Character+Analysis

ANALYSIS OF MAJOR CHARACTERS

Julius Caesar- [1] [2] Shakespeare creates Caesar a person who is reasonable, superstitious, compassionate, and arrogant. He has created Caesar as somebody with the power and nobility to fear. In the beginning of the play, Caesar was the only one who was able to give orders and carry them out. Caesar wants to be crowned emperor of Rome passionately, but dismisses the crown three times. He does this act to seem humble and not too greedy for the crown. By this act he is showing the crowd that he does not push things and will be a great humble leader, putting the people of Rome first. Caesar is warned multiple times before being assassinated that it is an omen which is being foreshadowed. Caesar shows a supertitious nature when he ignores the alerts and warning given to him by the soothsayer. He ignores the soothsayer, Calphurnia, his priests, and others to keep his dignity and pride. Caesar ignores them because of Decius' challenge to his "sense of pride and ambition." But Casesar knows somethings up, through Cassius, because he is so perceptive of him. After Caesar's assassination, the ghost of Caesar haunts the rest of the play. Caesar's ghost becomes a major force in the play, and even though Caesar is dead he still has minimal power over people's minds. The ghost foreshadows the decrease of Brutus and Cassius's fortune and leads them to suicide. The fact that Caesar's ghost came and haunted Rome after he was dead makes you question the power Caesar actually had. He is capable of control through his ghost and while he was alive, showing major power and force behind the man.

Mark Antony- [1] [2] Antony is one of many who stood up for Caesar and stayed on his side throughout the whole play. Even when Caesar passed, he was still there backing him up and dealing with Brutus. After Caesar is assassinated, he quickly realizes that he must deal with him and get even. He uses his reputation of not being the "sharpest tool in the shed" and becomes sly and conniving and flatters Brutus to get on his side and see what he is all about. He knows that Brutus wants to believe that Antony is one with the Conspirators and takes advantage of his faith in him. Antony pursues Brutus into letting him talk at Caesar's funeral, just to manipulate the crowd plus Brutus. In his speech he uses sarcasm to slowly turn the crowd against the conspirators. He also uses sarcasm to say that Brutus is a honorable noble man by killing a great ruler of Rome. This causes corruption in Rome and starts a civil war. Brutus and Cassius are then forced out of the city, and Antony forms the second triumverative consisting of Octavius and Lepidus. Marcus Junius Brutus- [1] Brutus is one of the most complex characters in the play. He is political, noble and honorable and is proud to represent his family. He believes that he owes his family history. He is one of the most respected people in Rome and loves democracy. Brutus is one of Caesars great friends. He is jealous of his power and honestly does not believe that Caesar is the one who should be ruling Rome at this time. Brutus gets together with the conspirators and joins forces with Cassius and plot to assassinate Caesar. Being one of his best friends, it is easy to figure out what Caesar is thinking and where he is in his rule. The one thing about Brutus is that he misjudges and overthinks the people of Rome. He believes that they will consider this murder as a good thing rather as a bad thing. Unfortunately for him, he also misjudges Mark Antony and lets him talk at Caesar's funeral speech where Antony turns the crowd against the conspirators and Brutus, rather than for what they had done. Although Brutus is intelligent, he has a very naive view of the world. He does not realize the roles played through Casca, Cassius, and Antony. He does not realize that the letters were a fake and were from Cassius when it was rather obvious. He over looks Antony's intelligence and lets him talk at Caesar's funeral and loses control over the discussion in the Capitol following the assassination. Brutus makes his decisions slowly making him a moral thinker and continually at war with himself.

Gaius Cassius Longinus- The main thing about Cassius is his ability to perceive the true motives of men. Cassius's main motto behind the whole dilemma is that they have had a man gain excess power, so they have the ability and responsibility to stop it. Although he does not agree with all of Brutus's decisions, he is still happy to be following him in this plot. Just like the other conspirators, Cassius fears what life under Caesar's rule might mean for him and the privileges he might receive.To reach his goal of killing Caesar, he sent fake letters to Brutus, telling him of the situation. He uses his manipulative mind to get into the mind of Brutus, and succeeds. Brutus then becomes in on the plan and shakes on it. He later does the same thing to Casca, getting him to join in. Although Cassius is smart, he has his down sides. He envies Caesar, and to get rid of him he turns into an assassin. Later on he bribes people and sells commissions. Cassius threatens suicide throughout the book showing his emotional side. He chooses death over being captured by Octavius and Antony's forces. Cassius overall is very jealous, sly, political, manipulative, dishonest, and cynical.

CITATIONS

[1] __CliffNotes__. Wiley Publishing. 28 Apr. 2009 . [2] __Enotes__. Enotes. 28 Apr. 2009 <[]>.