Beware The Ides Of March Analysis
“ Beware the Ides of March!” (I, ii, 23) The Tragedy of Julius Caesar was written by William Shakespeare in 1623. Like many other plays written by Shakespeare, there was always a message hidden in it. He wanted you to learn a lesson from his plays. Three topics that show the theme of the story are Caesar's death causing Rome to revenge, Antony’s goodness winning over Brutus’s cruelness, and Brutus being defeated by the people of Rome. In this piece I believe the theme was good always outweighs evil. One hint that Shakespeare gives to show how good outweighs evil is how the result of Caesar's death and Mark Antony’s speech causes Rome to rebel against the conspirators. Therefore this shows the theme because Mark Antony is telling the truth about what happened and now everyone is on his side, as where nobody like Brutus anymore because Caesar was only trying to do what was right for Rome. One of the most famous Shakespeare quotes is “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend
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me your ears” (lll, ii, 74). By saying this Antony is showing the people of Rome that he is there friend and is on their side. It also is the turning point where the people decide to rebel against Brutus. “ Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition?” Antony uses this line to prove that Brutus was wrong about Caesar being too ambitious. By using background information this makes the people rethink what Brutus had just said. In general this scene is where the good in Mark Antony starts to shine through. The second hint I think Shakespeare gives is how Mark Antony ends up winning the war against the conspirators. This is a more obvious hint because it flat out shows that Antony defeated the enemy. “All the conspirators save only, he did that, they did not envy of great Caesar” (V, v, 69-70) This line shows that out of the goodness of Antony’s heart he is letting the conspirators live because he doesn’t believe they actually wanted to kill Caesar. They only did it because they were influenced by Brutus and he was the evil one. “Farewell, good Strato- Caesar, now be still” (V, V, 50) This is the part of the play where Brutus commits suicide because he knows he was wrong all along. He feels that if he dies, this will bring peace back to Rome once again. Once Antony finds out he has killed himself, he is at peace because he now knows that Caesar’s death was avenged.
This leads into the last hint which is Brutus being defeated by Rome. This shows that the evil , who was the conspirators, lost and the people of Rome won. By the end of the of the play Brutus regrets ever killing Caesar because he knows it wasn’t right. “Must end that work the Ides of March begun” (V,i, 114). Brutus is telling the other conspirators that he wants to finish what he has started, even if that means losing. He is trying to show that he was a noble leader so that his men don’t rebel against him. At this point he is also feeling a lot of pressure because all his men are counting on him. Later this pressure overwhelms him. “Friends, I owe moe tears to this dead man than you shall see me pay” (V, ii, 101-102). Cassius had just committed suicide right before Brutus said this line. What he means by it is he owes Cassius more emotion than he’s going to show in front of everyone. Even though Cassius was the one that got him into this mess he still thanks him for sticking to the plan and doing what he thought was right for the city of Rome. At this point he doesn’t know that Titinius is going to kill himself to. When he finds this out he is overwhelmed and finally realizes he is going to lose the war. This is what causes him to break down and he decides that the only way out of this situation is to kill himself. He doesn’t have the power to kill himself, so he hands his sword to one of his men, and he tells him to kill him just like they did Caesar. This is the falling action and the audience realizes that Antony won and the enemy lost. This is most likely the moment when people would begin to see the theme. As you can see it basically shows that no matter how powerful you think you may be, you can’t win against someone that’s in the right.
In this case it was Mark Antony. The series of events that led up to the final reveal of the play all showed that Brutus was not going to win . When the people of Rome started to rebel it showed Antony gaining power. Then when Antony’s army wins it shows that no matter how much you try the good always wins. And finally Brutus killing himself shows that everything works out the way they should. Antony didn’t end up killing the other conspirators because he believed that they didn’t do anything wrong and they were just under the influence of Brutus. He knew that deep down they were good people that loved Caesar, they just let their minds get the best of them. In the end Caesar's death was avenged and Rome’s peace was restored to what it was before. Although there are many lessons you can learn from this piece, these are a few main ones. Good will always outweigh
evil.
me your ears” (lll, ii, 74). By saying this Antony is showing the people of Rome that he is there friend and is on their side. It also is the turning point where the people decide to rebel against Brutus. “ Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition?” Antony uses this line to prove that Brutus was wrong about Caesar being too ambitious. By using background information this makes the people rethink what Brutus had just said. In general this scene is where the good in Mark Antony starts to shine through. The second hint I think Shakespeare gives is how Mark Antony ends up winning the war against the conspirators. This is a more obvious hint because it flat out shows that Antony defeated the enemy. “All the conspirators save only, he did that, they did not envy of great Caesar” (V, v, 69-70) This line shows that out of the goodness of Antony’s heart he is letting the conspirators live because he doesn’t believe they actually wanted to kill Caesar. They only did it because they were influenced by Brutus and he was the evil one. “Farewell, good Strato- Caesar, now be still” (V, V, 50) This is the part of the play where Brutus commits suicide because he knows he was wrong all along. He feels that if he dies, this will bring peace back to Rome once again. Once Antony finds out he has killed himself, he is at peace because he now knows that Caesar’s death was avenged.
This leads into the last hint which is Brutus being defeated by Rome. This shows that the evil , who was the conspirators, lost and the people of Rome won. By the end of the of the play Brutus regrets ever killing Caesar because he knows it wasn’t right. “Must end that work the Ides of March begun” (V,i, 114). Brutus is telling the other conspirators that he wants to finish what he has started, even if that means losing. He is trying to show that he was a noble leader so that his men don’t rebel against him. At this point he is also feeling a lot of pressure because all his men are counting on him. Later this pressure overwhelms him. “Friends, I owe moe tears to this dead man than you shall see me pay” (V, ii, 101-102). Cassius had just committed suicide right before Brutus said this line. What he means by it is he owes Cassius more emotion than he’s going to show in front of everyone. Even though Cassius was the one that got him into this mess he still thanks him for sticking to the plan and doing what he thought was right for the city of Rome. At this point he doesn’t know that Titinius is going to kill himself to. When he finds this out he is overwhelmed and finally realizes he is going to lose the war. This is what causes him to break down and he decides that the only way out of this situation is to kill himself. He doesn’t have the power to kill himself, so he hands his sword to one of his men, and he tells him to kill him just like they did Caesar. This is the falling action and the audience realizes that Antony won and the enemy lost. This is most likely the moment when people would begin to see the theme. As you can see it basically shows that no matter how powerful you think you may be, you can’t win against someone that’s in the right.
In this case it was Mark Antony. The series of events that led up to the final reveal of the play all showed that Brutus was not going to win . When the people of Rome started to rebel it showed Antony gaining power. Then when Antony’s army wins it shows that no matter how much you try the good always wins. And finally Brutus killing himself shows that everything works out the way they should. Antony didn’t end up killing the other conspirators because he believed that they didn’t do anything wrong and they were just under the influence of Brutus. He knew that deep down they were good people that loved Caesar, they just let their minds get the best of them. In the end Caesar's death was avenged and Rome’s peace was restored to what it was before. Although there are many lessons you can learn from this piece, these are a few main ones. Good will always outweigh
evil.