Julius Caesar - Manipulation

A person of great power has a large amount of control and influence over the vast majority of the population that they lead. Often times, their leadership position was gained through manipulation of the people as they try to sell themselves to them. This manipulation also affects any competition for that leadership position because a common technique to sway someone’s opinion is to make the competition look bad which then makes the people look down on the competition, causing the opposing side’s chances of success to plummet. William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar demonstrates this as a tale of manipulation leads to the downfall of the weaker link. Cassius, Mark Antony and Julius Caesar have perfected the art of manipulation as they are able to manipulate their prey into getting what they desire. Manipulation, as well as its connections to violence and the common good, ends up leading to the downfall of Brutus. This reflects Shakespeare’s opinion that power and success is achieved through effective manipulation tactics, which Brutus did not have.

Brutus wanted to kill Caesar for the common good, but in the end it was Cassius’ manipulation that really caused Brutus to continue his plan of killing Caesar. Brutus wanted to kill Caesar because he felt that he would be a bad leader of Rome. Cassius, who remains by Brutus’ side for the majority of the play, sees that Brutus had potential to outdo Caesar considering he has seen and cared for Caesar at his weakest point. Cassius then manipulated Brutus by telling him, ”speaking of Brutus and groaning underneath this age’s yolk, have wished that noble Brutus had his eyes”. (Act I Scene II 66-68) This is Cassius basically telling Brutus that the people of Rome love him and wish that Brutus would open his eyes and see what good he could do. Cassius writes fake letters to Brutus from the “people of Rome” to try and convince him that the people love him. It also showed him that he would be a shoe-in for king if Caesar was