Greed in Julius Caesar
Greed can disrupt a family, town, or even a country. The play "Julius Caesar" was a great example of the power of greed. In the play "Julius Caesar" the driving forces were Cassius, Brutus, Marc Antony, and Octavius Caesar.
Cassius was the brother in-law of Brutus and was also the creator of the group of conspirators. Cassius was also a senator of Rome. Cassius's greed for power, good reputation, and his jealousy lead to Caesars death. Cassius had the most honorable man in Rome to help in his plot to kill Caesar.
Brutus was the honorable roman which Cassius took control of. Brutus loved Rome and all of the Roman people. Brutus was actually the true leader of the conspirators because he made the important decisions. Brutus had a different motivation for killing Caesar.
The conspirators killed Julius Caesar because they were worried that if Caesar had succeeded in becoming king all the conspirators would lose their power. Brutus's motive for killing Julius Caesar was his fear of Caesar destroying the city of Rome. Mark Antony was a regular Roman citizen, who was good friends with Julius Caesar. After Julius Caesar's death, Marc Antony recited a speech at Julius Caesar's funeral to all the people of Rome.
The speech caused the plebeians to destroy everything in sight. It was by his speech that Marc Antony got his revenge towards Brutus and Cassius. Octavius Caesar was the nephew of Julius Caesar. When he got to Rome he and Marc Antony teamed up to fight against the forces of Brutus and Cassius.
It was at Brutus and Cassius's last battle where Octavius and Marc Antony succeeded in their plan.
Cassius had many motives for the killing of Julius Caesar. One of Cassius's motives was his greed for power. Cassius believed that he should have as much power as Julius Caesar.
Cassius was also worried that if Julius Caesar had been king he would lose all of his power and become another regular citizen of Rome. Cassius showed his greed for power when he would always talk about how Caesar would get so much power and he was treated like he was nothing. Cassius was also motivated to kill Julius Caesar because of his reputation. Cassius believed that Julius Caesar had a better reputation than he does.
Julius was thought of by many Roman citizens to be god-like and Cassius was just another man. "Alas, it cried, 'Give me some drink, Titinius,' as a sick girl. Ye gods! It doth amaze me a man of such a feeble temper should so get the start of the majestic world and bear the palm alone" (I, ii, 127-130) was a great example of a quote that showed how Cassius felt about Julius Caesar. That quote showed that Cassius was mad that even when Julius Caesar he still has a better reputation than he did. Another motivation of Cassius's was that he often got jealous of Caesar because Caesar had been getting more respect than him and Caesar has more power than he did.
"Did I the tired Caesar- and this man is now become a god, and Cassius is a wretched creature, and must bend his body if Caesar carelessly but nod on him" (I, ii, 115-118) is a great example of how Cassius felt about Julius Caesar. Cassius jealous of Julius Caesar drove him to ask many people to join the conspiracy to kill Julius Caesar.
Brutus had many motives for killing Julius Caesar. One motive of Brutus's for killing Julius Caesar was that he knew the people loved him and trusted him.
The love of the people is seen when the Roman citizen wrote him letters asking Brutus for advice and other problems in their life. Another motivation of Brutus was that he loved Rome. Brutus thought that if he killed Julius Caesar he would do a big favor for the Roman people because Julius Caesar becoming king could only mean bad things to come for Rome. Brutus had told the Roman citizens in Julius Caesar's funeral, "If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer-not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more" (III, ii, 17-19) to explain his reasons for killing Caesar. By telling the Roman citizens that he killed Caesar for them, he had eased some tensions between the citizens. Another motivation of Brutus was that he wanted to keep his reputation.
Brutus's great ancestor Lucius Julius Brutus expelled the last king from Rome and established the Republic in the sixth century B.C. Brutus did not want to ruin his family's reputation. It can be seen that Brutus's reputation is good when Cassius said "Oh, you and I have heard our fathers say there was a Brutus once that would have brooked the eternal devil to keep his state in Rome as easily as a king" (I, ii 158-161). Brutus killed Julius Caesar because he did not want his reputation to go bad and he did not want Rome to fall apart.
Marc Antony had many motives for rebelling against the conspirators and teaming up with Octavius to battle Brutus and Cassius. One motive of Marc Antony for revolted against the conspirators was that he wanted revenge. He wanted revenge towards the conspirators because Julius Caesar was his good friend. Marc Antony got his revenged by saying a great speech and motivating the roman people to seek out the conspiracy and kill them. When Antony said, "Look, in this place ran Cassisus' dagger through. See what a rent the envious Casca made" he had motivated the crowd to be full of anger towards the conspirators so they would seek out and kill.
It is seen when Cinna the poet was thought to be Cinna, a conspirator, and the roman ripped him up because he had the same name as one of the conspirator. After motivating the crowd he had ran the conspirators out and later on in a war he had defeated Brutus and Cassius and ended up in their deaths. Another motivation of Marc Antony was his loyalty of Julius Caesar. Marc Antony showed his true loyalty for Julius Caesar when he had went against Brutus and Cassius and used his speech to motivate the Roman people to attack the conspirators. Marc Antony showed that he was loyal to Julius Caesar when he said, "Thou are the ruins of the noblest man that ever lived in the tide of the times"(III, i, 256-257).
Marc Antony is one the Julius Caesar's true friend and his most loyal one also because he had sought revenge after his death. Another motivation of Marc Antony was that he also wanted a good reputation and power. Marc Antony was seen to have over used his power after he and Octavius was in rule of Rome when he had marked off people who would die. We can see that the power went to his head when he said, "He shall not live. Look, with a spot I damn him" (IV, i, 6). The conspirators had killed Julius Caesar because they thought if he had become king he would start doing unreasonable actions regarding the people of Rome.
After Caesar's death Marc Antony and Octavius had done what the conspirators killed Julius Caesar for.
Octavius Caesar had many motivations for going to war with Brutus and Cassius. One motivation of Octavius was that he wanted revenge. Octavius wanted revenge because Brutus and Cassius have killed his uncle. "Defiance, traitors, hurl we in your teeth. If you dare fight today, come to the field; if not, when you have stomachs" (V, i, 64-66) showed that all Octavius want to do is fight and get and revenge.
Another motivation of Octavius Caesar was that he wanted power. Octavius wanted power because by fighting against Brutus and Cassius he took out all powers of Rome. When Octavius said, "All that served Brutus, I will entertain them. Fellow, wilt thou bestow thy time with me" (V, v, 60-61) he proved himself to be a great leader because after his victory he asked the enemy army to join him.
Death of powerful man in an empire such as the Roman can cause its downfall. The play "Julius Caesar" showed a prime example of that.
The driving forces in the play were Cassius, Brutus, Marc Antony, and Octavius Caesar. The Play "Julius Caesar" is a true tragedy because one man's greed for power had ruined his life as well as the other men he was associated with. Brutus for instance was a tragedy because all he wanted was to help the Roman citizens by killing a possible threat to their everyday peace in life. Marc Antony showed the true power of words, which he used, to his advantage and motivating the crowd to kill all the conspirators. The play "Julius Caesar" started with Julius Caesar as the main man but at the end Octavius Caesar ruled superior.
