The novel, Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, tells a story of a jealous group of conspirators who plan to kill Julius Caesar, one of the most powerful men in Rome at the time, and manage to convince his close friend, Brutus, to join their plot against him. In Act 1, scene 3 a man named Casca fearfully recounts the various omens and abnormalities he recently witnessed to Cicero, a senator, and then to the leader of the conspirators, Cassius. Cassius then responds with his own interpretation; he believes that what is occurring is a god given warning for the instability of their government caused by Julius Caesar. From the start of the novel, Cassius proved himself as thirsty for the blood of Caesar and willing to go through lengths in order to get it. One method that Cassius is willing to use to his advantage is manipulation, as demonstrated throughout the novel, including in this scene. Cassius starts out this soliloquy by insulting Casca, through calling him dull. The use of ‘dull’ could otherwise be interpreted as saying that he is dumber than a roman should be. Next, Cassius asks Casca to reconsider what those omens could possibly mean and then he addresses those signs in his own image. At this point, he begins to use anaphora by beginning each clause with ‘why all’ in order to punctuate …show more content…
the instances further and possibly even to ridicule Casca for his supposed ‘misinterpretation.’ While Casca believes the irregularities were a reflection of the gods anger, Cassius figured that they actually signified that the gods think that Caesar
Good Cinna, take this paper, And look you lay it in the praetor's chair, Where Brutus may but find it; and throw this In at his window; set this up with wax Upon old Brutus' statue.” (Act I Scene III pg. 15). This devious ruse pray’s on Marcus Brutus noble intentions by making him believe that the letters he finds came from desperate citizens. Without a doubt Caius Cassius is a fickle, manipulative man as described by Back Stage East; “Male, senator, conspirator and main instigator of the plan to assassinate Caesar, physically lean, volatile, crafty, ruthless” (27) was the primary source of corruption that led to the exploitation of his friends by targeting their Roman
The fact that Brutus states “Since the quarrel will break no color” (11,1,28-29) this proves that multiple characters are able to manipulate Brutus easily because he believes what the men tell him; even if their statements are not true. Caesar makes claims that to Brutus are irrelevant. Brutus finds that Caesar speaks with dull, meaningless words. Brutus is in contrast with what is happening at the beginning of the play; Brutus first agreed with Caesar’s actions, Brutus was then manipulated to believe Ceasar is in constant error. Also revealed in the play when Casca states ”Are not you moved, when all the sway of the Earth shakes like a thing unfirm” (1, 111, 3-4) Casca states this to Brutus, Casca is revealing that Caesar is like the storm coming through town.
Cassius, who interprets these omens to mean that Caesar must be taken down, continues to plot against Caesar. He sends someone to plant fake letters from Roman commoners urging Brutus to eliminate Caesar, and attends a meeting that night to plot Caesar's death. Meanwhile, Brutus has decided to go ahead and kill his friend Caesar because the man might become a complete tyrant if he gains more power. Brutus reasons that, even though he and Caesar are BFFs, killing Caesar is the only way to save the Roman Republic. (Is he right?
And this man is now become a god, and Cassius is a wretched creature and must bend his body if Caesar carelessly but nod on him. He had a fever when he was in Spain, and when the fit was on him, I did mark how he did shake. ‘Tis true, this god did shake. His coward lips did from their color fly, and that same eye whose bend doth awe the world did lose his luster. I did hear him groan.
195-196) This quote is from Caesar who can tell from looking at him how hungry he is for power. He even notices that this is a very bad thing, and doesn’t want Cassius around him. That shows the want for power that Cassius shows, just in the looks that he gives people. Power in this case made Cassius someone who was just greedy for power, which in the end made him dishonest because of
And Cassius being blind illustrates that he cannot see when he is dishonorable. This is used to show how Cassisus, who despised Ceaser, has converted to be similar to him. Not only this, but since he is nearsighted it displays how he only cares about the short term causes, and not how things will play out in the long run. This is much like how Ceaser did not care about what the soothsayers had to say, believing he would have known better than them. They both display selfishness throughout the story, suggesting that they share more similar traits than previously thought.
In William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, Cassius is a foil to Marcus Brutus, for Brutus is consistently described as honorable and kind, contrasting the always clever and self-centered, Cassius. Cassius acts as a character who goes against the virtues and weaknesses of the main character. Brutus announces, “Why man, he doth bestride the narrow World like a Colossus, and we pretty men Walk under his huge legs and peep about To find ourselves dishonorable graves” (Shakespeare I. 2. 142-145). By appealing to Brutus' feeling of honor and loyalty to Rome, Cassius hopes to persuade him to join the conspiracy against Caesar.
"What’s so special about caesar?", This quote shows how much Cassius despises Caesar and how he feels he is no better of a man than Brutus or himself. They both had a common goal but were not sure of each other's very different and clashing reasons for attempting to reach the goal ahead. Cassius seemed to have been a puppet master and conductor of the conspiracy twisting things to suit his own preferences, and to rise against a super power in order to achieve his ultimate goal. The differences in motivation between Brutus and Cassius vividly reflect their morals, just as their morals reflect back upon their reasons.
To begin, many of the leaders in this play possess more negative traits than positive traits. For example, during the play, Julius Caesar shows signs of being manipulative and hypocritical. This is brought to light when Casca says, “Then he offered it to \ him again; then he put it by again; but to my thinking, he was \ very loath to lay his fingers off
In this quote Cassius describes a time when Caesar and him were by the river and Caesar dared Cassius to swim to the other side. When he was in, Cassius told Caesar to join him so he did but realized he couldn’t swim and yelled for Cassius to help him. Cassius described it as a time when Caesar was not a mighty god like he had been chosen to be but instead was a weak man. Last off, Cassius thinks that Caesar’s temper is dangerous. Cassius states;
Casca’s jealousy looks to see that Casca may want Caesars position and he could get it in a way. The way of getting in on the mission that Cassius has planned. Cassius planned out a gang of people to go out to Pompey's theater and the night will turn out how the storms are. The storm that night was fiery and reckless and that is how Cassius wants the mission to go down. Casca could get in on this mission and take down Caesar for himself so he can be the next
The day Cassius and his conspirators talked about their plan to murder Caesar the ground shook with thunder and lots of rain came down. This should have been a sign for Caesar that something bad was going to happen to him and that he needed to be more careful. This type of weather was not something the people saw in Rome on a daily basis. Casca, the first conspirator to stab Caesar, thought that the weather was a bad omen for things to come.
Such men are dangerous” (i.ii.205) This is implying that Caesar knows Cassius doesn’t like him and that something is up. When people decide not to care anymore it is essentially a way of them giving up. Becoming absent-minded affects people and everyone around
”(I.ii.192-195). Caesar truly does not trust Cassius and so that means that