Which Of The Following Characters Do You Consider To Be A Better Leader?
Julius Caesar, Brutus or Mark Antony?
All of these characters are from William Shakespeare’s play “Julius Caesar”. He based this play on historical evidence from a translation by North of “Plutarch’s Lives of Noble Greeks and Romans”. It was based therefore on a historical source but part of it is fictional. I will now write about each of the characters in turn deciding whether they would make good or bad leaders.
At the start of the play you get the impression that Caesar is getting too full of himself when he says: “Cry ‘Caesar!’ Speak; Caesar is turned to hear”. Here Caesar talks about himself in the third person. This makes him seem pretentious to most people. In a conversation between Cassius and Brutus, Cassius proves to Brutus that Caesar is weak. He gets the example from when Caesar and he were having a swimming race across the River Tiber. Caesar cried out “Help me Cassius, or I sink”. So it appears the supposedly great Caesar can’t swim very well. Cassius says when Caesar had a fever in Spain he acted like he was dying. He sounded like a girl when Cassius quotes “Alas, it cried, ‘Give me some drink Titinius,’ as a sick girl”. He looks feeble here. He then goes on to say there is nothing special about Caesar and that anyone could be him. Caesar was offered a crown three times by Mark Antony. Caesar refused this three times and this is good. It shows that he doesn’t want to appear like a king when all he is is head of the senate. Caesar also has epilepsy which is bad because it gives him a weak and disabled image. We know this from when Casca says “He fell down in the market place, and foamed at mouth, and was speechless”. When Calphurnia (Caesar’s wife) try’s to stop Caesar going to the senate because of all the omens and her dreams he listens to her but disregards her reasons. Examples of some omens are “A lioness hath whelped in the streets” and “Fierce fiery warriors fought upon the clouds”. He disregards her because he thinks that only cowards fear death. He appears arrogant and pompous but you have to admit he is brave. I say this because in olden days up to the Elizabethan times omens were highly regarded and feared. During Caesars journey to the senate Artemidorus tries to give Caesar a warning. Artemidorus says “O Caesar, read mine first; for mine’s a suit that touches Caesar nearer. Read it great Caesar”. Caesar doesn’t read it as so to appear as if he isn’t putting himself first in front of everyone. Once inside the senate building though the conspirators get close to him by begging. Inside the building away from the public he lets himself look like a king and doesn’t see everyone as equals.
