Julius Caesar Essay: Loyalty In Dante's Inferno '

Dante’s Inferno Essay A man who betrayed his nation. Another deceived his friend. The third, the worst of them all, went against the Lord’s son. These three men, Cassius, Brutus, and Judas, were placed together in the ninth ring of hell. To continuously receive the punishment of being eaten alive by the devil himself. Yet, out of the three, two of them knew each other. The book, Julius Caesar, written by William Shakespeare, takes place in Rome, the “Capital of the world” (HRA Writing ). It unfolds the story and death of the leader himself, Julius Caesar. Although Brutus and Cassius both had major impacts on this assassination, one of the two is granted a chance to escape the hell they reside in. As for what determines who stays in eternal

However, one detail seems to bind them together, that being their love and loyalty for Rome. “not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more” (3.2.23-24). Killing Caesar seems to go against this belief of loyalty, however. Considering both Brutus and Cassius are placed with Judas, a man who betrayed Jesus by disclosing his whereabouts with a kiss, Dante “equates Julius Caesar to Jesus in the amount of importance he places on the two men” (HRA Writing). With this knowledge in mind, it is Caesar that decides who stays in the ninth ring of hell. By saying “Et tu, Bruté?” (3.1.85), Caesar understands the possibility that others would take action on his rise to power, however, he never believed that his dear friend Brutus would be willing and able to end his life. Based on this, Brutus’s betrayal of Caesar far outweighs Cassius’s. With a few other notions which will soon be discussed, it can be concluded that Brutus deserves to stay in the fate handed to

In fact, Cassius lies the odd one out. This is through the relationships between both Brutus and Caesar, along with Judas and Jesus. After all, Judas was one of Jesus’s most trusted disciples, similar to how Caesar viewed his long-time friend Brutus. Anyways, Cassius only attempted to do what he thought was right. “And therefore think him as a serpent’s egg, / Which, hatched, would, as his kind, grow mischievous, / And kill him in the shell” (2.1.33-35). Not only this, it would be hard to accuse Cassius of betraying someone. Caesar himself described him as “Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look” (1.2.204). It cannot be described as betraying someone if that person already understands the threat. So, although Cassius may have deluded Brutus’s mind, this does not mean that a case of betrayal happened, only proving the point that Cassius is the one who deserves to leave the ninth ring of