Caesar Metaphor

Katie Bradley and Laraib Zahid 11/25/13
Ms. Avila 10H Julius Caesar

In William Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caesar, figurative language (metaphor) is used to show Caesar’s dominant and powerful character and how weak and naive the Roman citizens are. During Act I, Scene III, Cassius is talking to Casca about the current state of Rome and how Caesar views the citizens. He says, “And why should Caesar be a tyrant, then? Poor man, I know he would not be a wolf but that he sees Romans are but sheep.” Caesar is being described as a wolf and the people of Rome as sheep. If you take away Caesar’s power, he no longer has influence over the people. Furthermore, because the citizens of Rome fear his strength and see Caesar as a superior to them, Caesar automatically sees them as the sheep and himself as the wolf. This metaphor is used to show the predator/prey relationship between Caesar and the citizens of Rome. The citizens are weak compared to the power of Caesar. He highlights the fact that Caesar see’s the people of Rome as a prey that he feeds upon in order to increase his powerful influence. As you can see, Cassius is telling this to Casca to manipulate him in bringing Caesar down through the power of persuasion.
The illustration interprets the quote: “And why should Caesar be a tyrant, then? Poor man, I know he would not be a wolf But that he sees the Romans are but sheep.”
In the drawing we drew Julius Caesar holding a lightning bolt and on the other side we drew the Roman citizens. The illustration is divided in half with shows the relative difference between Caesar and the Roman citizens. The Roman citizens are weak and naiveté. They are portrayed as a sheep as stated in the quote, so we decided to draw them as tiny characters, wearing roman style clothing. The colors they are each wearing symbolize how they were portrayed in the relationship between Caesar and the citizens of Rome. The people of Rome were naive because they don’t know any better in trusting Caesar as their ruler. This is shown through their green colored togas. Additionally, the color pink and brown symbolize vulnerability and repression. The Romans are vulnerable and repressed in the way that if any one tells them to do anything, right or wrong, they will listen to them. On the contrast, Caesar is drawn much larger compared to the others, not at all to scale. The Roman citizens are merely players in Caesar’s rule. This shows his dominance in Roman society. Caesar is illustrated in red, purple/violet and black. The color red symbolizes strength and power, in which Caesar has over the people of Rome. Caesar has power because the “sheep” (people) fear him. Evidently, the color purple also symbolizes power, it shows that Caesar is in control and he has the capability to lead the Romans. On the other hand, the color black symbolizes fear. Not that Caesar is fearful himself, but the citizens of Rome fear him. There is a wolf drawn next to Caesar because he is strong, aggressive and dominant just like a wolf. The background colors, red and purple, symbolize the strength and power Caesar endures. The background of the Roman citizens is white, which symbolizes their innocent and purity, and a sheep is illustrated to represent the weakness and vulnerability of the Roman people compared to the wolf. As you can see, in William Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caesar, the relationship between ruler and the governed is unbalanced. When Cassius describes this sheep/wolf metaphor to Casca, he is trying to justify and persuade bringing Caesar down from power, and the power of persuasion can be very influential on people.