Was Julius Caesar Justified

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All throughout history we have seen numerous assassinations of heads of state. Most of these assassinations can trace their cause to a disagreement with a certain person or group of people. While we can say that assassinations such as Abraham Lincoln’s was not justified for it was dealt at the hands of a man who was enraged at the President’s idea to allow African Americans to vote, the case is different in Julius Caesar. Here, we see a man in a position to become an extremely powerful ruler of Rome and once he is assassinated the question becomes: was it justified? I believe that the assassination of a head of state can be justified, specifically in reference of Julius Caesar, because of Caesar’s greed, his selfishness, and the danger that he poses to Rome. We can clearly see Caesar’s desire to be the ruler of Rome throughout Julius Caesar. One piece of evidence that points to this is seen at the beginning of the play when Caesar attends an event and is offered a crown. Casca states, “...Then he offered it to him again; then he put it by again; but to my thinking, he was very loath to lay his fingers off it” (I. ii. 250-252). While Caesar does turn away the crown, it is still clear that Caesar …show more content…

While some may argue that the extent to which the conspirators went to may have been too far, the extent of power Caesar may have reached would have extended to the point that Caesar would have been unstoppable. A point is reached where eventually those in power become so untouchable that then there is no chance for change. With Caesar, he would have become a dictator and the conspirators stopped him as soon as they could. This becomes a question of if you should punish people for what they might do. However, once faced with the facts and a clear view of what the person would do, you cannot simply wait for something bad to