular with middle and lower classes because he lowered the debt which allowed many to gain more financial freedom. He began a welfare reform, reducing the number of those on the dole in Rome from 320,000 to 150,000 (the latter roughly fifteen percent of Rome's population). He would try to please the middle and lower classes by building places for the public (like the library). He was known to be a great military man and gained popularity through his triumphs. He was also known to be merciful because he would offer to pardon to many of his defeated enemies. When Caesar was presented Pompey’s head he was supposedly furious that he was not given the chance to pardon his eternal rival Pompey. So, through his actions and reform

Julius Caesar’s, one of the main leaders of Ancient Rome, reign was short lived because some of his fellow leaders, including his best friend, Brutus, murdered him. Mark Antony, a Roman politician, general, and ally of this leader, gives a speech at his funeral in William Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caesar. Antony’s purpose is to convince the people of Rome that Brutus and his men wrongfully murdered Caesar. He adopts a sarcastic and snarky tone in order to convince the public that Brutus and his “honorable men” are not the noble, just people that they call themselves. Mark Antony delivers a speech at Julius Caesar’s funeral to persuade his audience that Brutus and his men unjustifiably murdered Caesar.

In his will, Julius Caesar leaves money and property to the Roman people. Caesar’s will proves to the Roman people of the crowd that Caesar cared for them, and reminded them of why they loved Caesar in the first place. Anthony continues with this theme of Caesar loving the people when he says, “When the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept.” (3.2.100). This continues the theme seen throughout Antony’s speech of subtly reminding the crowd of their once beloved leader. Through this action and this quote, Antony is criticizing the assassination without mentioning the conspirators by name. Aside from that, Antony also uses guilt against the crowd when he says “You all did love him once, not without cause. What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him.” (). Through this quote, Antony is reminding the crowd of the love they had for Caesar only days before, making them feel as though they turned on him after his brutal murder. Brutus is not as successful in his emotional

Gaius Julius Caesar was born on July 13, 100 BCE (Fuller 56) in a world of political uncertainty. During that time, Lucius Cornelius Sulla was the political head of Rome. Caesar’s rise to power started at the age of 16, when he was elected by his uncle Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Cinna, to the position of Priest of Jupiter (Fuller 56). Two years later, Caesar married Lucius Cinna’s daughter, Cornelia. Sulla marched back to Rome, from being in the east, to settle a civil war. During his return, Sulla made several changes that increased his political power and satisfied the people, but when Sulla returned to Rome, he insisted that Caesar divorce his wife because her father had been involved in the civil war. This was something that Caesar was not going to comply with, which enraged Sulla. Since Caesar refused to obey Sulla’s orders to divorce his wife, Sulla stripped Caesar of his priesthood, as well as all his wealth and property. Unbeknownst to Sulla, his punishments to Caesar would eventually help spark a desire in Caesar, to become a powerful dictator. Caesar did not feel safe under these circumstances, so he decided to leave Rome and go into hiding. When Caesar was tracked down and captured, Caesar paid for his freedom, and his mother pleaded with Sulla to allow his return to Rome (Fuller 56). Caesar returned to Rome, staying away from any involvement in any of the civil wars, however; he watched Sulla and learned that he could

Power is a natural desire for humans. It is what structures society, makes the world turn, and to get more of it, people will do almost anything. Yet society often follows whoever is in power without a second thought. Because the Romans follow whoever is in power without considering that person’s morals and ideals, they are responsible for the anarchy that ensues after Caesar’s death.