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William Shakespeare 's Julius Caesar Essay

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Power is a highly coveted mistress. She is sought after by senators, presidents, kings, and emperors. Most of them willing to do whatever it takes to get her. The history of this world is overrun with conflict and war as different parties compete for her hand. There are those that will obtain her by physical force on the battlefield, while others seduce her to their side through sweet persuasion. However, the act of obtaining power is nothing compared to the work of keeping her. Power is an unfaithful mistress, in need of constant wooing. In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, the battle for power is always in a state of flux, constantly changing hands. Though the players in this play sometimes use physical force to obtain power, it is persuasion and manipulation that have the strong hold on her. Through close examination of this text, the use of persuasion and manipulation in obtaining and maintaining power will be explored. When the play first opens there is a celebration in the streets because Julius Caesar has proven victorious over Pompey in battle. However, this action is quickly rebuffed by tribunes Flavius and Marullus, who are quick to remind the plebeians that they once loved Pompey:
O you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome,
Knew you not Pompey? Many a time and oft
Have you climbed up to walls and battlements
To towers and windows, yea, to chimney tops,
Your infants in your arms, and there have sat
The livelong day, with patient expectation,
To see great Pompey

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