Here Shakespeare reinforces the notion that murder is not the way to go about solving one's problems. Myron Taylor notes that the play is filled with a "strong element of irony" (Taylor 307) because what they get after killing Caesar is worse than they imagined. The conspirators are convinced that Caesar will become a dictator because of his attitude regarding his power. When Brutus speaks to the people, he convinces them that his love for them and their country caused him to kill Caesar. When he asks them if they would rather die as slaves with Caesar living or die as free men with Caesar dead, we see his fears surface. Schanzer notes that the answer lies in Brutus' question. His accusation of Caesar was too ambitious is "vague" (Schanzer 48) but very clear. The characters' dispositions at the end of the play also illustrate the answer to the question of how ethical the murder of Caesar was. Maurice Charney notes that Brutus' opinion about the murder changes because at the beginning of the play, Brutus' opinion is based upon "unfounded, conditional reasoning" (Charney 215). After some time, however, he realizes that the murder was based upon possibilities rather than facts. She writes, "Seeing the ascension of a triumvirate more ruthless and tyrannical than Caesar ever was" (215) forces him to see the error of his ways. He, like the others, becomes his own victim of the law of unintended consequences. He would never...
In the case of Caesar's death, we can see how wrong the conspirators were by seeing the war they brought upon themselves. They let their fears get the best of them and they let this fear cloud their judgment. In addition, they let their fear block their reason. They could not envision anything worse than Caesar and that was their biggest mistake. They saw him as the greatest threat but they learn the difficult lesson that he was not. Caesar might have had his own problems but they are not the worst things that the people could have faced. We learn that any action, if it is unethical, will never result in anything good, regardless of how it is rationalized.Caesar was an ethical leader because he focused on reforming society in order for the world's well-being as a whole to be possible. "Leaders of this type question whether "business as usual" is what they want to keep doing, and likely advocate changes to the accepted system" (Grace 9). He wanted change to happen and he wanted it to happen during his leadership, as he observed how many of his
Essay Topic Examples 1. The Dual Morality of Julius Caesar: Tyrant or Reformer This essay would explore the ethical complexities of Julius Caesar's leadership, particularly focusing on his reforms and actions that benefited the Roman Empire's lower classes versus his accumulation of power which often violated the republican ideals he purportedly stood for. 2. The Ethics of Caesar's Warfare: Glory vs. Consequence An examination of Julius Caesar as a military commander, this essay would
This resulted in many countries rejecting majority if not all of the aspects regarding torture. However, torture is still being practiced in quite a few countries although they would rather not accept it in front of their own public or on the international level. There are a number of devices that are being used in order to bridge this gap such as "need to know," country denial, using jurisdictional
They attempt to enforce their conception of the true Roman law by murdering Caesar. They want to use the controlled power of violence to restore order. This fails miserably and ultimately Mark Anthony uses the power of persuasion in his funeral oration to turn the Roman mobs against the conspirators and to establish his own authority as a tyrant in Rome. In Julius Caesar, using one's influence is not about
Thisclearly implies that this sort of perception was more of a weakness than an advantage. Samuel Johnson's "The Vanity of Human Wishes" In this poem, the author demonstrates to the audience the reality of struggle in life. The author, just like, he mentions in the poem's title demonstrates how human wishes are, in many cases egoistic and useless. According to Meyers (p 1), Johnson had his reflection long years of human
Shakespeare Final Opportunity for Reflection and Writing Identifications: "Stand and unfold yourself" This quote comes from Shakespeare's Hamlet. Francisco and Bernardo are two guards standing watch in the middle of the night at the castle Elsinore. This is the second line of the play, spoken by Francisco in response to Bernardo's question of who goes there. It is an important part because it sets the tone for the rest of the play. Much of
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