preview

Fate vs. Free Will Julius Caesar Essay

Decent Essays

In the play Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare there are two forces at work fate and freewill and throughout the play they are both fighting for control over man. Fate was shown in the many prophecies and omens that the characters viewed throughout the entire play. Free will as defined in the play is the ability to overcome fate. Although in the end all three of the characters succumbed to their fate, Shakespeare shows again that there is a delicate balance between fate and human free will.

Of the three main characters in the play Julius Caesar, Cassius and Brutus, Caesar's fate was the most obvious to him and to the readers. Caesar though in many cases used free will to ignore fate or destiny. For example in the begging of the …show more content…

Because of this Brutus never resigned himself to live in the world during its current state. Because of Cassius' effort to better himself Caesar was led to comment, "Such men as he… are very dangerous" (I.ii.209-210). Cassius's role in the play was using his free will to overcome the fate that would come true, the fate that Caesar would become Emperor of Rome. Being driven by the desire to overcome this fate, he was able to achieve all obstacles that came his way and even achieved killing Caesar. Near the end of the play though Cassius's belief had not changed he mentions that the gods are not looking favorably on the mission. Cassius died on his own sword because he believed that his fate, as illustrated by the eagles, was too over whelming to defeat.

Brutus had a belief that was the exact opposite of Cassius's; Brutus was a stoic, which meant that he believed that bad things don't happen to good people because the gods won't allow it. Brutus just went along with life never taking rash like Cassius did. Brutus accepted everything as it came because he thought it was the will of the gods. Because of Brutus's beliefs Cassius has to go through much effort to persuade Brutus to join the conspirators. Cassius was then forced to write fake letters so that Brutus could see a

Get Access