Cassius was the inspirer and organiser of the conspiracy against Caesar, whom he hated. He was a fanatic, but was also a practical man, aware of his own limitations and those of other men. This is what made him powerful as an enemy. Unlike Brutus, who was noble and honourable, Cassius would go to any extent to kill Caesar.
Antony also inspired the citizens and as a result he too created enemies in Cassius and Brutus and the other conspirators. Similarly, Cassius and Brutus inspired the conspirators to go ahead with the conspiracy and they created powerful enemies in Antony, Octavius as well as the citizens. The result was their deaths. Therefore, we see how through the protagonists, the play shows that those who inspire also create powerful enemies.
The documentary, The Men who Killed Kennedy, whilst questioning the claims of the Warren report in relation to the assassination of President Kennedy, also portrays that those who inspire create powerful enemies. In it we see how the most powerful man in the world, the President of America, who was no doubt an inspiration to many Americans, created powerful enemies in the CIA and the Mafia.
Like Julius Caesar, Kennedy enjoyed great popularity, and this proves his inspiring nature. However, this popularity became his undoing. He was anti-Vietnam War and anti-corruption, either issue being the cause of his assassination. He wanted to eliminate the Mafia and this made them his enemy. The Mafia’s and CIA’s powerful nature is seen in how they, together with the FBI, successfully cover up such a huge event. The documentary concludes that the Warren report was deliberately misleading and that a great cover-up had been involved.
In Men of Our Time: Hitler, we see how Hitler inspired the whole of Germany. He was popular because he gave the Germans back their self-esteem after their defeat in World War I. In addition he had also improved social welfare and living conditions in Germany, like decreasing unemployment. The German people supported his charismatic figure who appealed to their self-interest by clever use of oratory. He was no doubt a most eloquent speaker and his oratory was his chief tool to gain popularity and support by propagating ideas such as the Jews being behind Germany’s defeat in WWI.
Due to all this power and inspiration, Hitler also created powerful enemies. These included the communists’ led by Stalin in the East and the British and the Americans in the West. His struggle for power ended in 1945, after he committed suicide.
In the film, Wag the Dog, the idea of creating powerful enemies as a consequence of inspiring is portrayed through the less prominent character of the President of the United States. Being in such a position is often thought of being as the most powerful position on Earth and therefore it no doubt involves roles that inspire many people. We even see one instance in which the president inspired his people by giving his coat to an elderly Albanian woman, even though it was a political act more than a moral one.
But as with all the above cases, with such inspiration came powerful enemies and in this particular case the enemy was the opposition leader, John Neal. His power was not actually given a physical form of any sort but it was nevertheless there. It would no doubt have been more evident if all the lies and fabrications – about the war in Albania and Sergeant Schumann and so on – were revealed.
In conclusion, a very influential and evident part of powerplay is that those who inspire also create powerful enemies. This is seen in Julius Caesar, where his inspiring nature makes enemies such as Cassius. It is also present in the documentaries, The Men who Killed Kennedy and Hitler and the film, Wag the Dog.
