Corruption In Julius Caesar Essay

The paranoia of the ideology that power completely corrupts has existed throughout centuries. This obsession can cause people to act in an irrational way or out of reasonings. So was the case with the senators in The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. William Shakespeare centered his play around the Roman leader, Julius Caesar. Out of fear of his future political activities and his overconfident personality, the senators of Rome, including Caesar's best friend Brutus, created a conspiracy to assassinate him to stop him from obtaining absolute power over the Roman Empire.

Ambition is usually what can help a society and is a pressure that facilitates pressure on societies ahead. When the energy of a nation falls into the hands of a single man or woman, ambition takes much dazzling and unpleasant paperwork. It can be each, the making and destruction of that man or woman, however, no matter the “net effect”, ambition could have deep political, socio-economic, and cultural roots. There is more than one dictator that was taken by ambition and it driven them into a pricey, lengthy, battle to achieve, keep strength, and to continue maintaining power no matter what they have to do. Some examples of dictators are Napoleon Bonaparte, Idi Amin, Julius Caesar and of course Macbeth.

In the speech, Antony is trying to sway the crowd into agreeing with the motives for murdering Caesar by using logos to justify his actions. “I thrice presented him a kingly crown, which he thrice refuse: was this ambition?” This quote explains the thesis by showing that Antony used Caesar’s lack of ambition to indicate that Caesar wasn’t the ideal leader and, therefore, because of how quickly he was gaining power, he had to be stopped before his meager mindset

This clearly demonstrates the Politics and Power motif because it shows how Brutus is so anxious to gain power that he jumps up as soon as he is wanted by the people. He is losing all of his honorable traits, including the ones he earned in his political position as senator, by going against his fellow senator, Caesar. This affects the work as a whole because of the themes of the play, ambition, and conflict, have a strong impact on what Shakespeare is ultimately trying to express between the main characters. Ambition has an effect on the plot because Caesar is a very ambitious man. This alone and the numerous letters Brutus has been receiving leads him to think that he is no good for Rome, Caesar’s ambition worries Brutus.

Human minds are meant to function in certain ways when given certain situations. If you give someone power, they are bound to become corrupt. Corruption comes with revolution for a new way to rule the nation. In William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, we see one of these revolutions occur. Julius Caesar is about to become crowned king, so a group of conspirators rise up against him.

Killing Caesar is not what the people want, but is what the conspirators are tricking you into thinking. The conspirators feel no one person should have to much power while the Roman people want their beloved Caesar to rule over them. We should not kill Caesar even though granted illegal citizenship to those who lived in Gaul and over the years has put many of them in the Senate. Caesar may have done this to get new perspectives in the senate-house instead of having the same narrow-minded people all the time ( Baker, 118 ). He made a law saying that it is illegal to wage war without the other party attacking first.

Brutus said all the reasons why this would end up bad for Rome, but Brutus never actually gave any consideration to the side that Caesar would be great for Rome. As Antony said in Act III Caesar made Rome wealthier. Brutus didn’t consider that Caesar could also expand the empire in size as well. Rome was already a greatly expanded empire, so Caesar with his amazing military leadership skills could have expanded it even more which also could have made them even more wealthy than they already were too. Brutus never considered any thought of Caesar being king positively which could have avoided this conspiracy killing all

On the other hand, Caesar reveals intense arrogance through his actions toward the Roman Republic. The author asserts, “What made matters worse was a persistent rumour that Caesar intended to move the seat of government to Troy or Alexandria, carrying off all the national resources, drafting every available man in Italy for military service, and letting his friends govern the city”(206). He expresses selfishness and inconsideration in his willingness to sanction such negative effects upon the people of Rome, further promoting his egotistical attitude. Overall, Julius Caesar is an enduring, determined, and arrogant man with many other positive and negative

Deception and Manipulation William Shakespeare’s play “Julius Caesar” illustrates many facts and characteristics of Ancient Rome, such as betrayal and confederacy. However, deception and manipulation are the most significant aspects of the play and played a huge role in the story, which eventually lead to the death of Julius Caesar. Examples of deception and manipulation in this play are the fake letters that sent to Brutus, Decius assured Caesar about Calpurnia’s dream, and Anthony’s speech against Brutus. One of the most significant deceptions in the play is when Cassius sent fake letters to Brutus to convince him to join the conspiracy. Cassius addressed the letters to make it seem that they were coming from the citizens.

It can affect history in many ways as seen in Shakespeare Julius Caesar. Whether it be an simple act or the twisting of words deception can affect the way history plays out for the better or worst. The first example we see of this in Julius Caesar is how Cassius made Brutus join the conspirators that will soon kill Caesar, which was one of Brutus’s closest friends and they did it by leaving letters in noticeable places to Brutus. Cassius who is an nobleman of Rome, wanted Brutus to join him and the conspirators in overthrowing Caesar. Brutus being the honorable guy he is denied joining but soon changed his mind after a simple act by Cassius.