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Examples Of Delusions In Julius Caesar

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William Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar, delves into the inner workings of its characters' minds, revealing a distorted sense of self where they see themselves more as characters than people, which, in turn, influences their actions, both consciously and subconsciously. The characters' varied and intense self-delusions lead them to make decisions, which have a lasting impact on the overall play. These self-delusions that show role-playing are mainly focused on Brutus, Cassius and Antony and the effect they have on their individual actions and mindsets. In his 1978 article, Van Laan argues that Brutus's self-delusion of nobility influenced his actions in Julius Caesar. Specifically, Lann notes that Brutus's perception of himself as an honorable …show more content…

This delusion is evident when Brutus rationalizes his decision to assassinate Caesar by claiming that it was an act of noble patriotism. He believes that by killing Caesar, he is protecting the Roman Republic and preserving its values, but in reality he does not care that deeply about Rome, rather making it himself seem virtuous in the public eye. SInce the most valued thing to Brutus is his honorability, he is easily manipulated by Cassius, because Cassius is aware of this intense characteristic and uses it against him. Cassius knows that Brutus can give the conspirators inside information because of their close friendship, but Brutus is oblivious to what is happening to him because he is more focused on being an honorable man. “There was a Brutus once that would have brooked / Th’ eternal devil to keep his state in Rome / As easily as a king,” (I.ii. 168-170). Cassius uses Brutus’s strong morals, mentioning how an honorable person would help him, in an attempt to join the conspirators. This self-delusion is further demonstrated when Brutus is unable to recognize the implications of his decision and fails to see that he is actually destroying Rome's values. By justifying his actions as noble patriotism, Brutus fails to recognize the consequences of his actions and the cost of his ambition.

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During a fiery dispute at the tents, Brutus is infuriated and accuses Cassius of corrupting his army: “Let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself are much condemned to have an itching palm to sell and mart your offices for gold to undeservers.” Brutus is accusing Cassius of selling important positions in his army to unqualified people. With unqualified army officials, Cassius’s army has a likely chance to fail. Brutus now realizes that Cassius had manipulated him and only cared for money and political power. Brutus is deeply angered because he killed Caesar to combat corruption: “Did not great Julius bleed for justice' sake?

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In the play “The Tragedy of Julius Caesar” written by Shakespeare, Brutus is portrayed as honorable, this is shown throughout the play with the use of Shakespeare's descriptive language. An example of this is when Shakespeare holds a conversation between his two characters, Cassius and Brutus, he says “I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus, As well as I do know your outward favor. (1.2.92-93)” . With the conversion between Brutus and Cassius. Cassius helps to reveal to the audience that Brutus is loyal, as he sees the virtue within Brutus.

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During Cassius’s argument, he tries to persuade Brutus to join the conspiracy. Although Brutus is highly educated, he has poor judgement because honor is so important to him and he is therefore easily coerced. Therefore, Cassius simply had to appeal to his honor and logic in order to persuade Brutus. Similarly, Brutus tries to influence the conspirators to act honorably in their work by

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A summary of what Brutus is saying here is that He is too noble to extort money from the poor, but considering that Cassius is not so noble, he should have done it for him (Bowden 57). This yet again shows to total dishonorable nature of Brutus, and just how undeserving of sympathy he is. There may be arguments made against this, saying that how can he be called dishonorable if every character in the play believes hat he is a virtuous person, and an honorable man? But the few times that this is actually said by any of the supporting characters when they are not trying to appeal to his ego is after he is dead. People almost always think of and describe a person to be better than they were after their death, due to a certain layer of guilt that is often

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Furthermore, Brutus' one flaw is he’s not good at figuring out other people's intentions throughout the play and he trusted Cassius to do most of that. Brutus’s speech from outside of the play is obvious in that he is a portrayed man of standards and wanting the best for the Roman Republic. The difference with Brutus from the other conspirators is that he isn't motivated by personal gain

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Through his hubris, the pleasurable shaming of the victim in one's overconfidence, Brutus meets the criteria for a tragic hero when he claims himself above Caesar in terms of leadership ability. During a conversation with his close friend Cassius, one of the initial conspirators who convinces him to join their cause, Brutus reveals he “had rather be a villager then to repute himself as a son of Rome under these hard conditions as this time is like to lay upon us”, showing his questioning of a man of higher status and skill than his own (add citation). After the conspiracy he allowed himself to fall into fails, his display of arrogance leads to his tragic downfall, directing the loss of not only the empire he hoped to claim and his friends,

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When Cassius is trying to persuade Brutus, he makes a good point about how, “Th’ abuse of greatness is when it disjoins Remorse from Power. (Shakespeare 2.1.18-19). Cassius explains to Brutus about how a tyrant abuses his power, and finds happiness from that. He makes this point and connects this to Caesar. Eventually, Brutus agrees because he takes an oath to “bring justice for Rome.”

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For Brutus to align himself with a conspiracy is a necessary part of keeping Rome an ideal republic. Whether or not Cassius is the ideal conspirator is another story. Bloodshed is an inevitable part of life. When dictators try and change an ideal republic to a dictatorship, something drastic has to be done to keep the republic ideal. Brutus did what he had to do.

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Brutus’s earlier promise of defending the general public persuades him to join the conspiracy as he believes he does the right thing, but the audience knows the letter was forged by Cassius to trick Brutus. This bad decision is based on good intent and later reveals itself as Brutus’s hamartia in the play initiating his downfall as a tragic hero in the play due to his high belief in honor he sides with the conspiracy to kill his beloved

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Here Cassius is trying to show Brutus that Caesar is just like him and Caesar shouldn’t be king. Brutus thinks about this and they fear about Caesar being king. Just by the words of Cassius, Brutus can be manipulated so easily, making him pretty gullible. Another thing Cassius told Brutus says, “The torrent soar’d …

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Over the course of less than an act, Brutus morphs from a concerned Roman, vehemently opposed to excessive violence, to a barabarous proponent of murder on a biblical scale. In the final act of the play, upon the completion of his quest for revenge, Antony reacts to the discovery of the treacherous Brutus’s body by claiming, “All the conspirators save only he did that they did in envy of great Caesar”(V. v. 75-76). Antony speaks these words with a great amount of respect for Brutus. This open display of esteem for a criminal emphasizes Brutus’s love for Rome. Every other conspirator killed to fulfill personal gain, but not Brutus.

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Brutus is a complex character, he has strict moral and ethical beliefs. He also has a reputation for being honorable and noble. But Brutus is easily persuaded, gullible, and naive. As a result, he loses his views of morality and is convinced that his actions are for his love of Rome.

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Cassius is able to persuade Brutus to join his cause, using the right words, but with the wrong motivations,

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Brutus and Cassius have conflicting values, Brutus wanted the best for the Roman people, and Cassius did it of what seemed to be envy. Brutus also tosses around the idea in his head that killing Caesar could have been the wrong choice to make to try to help the Roman people. Brutus and Cassius display a limited number of traits, but they are unquestionable. Brutus is a reputable man, and his known for being the most noble of all the Romans according to Octavius in the end of the play. Brutus also bears the fatal flaw of being naive to his actions.

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While the other conspirators the audience has been presented (most notably, Cassius and Casca) have been worried about personal matters, their own power, or money, Brutus convinces us that this is for the better good, even if it means the active killing of another person (II: i: 33-36). The fact that he can continue to be level-headed in a matter such as this is incredibly telling to his character. In direct contrast, the audience witnesses a huge change when Act IV Scene III occurs. For multiple pages of dialogue, Brutus is insulting Cassius in a fit of what seems to be pure rage (e.g. IV: iii: 21-29). It even gets to a point in which Cassius admits that he is nearly angry enough to kill Brutus, and yet this man who we’ve only seen to be sensible and level-headed for the entire play, continues to taunt Cassius.

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