Although effective ruling is needed for a leader, utilizing the positive aspects of one’s leadership qualities are necessary. In the play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar’s friends conspire against him with no veritable valid reasons except for his unknown ambitions. Mark Antony, Caesar’s closest follower earns the respect of Romans because of his outstanding leadership qualities, but exploits them for his own vengeance. Antony is aware of his surroundings but he makes rash decisions and seeks only revenge. While Antony was led away, Brutus, Cassius, and the remaining conspirators accomplish their goal of killing Caesar. Antony, having grasped the news of his death, he sends his servant to confirm that “Brutus …show more content…
As the play continues, Brutus gives his speech by standards of his honor and nobility, but Antony plays emotional mind games with the citizens of Rome. After he has obtained the attention of the grieving Romans they start to give Antony their loyalty and respect by stating they’ll “hear him, follow him, and /die with him” (III.II. 209-210). Following Antony’s informal funeral speech, Romans are on Antony’s side and has been convinced to seek revenge and will listen and follow the order of Antony. As Brutus’ name associated with honor are mentioned in Antony’s eulogy, Roman’s desire to kill the conspirators increases. Brutus’s noble title moves to Antony as the citizens call out for “the most noble Antony” (III. II. 235). Antony’s anger is fed to the Romans as they all look for “revenge, fire, kill, and slay” (III. II. 205). While all this is going on after Antony’s speech the people of Rome are only looking to kill. They don’t care who they hurt, as long as they feel the satisfaction of ending one’s life. For example, plebeians know that the Cinna they killed was the poet, but they “[tore] him for his bad verses” (III. III. 30). In midst of chaos, in Rome, Antony plans to leave. If he was a great leader he would have stayed to do the best for Rome. Antony is preservant and perfervid for the wrong reasons; however, with those
Brutus first states, “[Would you rather Caesar] living, and die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead to live a freemen” Then Antony came back with “You all did love him once, not without cause. What cause withholds you, then, to mourn for him?” After Brutus’ speech, Antony was able to evoke the feeling of the audience and bring them back, before his death and see what they had loved within Caesar before his death. All of his accomplishments were able to evoke the emotions they had before his death and then wanted to actually kill Brutus. In the next Scene, it mentioned a major consequence of the words that Antony had spoken. The famous poet Cinna was killed. However, he wasn’t even involved in the assassination of Caesar. That was how much emotion he was able to evoke in the people in Rome. Although ethos could establish the cold, hard truth, pathos can get under peoples skin and effect them and draw them into your cause. In which case it is Antony's'
The driving forces in the play Julius Caesar are the characters Marcus Brutus, Julius Caesar, and Marc Antony. Julius Caesar is the center of the ordeal of leadership in Rome when the play begins. When Caesar returns to Rome he is looked upon by the fickle plebeians as a glorious and triumphant hero. The authority of his heroism is questioned when the honorable Marcus Brutus speaks to the townspeople during Caesar’s funeral. Brutus proves to be the better leader for Rome rather than Caesar or Antony. Brutus is wiser and more honorable than the other Romans. He was the only one truly looking out for the good of Rome and not himself.
Many people know that Julius Caesar was betrayed and killed by many people who he had thought to be his friends. Some less common knowledge is that he did still have friends and others who stayed loyal to him. One man named Mark Antony was the most loyal of them all, even after Caesar’s death. When he found out Caesar had been killed, he began plotting to get on the traitor’s good sides and make it seem as if he had joined them so that he could convince the citizens to fight against them with him. He deceived the traitors and convinced them to let him speak at Caesar’s funeral, and in this speech he turned the citizens against them using very powerful rhetorical skills. After he had drove the traitors from the city, he took control of the city and led them to victory in a war against the conspirator’s armies. These are three telling examples that prove Antony’s skill and potential as a leader.
Shakespeare’s complex play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar contains several tragic heroes; a tragic hero holds high political or social esteem yet possesses an obvious character flaw. This discernible hubris undoubtedly causes the character’s demise or a severe forfeiture, which forces the character to undergo an unfeigned moment of enlightenment and shear reconciliation. Brutus, one of these tragic heroes, is a devout friend of the great Julius Caesar, that is, until he makes many execrable decisions he will soon regret; he becomes involved in a plot to kill the omniscient ruler of Rome during 44 B.C. After committing the crime, Mark Antony, an avid, passionate follower of Caesar, is left alive under Brutus’s orders to take his revenge on
In Shakespeare’s play, Caesar is a highly respected man that holds great power, and as he gains more power there are men who stand to oppose him. This is how Caesar shows so many good qualities of leadership, like keeping an open ear to the people, being observant and proud, as well as being honest. The attributes that Caesar shows has gained him the trust of all of the people, already proivng just how worthy he is to be called the greatest authority figure in Shakespeare’s drama The Tradgedy of Julius Caesar.
Antony and Cassius, unlike Brutus, never separate their private affairs from their public actions while Brutus tries to prove himself by acting only with respect to honor and virtue, completely ignoring his personal concerns. For example, Cassius disliked the fact that Caesar became “godlike” in the eyes of the Romans, so he leads Brutus to believe that Caesar had become too powerful and must die by sending him forged letters claiming that the Roman people support the death of Caesar, ultimately converting Brutus to his cause. At last Brutus ends up murdering his good friend in an act he truly believed was honorable. Marc Antony, who also shares in Cassius’ selfish trait, persuaded the conspirators that he is on their side, therefore gaining their leniency. He proceeds to persuade the plebeians of the conspirators’ injustice and gains support of the masses.
As Warren Bennis, Founding Chairman of The Leadership Institute at the University of Southern California, once said, “Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” This can be interpreted to mean that one can be classified as a leader if he or she can put a plan into action. A leader is often like a visionary, and forward thinkers are needed in society. A visionary has a vivid imagination who makes dreams come true. They provide a backbone in society, helping to plan what is to come in the future that would be most beneficial. Without a leader that has the qualities of a visionary, no civilization has a bright future. Julius Caesar, Roman general-turned-ruler, was a historical visionary who fit Warren Bennis’ description of a leader. Possibly one of the most well-known Roman figures, Caesar extensively pushed Rome to one of its best eras, despite Caesar himself having a bit of a dark side. Even though Caesar seized power in the Roman Empire and named himself “Dictator For Life,” Julius Caesar was a great leader. He helped to expand the empire into France, as well as glorifying Rome through architectural projects and reforms. Overall, ?
Therefore, Antony is trying to prove that once the conspirators are in his sights, no one is getting out alive. While Marc Antony is giving his speech to the common people trying to persuade them that the conspirators are in the wrong: “In every wound of Caesar that should move the stones of Rome to rise and mutiny” (131). From this moment every action that Antony does will in turn affect the stability of Brutus’ physical and mental well being. Also, Brutus does not realize how close Caesar and Antony are, which can only lead to his demise because Antony is trying to kill him and he does not realize it. During Antony’s speech, to persuade the common people, he walks over to Caesar’s body to show the people all the wounds: “Which all the while ran blood, great Caesar fell. O, what a fall was there, my countrymen! Then I, and you, and all of us fell down, Whilst bloody treason flourish'd over us” (129). Antony is exaggerating, in a light hearted way, the fact that Brutus stabbed Caesar; for the conspirators told
He wishes that he had never fallen for Cassius’s insidious plan to assassinate Caesar, “Caesar, now be still; / I killed not thee with half so good a will”(997). He regrets, that through these actions, he destroys his name and his stature. Brutus, scrutinizing all of his mistakes, and wishing that he had done things differently verifies that he is the main tragic hero in this classic work. Through these final moments of Brutus’s life, the audience of the play can truly see that Brutus is not lying about his love of Caesar, but that he honestly regrets participating, and is sympathetic about the last years of his life. Brutus, even though he has made many mistakes throughout his life, he makes one final one with his last action. Unfortunately, the audience does not know whether or not he regrets committing suicide. Had he not done so, Antony most likely would have restored some of his stature in Rome, and granted him his life, “This was the noblest Roman of them all. / All the conspirators save only he / Did that they did in envy of great Caesar; / He, only in a general honest thought / And common good to all, made one of them”(998). It is clear that Antony is saddened by the loss of Brutus, because he realizes the true meaning of Brutus’s actions.
In the play Julius Caesar, several people compete to be the leader of Rome. Cassius and other conspirators are jealous of Caesar, and they want to kill him for revenge. Brutus doesn’t want to be part of the conspiracy, but is tricked into becoming a head member, due to his strong leadership qualities of honor, trustworthiness, and patriotism. Brutus loves the republic, but is tricked into believing Caesar would hurt the republic. Brutus would be an effective leader because he exhibits honor, trustworthiness, and patriotism.
Wanting to limit violence, he disregards Cassius’s suggestion that the conspirators must kill Antony as well as Caesar. In another moment that truly exemplified his naïve idealism was when Brutus ignores Cassius’s advice and allows Antony to speak a funeral oration over Caesar’s deceased body, in which Brutus is sanctioned a killer by the Roman populace. As a result, Brutus forfeits the authority of having the last word on the murder and consequently allows Antony to incite the plebeians to riot against him and the rest of the conspirators. Brutus later endangers his own relationship with Cassius by self-righteously condemning what he sees as dishonorable fund-raising tactics on Cassius’s part. In all
In the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, an honorable man, Brutus, is planning to overthrow the soon to be king, Julius Caesar. Brutus is persuaded by Cassius that Caesar is a liar, too ambitious, weak, and not fit to be Rome’s king. Brutus soon believed Cassius, and they and the conspirators made a plan to kill Caesar. After Caesar’s death, Brutus planned to justify his actions of killing Caesar at his funeral in his speech to the people. After Brutus’s speech, the citizens of Rome were all in agreement that Brutus did the right thing for Rome. Brutus then decides to allow Caesar’s best friend, Antony, to speak in honor of Caesar. Antony speaks, and he convinces the citizens that Brutus’s actions were unjust and turned the people against Brutus.
After Brutus finishes his speech, Antony speaks about his opinion on the issue; unlike Brutus, Antony acts slyly and communicates a very manipulative tone to persuade the Romans to rebel. Because of Antony's use of parallelism, he creates vivid reasoning for his speech. He states, “ I come here to bury Caesar, not to praise him” (III.ii.44). By using this device, he shows the people of Rome that he isn't praising Caesar, he is putting the leader to rest. This particular line creates a very manipulative tone, because his speech is all about what great this Caesar has done and how he wants to rebel against the conspirators. Further more, Antony uses a lot of irony to slyly get his point across. One example that he uses throughout the speech is “Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, and Brutus is a honorable man” (III.ii.44). Because of the repitition of this ironic statement, the meaning of it changes and intensifies. At first, his tone was sincere, but as the speech progresses, you can see his sarcastic tone increases. Antony does this because he has to use this device to surpass the regulations of Brutus, as well as make the romans listen. Lastly, he uses personification to give life and further meaning to a word. Early in the speech, Antony says, “The evil
William Shakespeare once wrote, “Hell is empty and all the devils are here.” From his perspective, humans are the true devils of this world. Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar is a perfect example of his premise. It is a tragic story depicting many deaths, destruction, and the betrayal of a man by his closest friends. Conspirators stab Julius Caesar in the back, both literally and figuratively. A supporter of Caesar’s named Marc Antony faces the conspirators after his death. With masterful rhetoric, Antony appears to be the hero of this tale; however, he lacks the necessary qualities such as courage and trustworthiness that makes a genuine leader.