Loyalty and Betral Julius Caesar
Loyalty and betrayal are central ideas in this play. Explore how Shakespeare illustrates these themes.
In Julius Caesar Loyalty and Betrayal create much of the tension and uncertainty in the text. Brutus begins as a loyal the trusted friend to Caesar and his movement towards the conspirators demonstrate how manipulative and influencing an opinion can be, and his honour towards the city meant that the conspirators were able to tear him away from his loyalty to Caesar.
In the first scene of Julius Caesar the commoners who once worshipped Pompey have turned their allegiance to Caesar. After years of supporting Pompey their swift change of opinion shows that they can’t think for themselves and their loyalty and devotion go to the person with the most power. ‘Knew you not Pompey?’, this shows that they are easily swayed, veering from supporting one character to the next after Caesar's murder, for example they hail Brutus as a hero. Then Antony's speech, supposedly only done to "bury Caesar," persuades them to support him, and they run riot in the city, chasing the conspirators into panic. They are motivated by misguided loyalty, money and power, such as after they agreed with Brutus as he was the next most powerful man in line, Mark Antony changed their minds by reading the will of Caesar ‘there’s not a nobler man in Rome than Antony’ and ‘we’ll burn the house of Brutus’.
We see a lot of this theme through the characters, Mark Antony is strongly loyal to Caesar and his actions through to the death of Caesar in Act 3, and he is clearly motivated by his desire to support Caesar and his cause. However something goes wrong for Mark Antony as by Act4.1 he is engaged in dividing up the conflict, sending people to their deaths and scheming against his partners. Antony is possibly carried away by personal power; it’s not obvious whether he is driven by desire for vengeance to calm her personal grief and get back at those who betrayed Caesar or if like everyone else power
In Julius Caesar Loyalty and Betrayal create much of the tension and uncertainty in the text. Brutus begins as a loyal the trusted friend to Caesar and his movement towards the conspirators demonstrate how manipulative and influencing an opinion can be, and his honour towards the city meant that the conspirators were able to tear him away from his loyalty to Caesar.
In the first scene of Julius Caesar the commoners who once worshipped Pompey have turned their allegiance to Caesar. After years of supporting Pompey their swift change of opinion shows that they can’t think for themselves and their loyalty and devotion go to the person with the most power. ‘Knew you not Pompey?’, this shows that they are easily swayed, veering from supporting one character to the next after Caesar's murder, for example they hail Brutus as a hero. Then Antony's speech, supposedly only done to "bury Caesar," persuades them to support him, and they run riot in the city, chasing the conspirators into panic. They are motivated by misguided loyalty, money and power, such as after they agreed with Brutus as he was the next most powerful man in line, Mark Antony changed their minds by reading the will of Caesar ‘there’s not a nobler man in Rome than Antony’ and ‘we’ll burn the house of Brutus’.
We see a lot of this theme through the characters, Mark Antony is strongly loyal to Caesar and his actions through to the death of Caesar in Act 3, and he is clearly motivated by his desire to support Caesar and his cause. However something goes wrong for Mark Antony as by Act4.1 he is engaged in dividing up the conflict, sending people to their deaths and scheming against his partners. Antony is possibly carried away by personal power; it’s not obvious whether he is driven by desire for vengeance to calm her personal grief and get back at those who betrayed Caesar or if like everyone else power