Changing Sides Of Julius Caesar Research Paper

Jakob Lopez
Dr. Vella
English 1, Period 4
2 May 2013
Changing Sides In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, the common people played a critical role. They are not very dedicated to a certain side; they tend to switch depending on popularity or role. The common people tend to focus on the stronger person in power. They were for Pompey, but as soon as Julius Caesar defeated him in battle, they immediately switched sides and joined the followers of Julius Caesar. The people of Rome were never on one side for too long. They switched sides multiple times in The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, which favored certain characters and disfavored others. The commoners play a critical part in Caesar’s reign and the conspirators’ plan to kill Caesar while being able
to persuade the people that it was for the good of Rome. The leaders either had to be for the people or with the people. Without the people, the rulers would have no power. In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, the plebeians helped control any certain situation, whether it was in the beginning praising Julius Caesar, “That now comes in triumph over Pompey’s blood?” (I.i.53) or when they reinforced Brutus’s decision to kill Caesar, but then they were against him after Antony’s speech, “Live Brutus!
Live, live!”, “They were traitors!” (III.ii.48, 154). The people are as fickle as described in the beginning of the tragedy. They can’t stick with a side for too long. The people of Rome always want to be on the most powerful side so once Caesar took control of Rome from Pompey; the people began to rejoice Caesar instead of Pompey. They feel that if they do not switch sides, that they will fall with the weaker side. To prevent their fall, they quickly change sides to avoid conflict with anyone else. The common people are scared of conflict with rulers or other people. They want to have easy lives and in order to make their life easiest as possible, they feel like switching to the most powerful, persuasive, and popular side will indeed make it easier. The citizens of Rome caused the death of Brutus and the rest of the conspirators by their fear of
conflict.
The support of the common people to the military rulers is essential to their success.
Without the help of the people of Rome, the rulers would have no power. If the people do not accept or agree with a certain ruler, they will revolt or join another group that is against the ruler. The plebeians were a huge part in Brutus’s and the conspirators’ plans. They needed the people to believe that they were killing Caesar for the good of them, “Not / that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.” (III.ii.21-22). For a second, they were on the conspirators’ side, but because of Antony’s great speech and the peoples’ habit of changing sides very quickly, the conspirators’ plan fell through. In the end because of the commoners, that event and their tendency to be persuaded easily led to the death of most of
them.
The common people are, as people nowadays would say, "bandwagoners." They choose the most popular side because try want to people on the more power and winning side. The common people decided the fate of each character and played a major role in the tragedy. Without them, this story would have felt incomplete. They never stayed on one side for too long and they were fickle, but this was a major factor on the plot of the story. Persuading the people played a huge part in the conspirators' plan. They believed the people are like children and they can be easily persuaded, but this ended up turning around and stabbing them in the back. In the end, the people of Rome are a weak group, but it was their decision on how the story developed.