The Twofold Foils In Julius Caesar

Foil characters are two or more characters that are opposite to each other. By contrasting to each other, each character’s personality is highlighted and differentiated from one another. In Julius Caesar, there are twofold foils. Cassius is a foil to Brutus while Antony is a foil to Brutus as well. Thus, Cassius and Antony are more similar to each other even though it was Cassius and Brutus who killed Caesar and Antony was on Caesar’s side. Brutus is the man of liberty, honor and Rome. He is an idealist and is well respected. Cassius has something that Brutus does not, such as ability of manipulating people and experiences as a good soldier. Similarly, Antony is a practical man, but he still knows how to admit and acknowledge someone else’s good sides unlike Cassius who’s always jealous. Eventually, Brutus loses and kills himself but he still thinks he won and earns “glory” since he never made shameful decisions. Cassius is a manipulative and experienced while Brutus is a smart and thoughtful guy who cares about Rome. Cassius writes a letter to Brutus, pretending like people of Rome,

First, it is the idealism. Brutus is the idealist in the book who has perfect like with beautiful house and beautiful wife. Thus, he believes that the world could be idealistic too. Therefore, he chooses to kill Caesar for idealistic Rome without a leader who overpowers the citizens. Cassius understands Brutus’ idealism and uses it to destroy Caesar. However, ultimately this becomes the cause of his downfall. Brutus was destroyed due to his own idealism. Also, Machiavellian is one theme. It means someone doing whatever to gain more power. For example, Cassius used Brutus to kill Caesar and to gain power. Also, Antony used a fake Caesar’s will to gain more power. Lastly, ambition and conflict play another themes. Caesar was an ambitious man and so was Cassius. However, they both die due to their