Power is the ultimate goal of many throughout their life. If power is taken advantage of it is often used and abused to manipulate the people around the perpetrator. When talking about ancient history, specifically ancient Rome regarding the abuse of power it more often than not leads to negative outcomes. William Shakespeare in his play Julius Caesar depicts the rise and fall of what may have been ancient Rome’s greatest leader, Julius Caesar. Caesar’s rise to power was quick and it was believed by many on his senate that concerning the good of Rome,
Caesar possessed too much power. They said he was becoming a threat to the Roman Republic, believing he had aspirations for kingship and ultimate power. These ideas were the start of a conspiracy against a man that they believed would be the downfall of their great Roman Republic. Ultimately his death was a result of various scruples against Caesar held by senators and some of Caesar’s closest friends, which created an animosity that made Caesar’s death inevitable.
Throughout the play there are many themes leading up to and causing the chief event.
Persuasion is a concept that is at the very center of the play. Everyone is trying to convince someone of something. Cassius, a general and acquaintance of Caesar, is trying to win over men he believes would be valuable conspirators. Cassius’ persuasion wins Brutus over in a pivotal scene in Act II and Brutus states his intentions, “It must be by his death, and for my part I
Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. This illustrates the theme in the historical play Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare. Julius Caesar was a man full of arrogance and he had a sense of being self-absorbed. This kind of personality lead to bad things, it eventually led to death. Caesar was a well-known man in Rome. The people of Rome didn 't care what he did. Everyone thought he was perfect. I ii 273 He was married to a woman named Calpurnia. She lived in Rome. At the beginning of the play, Caesar just had defeated Pompey. I i 53 Some of the people in Rome knew that Caesar was getting into deep trouble. Brutus had to make a big decision towards the end. Everyone wanted Brutus to kill Caesar because he was never going to change his personality. He didn 't know what he should do, he didn 't know what is best for Rome.
Firstly, Cassius’s plan to persuade Brutus shows that peer influence can sway the decisions of
The first reason is the republic was already gone, the second reason is that Brutus would be committing treason, and the third reason is that Caesar was loved by the common people. By the time, the conspiracy began to come to be, the Roman republic was in decline almost to the point of no return. The senators were corrupt, one man was in control of the entire military, and the people were unhappy. The empire would eventually be ruled by a dictator. When they made the choice that Caesar had to go, all they were doing is kicking the can down the road.
Julius Caesar is a leader who rose to power due to the fact of the counsel and the senate never meeting eye to eye. The reason to why there was a senate and counsel was to create a new government so a single ruler like the Tarquins wouldn’t occur again. Julius Caesar was a part of a triumvirate but Caesar became a dictator. The Senate disliked him since they didn’t know how long he would rule and the fear of him being corrupted which lead to the death of Julius Caesar. Shakespeare wrote “Julius Caesar” based on the life of Julius Caesar to show how being ambitious can lead to one’s death.
Julius Caesar’s development into a professional politician, and his eventual demise, was instrumental in the fall of the Republic, because of the Senate’s dislike of his populist base, proposals, and personal ambition. Likewise Caesar was a very conniving politician, “Caesar's very first enactment after becoming consul was, that the proceedings, both of the senate and of the people should day by day be compiled and published.” As consul, he was able to appear as a beneficiary to the people, yet deep down was in it for himself. In his Commentaries on the Gallic Wars, Caesar never takes fault, but deflects blame to his soldiers or second-in-commands for their campaign
Julius Caesar a roman who was once a great leader of the roman empire. But hours of research you can see that he was abusing his power from the roman empire, he was too powerful for his own good. When you learn these thing’s it can give you the knowledge to see that he was a dictator and was too powerful. Julius Caesar was a powerful Roman leader that abused that power, but you can learn what he has done by hours of research and you could see that he was given too much power.
Envy and concern over Caesar's increasing power led to angst among a number of politicians who saw in him an aspiring king. History had shown that Romans had no desire for monarchical rule. Legend had it that by the time Caesar came to power it had been five hundred years since they'd last allowed a king to rule them. Caesar's wish to do his former Roman enemies in the government helped spell his downfall. Gaius Cassius Longinus and Marcus Junius Brutus were both former enemies who'd joined the Senate.
Because of him the doors for the Roman Empire were opened. Like during the Republic times, the government was very corrupt, the aristocrats were power hungry and constantly tried to appoint members of their groups in places of power. When Caesar joined the election for consul in 59 BCE, the aristocrats’ saw is as a threat to their power, but he still one despite all of their efforts. But problems really started when Caesar defeated all of his enemies and became Rome’s dictator. He filled the Senate seats with his own members and increased the number of seats to 900. “All the appointments were of his own partisans, which robbed the senatorial aristocracy of its prestige and made the Senate increasingly subservient to him. To minimize the risk that another general might attempt to challenge him, Caesar passed a law that subjected governors to term limits. All of these changes watered down the power of the Senate, which infuriated those used to aristocratic privilege.” (Textbook, Chp.6, Julius Caesar). The aristocrats were livid, which lead to the assassination of Caesar, the aristocrats would do anything to remain in power, even if it meant killing to get
From the age of 27, Julius Caesar was well respected by the general public due to his military success which led to the rise in his political standing. He worked very closely with many Roman politicians with great public influence including Pompey the Great and Crassus. The public services that Caesar introduced to the Roman population gave the people confidence in his leadership thus leading to the rise of Julius Caesar’s reign in the upcoming years. He portrayed himself as a public servant to the people of Rome which was a key aspect in the rise of a Caesar’s Republic throughout Rome due to the fact that it gave the public influence in the governmental decisions. This sort of leading style was primarily the reason that allowed for Julius Caesar to gain control over Rome without taking over and having the support of the roman citizens with him. It was in 47 B.C. Caesar had began to shape the structure of the Roman Republic through the means of declaring himself as the “Dictator in Perpetuum” and by reinstating an imperial type of government rule but it still brings into question, to what extent was Caesar responsible for the onset of the Republic’s decline. Reinstating the imperial government rule does not necessarily resolve this investigations question as much as greatly support one theory of which states the cause for the onset of the Roman Republic's decline. At the age of 40, Julius Caesar was elected onto the consul due to his military success in order
Even if the senators had not disposed of him, he would have eventually destroyed his own image as an ambitious leader. All ambition leads to corruption, which leads to destruction. Caesar was ambitious from the very moment he began to nurture arrogance within himself, and like any corrupt leader with a quest for power, his motives betrayed
10-17 Power; “the ability to do something or act in a particular way, especially as a faculty or quality.” Some use power for good, to help the one’s around them and to support their community, but other use power for their own selfish reasons, to bring themselves to the top by pushing the people around them down. You might believe that Julius Caesar spent his life helping Rome and his people but the truth of the matter is Julius Caesar’s life was based around gaining more and more power, everything he did was to be the most dominant of them all. Because before he became dictator he was crawling his way to the top and looking for more ways to become formidable, secondly because when Caesar was a dictator he was conquering places and people
As previously stated, a person’s greed often leads to their demise. This is most evident with Caesar himself. Caesar was willing to betray Pompey, his once friend and ally, in order to gain sole control over the Republic. In fact, Caesar’s drive to control the city began to evoke the jealousy and fears of many of the inhabitants, “You show'd your teeth like apes, and fawn'd like hounds, and bow'd like bondmen, kissing Caesar's feet. (Shakespeare Act V, Sc.I, lines 47-48). Ultimately this authority causes Brutus to come to the conclusion that Caesar’s tyranny must be prevented through his death (Sims). Caesar’s newfound power put Brutus, his former supporter, in a position where the only way to save the republic would be to depose of its current leader. Caesar’s demise was indirectly caused by his hunger for power, which caused Brutus to kill him in order to stop the would be dictator (Sims). The idea of deposing Caesar spread like wildfire through the Senate and eventually escalated into murder. Clearly, it was Caesar’s desire to command those around him that in due course led to his death; however, he alone is not the
Those who conspired to kill Caesar disapproved with the image of the all-mighty, caring ruler that many citizens of Rome had painted*
When a rhetorician speaks towards an audience, their main goal is to appeal to sociology and the fundamental speaking ideas that grab the attention in multitudes of people. In order to obtain a successful speech, leaders and lecturers often accommodate to ethos, logos, and pathos and work to have a strong balance of each element. By incorporating these ideas, listeners are more than likely to be conveyed and persuaded into believing or investing in the speaker’s words. As a result, the speaker is then able to incorporate a deeper effect on the listener, and conduct various long lasting outcomes. In the play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Antony is able to create a greater effect and convince the crowd of his beliefs by focusing on all aspects of a sturdy speech.
Through Caesar’s pride, arrogance, and ambition he turned himself from a leader of Rome to a dead worthless man. As we strive to fix our problems we will improve and we will be able to overcome trials and we will become better not perfect in this life but we will become as