Julius Caesar Essay: Reaching from the Grave -- Julius Caesar Essays

Reaching from the grueling of Julius Caesar   It is assumed that the epithet of a work should reflect the nature of its content. The title should relate to the to the central influence which controls the flow of the work. Shakespeares Julius Caesar seems to contradict that convention. Caesar meets his bloody remnant at the hands of conspirators in the first scene of Act III, alone now halfway through the play. He is not the tragic hero that peculiarity lies with Brutus and Cassius, around whom the play revolves before and after(prenominal) the assassination. This essay will constitute that although Caesar is not the hero of this tragedy, he certainly is the title character.   Like the set upon in the first scene of The Tempest, Caesars victory over Pompey at the rootage of Julius Caesar sets the workings of the plot into motion. The plebians and senators become increasingly separated in their loyalties. In a time of brutal civil war, the ple bians feel they need a single strong ruler such as Caesar. The senators, on the other(a) hand, fear that he might become ambitious and continue kill off his competition, i.e., the senators themselves. At the celebration of Caesars victory, Brutus remarks, What means this shouting? I do fear the people choose Caesar for their king (I.ii.78-79). Cassius turns bitter towards Caesar, because he thinks Caesar is physically weak, and deserves none of the praise that the public heaps upon him. Very early on, Cassius mistrusts Caesar, and becomes just as ambitious himself as he fears Caesar to be. Why, man, he doth bestride the particularize world Like a Colossus, and we petty men Walk under(a) his huge legs and peep about To find ourselves dishonorable graves. Men at some time... ...art mighty yet Thy spirit walks abroad, and turns our swords in our own straightlaced entrails (V.iii.94-96). Scene v shows Brutus finally giving in and connector his fellow senators in death, unable to bear the grief of their loss nor the unrighteousness at killing Caesar in the first place. Thus Caesar, though out of work(a) and physically gone, expects a powerful presence throughout the minute half of the play. The guilt that he inspires in the conspirators, and the vengeance he stirs up among the plebians, force the play to its tragic conclusion. This is the only way that Julius Caesar can remain the title character, by maintaining a powerful influence throughout the play, whether dead or alive. Shakespeare called the play Julius Caesar not because Caesar is the tragic hero, but because it is Caesars ambition, his downfall, and his presence after death which cause the tragedy to occur.