Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar,
begins during the Feast of Lupercal. Caesar is a strong military leader and respected
ruler in Rome: he wants to become king. However, he has many enemies as well. Cassius is
one. He wants to assassinate Caesar and tries to get Brutus, a man wholeheartedly
dedicated to the good of Rome, to join Cassius and other conspirators in this plan, even
if he must convince Brutus dishonestly. (Brutus comes to believe that Caesar would harm
the empire.)
A soothsayer warns Caesar to beware of the
"ides of March" (March 15), but Caesar ignores the warning. Cassius resents Caesar on a
personal level because Cassius had once saved the emperor's life, but has not been
rewarded for this act. His jealousy and resentment fuel his need for
revenge.
Brutus is not quick to agree, but eventually joins
the other conspirators, stabbing Caesar to death on March 15. Mark Antony is one who
loved Caesar, and though he pretends to be open to explanations of why Caesar had to die
(from the conspirators), he secretly promises to kill all of them. Brutus addresses the
Roman people, explaining whey Caesar had to die, and at first they are supportive.
However, at Caesar's funeral, Mark Antony gives a grand speech that makes the people
rise up against Brutus and the other conspirators, including Cassius. In light of this
divide of the nation's people, civil war erupts.
Antony,
Octavius and Lepidus are to rule Rome as the new Triumvirate. In Act Four, scenes one
and two, they all agree who must be killed when they take over to guarantee an easy
transition. Lepidus agrees to kill his brother if Antony will agree that his nephew can
be killed. If this isn't enough to question the ethics of Antony, he also arranges with
Octavius that Lepidus will be excluded because he is old, but is useful for the moment
to run "errands."
readability="6">"This is a slight unmeritable man, / Meet to be
sent on errands"
(IV.i.12-13)Eventually it
seems that Brutus and Cassius (who have escaped to Greece) will have to fight the army
of Antony and Octavius. When it seems that they have lost, Cassius covers his face with
a cloth and pleads with his servant to kill him. Brutus goes into battle twice. After
losing a second time, he falls on his sword (committing suicide) rather than being taken
to Rome as a prisoner. He was a man of his convictions, and killed Caesar though he
loved him, for the ultimate good of Rome.Antony even
praises Brutus at the end, speaking to what kind of man Brutus was, and what he most
cared about—not killing Caesar out of jealousy, but an earnest desire to protect
Rome:This
was the noblest Roman of them all:
All the conspirators, save only
he
Did that they did in envy of great Caesar,
He, only in a general
honest thought
And common good to all, made one of them.
His life
was gentle, and the elements
So mix'd him that Nature might stand
up
And say to all the world: "This was a
man!"
(V.v.68-75).When
the war is over, Antony and Octavius are the most powerful men in the
empire.
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