William Shakespeare 's Julius Caesar And Richard II Essay

the play draws its readers to identify with Richard and thereby to participate in a

    According to many, Shakespeare intentionally portrays Richard III in ways that would have the world hail him as the ultimate Machiavel.  This build up only serves to further the dramatic irony when Richard falls from his throne.  The nature of Richard's character is key to discovering the commentary Shakespeare is delivering on the nature of tyrants.  By setting up Richard to be seen as the ultimate Machiavel, only to have him utterly destroyed, Shakespeare makes a dramatic commentary on the frailty of tyranny and such men as would aspire to tyrannical rule.

There have been many rulers in history who have been betrayed by those they trust, but The Tragedy of Julius Caesar (William Shakespeare,1959) still holds a special place in Western literature as one of the most enigmatic human beings to ever exist. Powerful men like Julius Caesar shaped the life and times of the late Roman Republic, just before Rome would officially become the Roman Empire on the crowning of Augustus as the first Roman emperor. Julius Caesar was a powerful general who expanded Rome's power and who was beloved by the people for his generous charity after his successful conquests. Despite knowing the story of Julius Caesar to some extent, most 16th/17th century English would not have ever visited Rome, nor would know what the Roman Republic was like, which presented a unique opportunity to William Shakespeare to create a play unlike any other he had created before. (Shakespeare Julius Caesar, 1599) Shakespeare's Julius Caesar is a reimagining of Rome from a Elizabethan point of view, and despite some inaccuracies, the play depicts an enlightening view on Roman life, and the life of the Roman general, Julius Caesar.

The most influential writer in all of English literature, William Shakespeare was born in 1564 to a successful middle-class glove maker in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. Shakespeare attended grammar school, but his formal education proceeded no further. In 1582 he married an older woman, Anne Hathaway, and had three children with her. Around 1590 he left his family behind and traveled to London to work as an actor and playwright. Public and critical acclaim quickly followed, and Shakespeare eventually became the most popular playwright in England and part-owner of the Globe Theater. His career bridged the reigns of Elizabeth I (ruled 1558–1603) and James I (ruled 1603–1625), and he was a

In order for one to keep their political status and please their country, there are some qualities, traits and skills required. For some, political skills may be a natural or intuitive trait. For others, it feels uncomfortable and takes excessive effort. In either case, political skills must be practiced and honed in order to recap its benefits. For instance, one may naturally possess skills such as listening to others, communicating and commitment. On the other hand, one may not possess those skills and it may require excessive effort to possess those skills. Prince Hal realizes that he must learn to possess these characteristics if he wants to be a successful king. Henry IV, Part 1 by Shakespeare deals with the struggle of King Henry IV

6. In the play, Shakespeare portrays the common man as almost incoherent. The people constantly seem to be easily swayed by the words of each and every important character. Also, all of the common people are followers. Not one stands up to the officials. At one moment, they are saying, “This Caesar was a tyrant,” (3.2.74) and the next they say that they must “tear him to pieces! He’s a conspirator,” (3.3.29), now angered with the retaliation against Caesar.

This is exemplified where Machiavelli writes, “The crowd is won over by appearances and final results. And the world is all crowd.” Through the accentuation of imperative language it is described how a successful ruler must always seek to manipulate the affections of his people so that he appears pleasing to them. By establishing a metaphor comparing the world to a crowd, Machiavelli conveys the idea that if a ruler can influence his people well enough he will be able to hold power over any people in the world. At the time when “Julius Caesar” was set, Rome was a highly individualistic society. Due to this, manipulation was employed by characters in the play for similar reasons as those expressed by Machiavelli in “The Prince,” to heighten their own personal political power. This is clearly depicted in a duologue between Marc Antony and Lepidus where the former speaks of Lepidus saying, “Do not speak of him but as a property.” This simile encapsulates how Antony dehumanises Lepidus by considering him to be an instrument which he can manipulate to heighten his own power within

      The attack of "conscience" that King Richard suffers in Act 5, Scene 5 of Shakespeare's Richard III (133-157) can be seen as the psychological climax of the drama, one that is critical to both Richard's development as a character and the play's ultimate success. Richard's struggle to reconcile the many different roles he attempts to play into one unified self, reflected in the tone and composition of his speech, adds depth and humanity to his character; at the same time, his ultimate failure to maintain his "self-made" identity simplifies the play in a way that allows the author to satisfy his audience by punishing the villain and reaffirming the world views that Richard's character

Composers build on our perspectives to instil diverse interpretation of events, situations and personalities represented through various mediums shaped by their purpose. Thus the representation of conflicting perspectives within their works enables responders to experience a deeper understanding of the world. This is clearly demonstrated in Shakespeare’s tragic play Julius Caesar (1599) and Jason Reitman’s satirical film Thankyou for Smoking (2005). While the Elizabethan context informs Shakespeare’s differing perspectives of Caesar’s assassination in relation to human beings’ complexities and the manipulation used to gain power, centuries later, Reitman also explores the multi-faceted nature of an individual and the persuasion involved

William Shakespeare’s famously philosophical play Hamlet epitomizes the revenge tragedy; the play’s characters are forced to act vengefully only to result in a bloody, dismal

	Julius Caesar is a play written by William Shakespeare during the year 1597. Julius Caesar’s story involves a conspiracy against Julius Caesar, a powerful senator.

However, the plebeians possess a more fickle nature. Their fallacy is evident as they are easily manipulated to change their opinion of Coriolanus. Hence, they portray misleading, false notions to Coriolanus when agreeing to “let him be consul” (Act 2 Scene 3 Line 145). There is also an establishment of a “mob mentality”, whereby the plebeians are influenced to adopt this fickle nature as a whole. This emphasizes the fallacy of the plebeians.

“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

The development of Polonius through his interactions with others serves as an aspect of Shakespeare’s Hamlet particularly suited for a Marxist analysis. While his pompous and long-winded ramblings have served as comic fodder for generations of readers, a Marxist reading reveals the insidious nature behind the text’s contempt for royal sycophancy. Polonius, who is of a lower-class status than the royal family, and who presumably lives during a feudal era which featured asymmetric distributions of wealth and power privileging the royalty and their allies, most probably regales figures of the royal family with circuitous servility to secure his survival as a member of a subordinate class. However, the text portrays Polonius’s incessantly pompous sycophantic tendencies as reflections of his, and in extension the noble class’s, inner character. Implicit in this portrayal is a classist ideology which ascribes inherent characteristics to lower classes, using these traits to justify the differential treatment of the classes.

Hence, we can assume that foreign affairs and popular contemporary theories in the seventeenth century inspired Shakespeare to explore the notion that civilisation was superior to nature, and possibly contend this in his play. In fact, our very understanding of the play, and in particular its characters, relies upon the awareness of popular European attitudes from the seventeenth century. Shakespeare named and described his cast most particularly, as if to ensure that his audience would instantly recognise the