Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar

The title of Shakespeare play Julius Caesar is a tragedy. In his day people believed that the universe was essentially good and orderly. All order stemmed from the authority of god, the supreme ruler. The monarch has the right to rule come from god too, and so opposition to the anointed ruler was considered opposition to god. When the chain of authority was shaped, the heavens would be offended, and a whole society could be plunged into disorder.

There are many themes in Shakespeare play one is power when it seem evident to the conspirators in Shakespeare’s play that Julius Caesar is headed for absolute power, he becomes a threat to the ideals and values of the roman republic. They assassinate Caesar before he can be crowned king. The irony is that Caesar’s death results in civil war. As two factions with questionable motives grab for power, chaos ensues and the republic is never the same again. Second theme is manipulation in Julius Caesar, manipulation seems like a professional sport. Politicians use their rhetorical skills to gain power and to influence large, fickle crowds, and seeming friends lie outright to each other. Persuasion and suggestion is rhetorical skills that play central roles in Julius Caesar, but they also highlight the willingness of individuals in hard times to hear what they want to hear. It’s often unclear whether others manipulate characters, or do they simply find in the speech of others an inspiration to do what they might otherwise have been too afraid to do.

A ladder is used for symbolism as a growing power. Caesar is depicted as growing in power and each of the rungs of the ladder to his success marks a common man that he has stepped on the rise to the top. The fear of the conspirators is that when Caesar finally reaches the top rung and is potentially named ”king” that he will turn his back on all the people that got him to the top, much the way someone turns his back a ladder.

“Cowards die many times before their actual deaths” in this quote it is better to create than to learn because creating is the essence of life. In act 1 the exposition introduce the main characters and their conflicts that create problems. During the rising action, the basic conflict introduced in act 1 is complicated by secondary conflicts and obstacles designed to keep our protagonist from reaching his or her goal, including lesser antagonists that can work together with or without the main antagonist.

Also known as “turning point,” the climax marks a notable change, for better or worse, in the protagonist’s journey towards their goal. With tragedy, the protagonist begins the story on top of world before everything begins to unravel, while comedies generally doo the opposite. During the falling action, the conflict between the protagonist and antagonist finally comes to a head, and a clear winner and loser are determined.