The Tragedy of Julius Caesar: Compare and Contrast Marc Antony, Cassius, and Brutus
Marc Antony, Brutus, and Cassius are all critical characters in William Shakespeare’s famous play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. Due to their distinctive personalities and values, there is no trait that all of these characters share, although they do share some traits with one another. Firstly, Marc Antony and Cassius are manipulative in nature, while Brutus is not. Secondly, the root of Brutus and Cassius’ failure is their personality flaw, while Marc Antony proves strong in all the ways they prove weak. Lastly, Antony and Cassius, unlike Brutus, do not separate their private affairs from their public actions while acts only with honor and virtue and completely ignores his personal concerns.
Marc Antony and Cassius are very manipulative, while Brutus is quite the opposite. Brutus’ naïve idealism leads to trouble when Cassius deceives him. Cassius’ sly nature is most evident when he says, “Where many of the best respect in Rome, except immortal Caesar, speaking of Brutus, and groaning underneath this age's yoke, have wish'd that noble Brutus had his eyes.” Cassius states that Brutus is unable to see what everyone else does, namely, that Brutus is widely respected. He goes on and says that the Roman people wished that Brutus, not Caesar, would be their ruler. A few more persuasive acts on Cassius’ part eventually leads to Brutus joining a conspiracy to murder his good friend. Marc Antony is also manipulative in nature. With fake tears on his cheeks and Caesar’s will in his hand, Antony uses his skilled rhetoric in Caesar’s funeral oration to stir the crowd to revolt against the conspirators.
Brutus and Cassius have flaws that lead to their own destruction, while Marc Antony proves strong in all the ways they prove weak. Brutus flaw is rigid idealism. For example, he ignores Cassius’s advice when he says that the conspirators should kill Antony along with Caesar and ignores him once more when he allows Antony to speak a funeral oration over Caesar’s body.
Marc Antony and Cassius are very manipulative, while Brutus is quite the opposite. Brutus’ naïve idealism leads to trouble when Cassius deceives him. Cassius’ sly nature is most evident when he says, “Where many of the best respect in Rome, except immortal Caesar, speaking of Brutus, and groaning underneath this age's yoke, have wish'd that noble Brutus had his eyes.” Cassius states that Brutus is unable to see what everyone else does, namely, that Brutus is widely respected. He goes on and says that the Roman people wished that Brutus, not Caesar, would be their ruler. A few more persuasive acts on Cassius’ part eventually leads to Brutus joining a conspiracy to murder his good friend. Marc Antony is also manipulative in nature. With fake tears on his cheeks and Caesar’s will in his hand, Antony uses his skilled rhetoric in Caesar’s funeral oration to stir the crowd to revolt against the conspirators.
Brutus and Cassius have flaws that lead to their own destruction, while Marc Antony proves strong in all the ways they prove weak. Brutus flaw is rigid idealism. For example, he ignores Cassius’s advice when he says that the conspirators should kill Antony along with Caesar and ignores him once more when he allows Antony to speak a funeral oration over Caesar’s body.