Julius Caesar Research Paper

Julius Caesar, Compare and Contrast: Cassius and Brutus
William Shakespeare is one of the best selling, if not the best seller, author of all time. One of his most well known plays is Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare follows a group of conspirators planning to kill Caesar, and the battle that follows. I will be comparing the characters Brutus and Cassius. The two are both the heads of the conspiracy, and they both have motives to kill Caesar. But even though They are both leaders in the conspiracy, they have entirely different motives for killing Caesar, their natures are very different, and their approaches to killing are opposite.
Cassius and Brutus have two very different reasons for why they want to kill Caesar. Cassius

In their plot to kill Caesar, Cassius is much more doubtful and cunning with the scheme, while Brutus is more trusting and open about his plan. Starting with Cassius, he is very skeptical of others. For example, after the conspirators had just killed Caesar and Mark Antony has just found them, Antony asks to speak at Caesar’s funeral. Cassius is concerned and says to Brutus, “Do not consent that Antony speak in his funeral. Know you how much the people may be moved by that which he will utter?” This shows that Cassius is very speculative of others because instead of trusting Antony immediately like Brutus did, he considered the consequences of his actions and doubted that Mark Antony would actually help them. Not only is Cassius skeptical of others, but he is also very cunning. He ends up succeeding in manipulating Brutus to join the conspiracy because he knows that the public will support Brutus if he kills Caesar. He tells Brutus what he needs to hear to join them and sends him fake letters doing the same. He tells Brutus, “Yes, every man of them, and no man here but honors you, and every one doth wish you had that opinion of yourself which every noble Roman bears of you.” Cassius is telling Brutus why he is amazing and how other people like him in order to get Brutus to do what he wants. On the opposite side of the spectrum is Brutus, who unlike Cassius, is very trusting of others and is

When Cassius wants to kill Caesar, he wants to KILL Caesar. As I said before Cassius is killing Caesar out of jealousy. An extension of that is that Cassius doesn’t care who he kills as long as Caesar dies. This is shown when Cassius suggests that Mark Antony should also die by saying, “I think it is not meet Mark Antony, so well beloved of Caesar, should outlive Caesar. We shall find of him a shrewd contriver; and you know his means, if he improve them, may well stretch so far as to annoy us all, which to prevent, Let Antony and Caesar fall together.” This shows that Cassius is willing to kill people other than Caesar (or anyone for that matter) to get what he wants. Brutus is much different than Cassius in this respect. Right after Cassius suggests killing Antony too, Brutus shoots down the idea with a variety of statements including: “Let us be sacrificers, not butchers”, “Let’s kill him boldly, but not wrathfully”, and “Let’s carve him as a dish fit for the gods, not hew him as a carcass fit for hounds.” These statements show that Brutus only wants to kill Caesar, and for what he perceives as an honorable goal. Cassius in open to killing anyone if they might cause problems for him whereas Brutus wants to kill sparingly and kill Caesar