William Shakespeare 's Julius Caesar

What does one think when the word blood is said? Death? Betrayal? Sadness? Blood is a prime example of imagery. Imagery paints a picture within the readers’ minds and puts them in the same situation that the sentence is portraying. Having imagery in a work, makes a reader more into the piece and involved. In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, blood is a device most often symbolizing betrayal by the conspirators, the death of Julius Caesar, and foreshadowing the upcoming events through Mark Antony’s eyes.

In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Brutus and Antony attempt to persuade the audience of their position on the death of Caesar. While Brutus explains that his death was necessary, Antony claims that Caesar was not deserving of his demise. However, though Brutus does have ample credibility and taps into the emotional link with his audience to some extent, he does not convey as powerful of an argument as Antony, as he fails to provide sufficient factual evidence. Antony, on the other hand, utilizes logical argumentation with solid evidence, creates an emotional connection with his audience, and maintains credibility in order to support his own argument. Through this, it can be seen that Antony’s use of rhetorical appeals and devices is superior

The Tragedy of Julius Caesar can be interpreted in multiple ways when it comes to who the characters are and if the name holds true. An immense amount of people would say that the conspirators are the antagonists while Mark Antony is the protagonist. Others may say it was only Cassius who was the antagonist. Many readers believe that the name of the play is completely wrong and William Shakespeare messed up. There are numerous amounts of evidence for each concept. As it does for many, my idea of who was who in the play varied as I continued to read on. Opinions may differ, but I believe the protagonist is Brutus while the antagonist is Mark Antony and the name holds true to the play.

The topic of leadership in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar has been discussed and argued ever since the play was written. The most prevalent discussion of leadership in the play revolves around Shakespeare’s tragic hero, Marcus Brutus, and the cause of his downfall. According to Shakespeare critic James Bundy, “Brutus... is a man whose affections sway more than his reason, in whom there is this tragic confederacy of passion and imagination against reason” (qtd. in Palmer 402). Ernest Shanzer, however, says that Brutus is “by no means devoid of political shrewdness and practical wisdom”, but he is a “bad judge of character” (Shanzer 1). Although both critics’ descriptions of Brutus have merit, Brutus’ shortcoming, as well as the success of the opposing leader, Mark Antony, is more accurately explained using the observations of Niccolo Machiavelli in The Prince. In this book Machiavelli outlines the characteristics of a successful leader. When using The Prince as a lens to read Julius Caesar, the correlation between a leader’s Machiavellianism and their success becomes very apparent. Marcus Brutus is undoubtedly an honorable and respectable man, but his morality prevents him from adhering to Machiavelli’s principles. Due to his lack of princely virtues, Brutus is doomed to fail, while Antony, a much more Machiavellian prince, successfully seizes power.

The protagonist in this play is Julius Caesar. He is the Protagonist for many reasons. One is that the main plot if the play is to kill Caesar for being a bad ruler against Rome. The consipators were making plans to kill Caesar. There are many warnings in the story that Caesar is going to die, but he ingores all of them because the consipators tell him not to.If he wasn’t the Protagonist then there would be no need to have him in the play for most of them time. Even after his death Caesar still makes many appernices in the book and that makes the other charcters die. Protagonist is the main charcter in a story and that is what caesar is. It is clear that no one else is the Protagonist except for Casear. Caesear lives on in the

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.

Plato once wrote that, “Rhetoric is the art of ruling the minds of men.” Rhetoric is the foundation of any solid argument, and any good speaker must learn to use it effectively. Creating a strong argument is a difficult task for any speaker, but Mark Antony’s eulogy for Caesar shows us that it can be done with the use of rhetorical strategies and arguments. Antony argues that Caesar was killed unfairly, and wants tells rome to revolt. He accomplishes this argument by using a combination of appeals to the audience's emotions, logic and facts, as well as reasoning and humility.

For example, Antony stresses the point, “Brutus is an honorable man,” to make the audience question the ethicality of Brutus. Antony utilizes logos in Caesar’s favor, but then retracts his statements, saying they must be untrue because the “honorable” Brutus said otherwise. He establishes this logic because he knows it unmasks the truth of Brutus’s intentions. Along with this, Antony also constructs rhetorical questions in his speech after he uses discusses of how Caesar wept with his country and refused the crown three times. After these statements, Antony asked if the examples he shared showed an ambitious man. By constructing these statements, Antony’s intentions of wishing to sway the audience in Caesar’s favor become evident. These statements also display his craving to convince the people of Rome that Brutus lacks the honor and valor to be their leader. By utilizing these literary appeals in his speech, he convinces the audience that Caesar’s death should not have happened. The audience begins to proclaim, “‘Methinks there is much reason to his sayings… I fear there will a worse come in his place. Mark’d ye his words? He would not take the crown; therefore ‘tis certain he was not ambitious.’” This confirms that Antony captures the audience’s attention, and they listen to his words. His strong argument causes the Romans to change their

To begin with, Antony is wanting to uncover the truth to the people but also keeping his word. Antony is delivering the message to the people, keeping the promise of what he was told and allowed to say for Caesar’s death. He speaks because he is authorized to by consent of the conspirators, and to mourn his dear friend Caesar. Antony’s goal was to hint at the crowd what had actually happened, and for the conspirators that were listening to feel ashamed about what they’ve done. The speech was intended for the population of Rome to hear, to know the truth, not to convince but to let them know that even the so called “honorable men” in their city had done wrong to one of their own. The audience is quite in between with being hostile and agreeable as many are still deceived by how Caesar had previously acted. However at one point he had shown himself to the people of Rome that he had rejected the crown approximately thrice. As he keeps his word of not praising Caesar, “I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them;” (III, ii, 71-72). Then gradually turning the conspirators away from support of the conspirators. For example “He hath

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

No matter how hard one tries to avoid being manipulated, it is impossible to avoid all sources such as documents, leaders and friends. Manipulation, the ability to alter the position or influence a person, occurs everywhere one goes. Throughout Julius Caesar by Shakespeare and The Life of Caesar by Plutarch, the theme of manipulation was revealed through countless instances showing both its sources and effects. Several of the characters in both accounts, such as Brutus, Caesar, and the people of Rome, were manipulated one time or another, by sources such as their close friends who merely desired their ideas and plans to continue forward.

William Shakespeare, in his historical play Julius Caesar, makes the characters Brutus and Antony utilize rhetorical strategies in order to win the favour of the Roman people for their own purposes. These two speakers try to convince the audience of different things: where Brutus, who speaks first, was trying to subdue the passions of the mob and use logic to win acceptance for his murderous actions, Antony, who had to follow Brutus, was trying to awaken the passions of the mob and stir up the need for revenge. In addition, Antony had the additional challenge that he was not allowed to speak ill of Brutus and his fellow conspirators. To persuade their audience, the characters manipulate the use of persona to move the audience’s perception of themselves, to establish or reinforce the strengths of their positions, and to undermine each other’s arguments.

The clang of the swords on the shields pierced General Julius Caesar’s ear. He couldn’t wait till the war against the Greeks was over and he could return home to his wife. He slaughtered 113 enemy soldiers and was still on the hunt to find one. He stepped over 47 bodies, some of which were still breathing and groaning their last breaths on the eastern shore of the river Acheron. Caesar's nemesis was General Brutus,the leader of the greek army, and his old best friend. After the battle at the River of Acheron, General Julius Caesar rode back to his camp, Gleaming in his Ice-white armour, shining in his glory after his victory vs the Greeks.

Julius Caesar is a work of art by William Shakespeare in 1599. Within this play Julius Caesar is portrayed as a tragic hero. A tragic hero is defined as “the main character of a tragedy [who is] usually dignified, courageous, and high ranking” (novel study guide). Also vital to defining a tragic hero is that, “the hero’s downfall is caused by a tragic flaw” ( novel study guide). It is very evident that Julius Caesar in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar is a tragic hero given that he is of noble stature, has a fatal flaw and comes to an unhappy end.

The Renaissance was a time in which mankind was rediscovering itself. For ages, men were simply trying to exist, survive more than anything else. The Renaissance was a period in which men no longer had to just get by everyday, but could begin exploring morality. No other Renaissance author characterizes this more than William Shakespeare in the early 1600s. His plays highlight the internal moral struggle that every man goes through, the concept of what is right and what is wrong in a world that is full of gray areas. More specifically he deals with the concept of honor and morality in several of his plays. Julius Caesar, Hamlet, and Henry V, to a lesser extent, deal with how men handle these and can reconcile otherwise heinous acts. Now, being well aware that Shakespeare does not account for all the Renaissance writers, however his are the most prevalent still today and it can be argued that Shakespeare did not work alone. For the sake of organization, it is far easier to tackle these literary works in chronological order and analyze the individual pieces first and then view them all as one whole.