Julius Caesar Essay

Cassius

"Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look; He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.” (pg. 38; lines 191 and 192) The quote above shows us that Cassius is a very vicious and creepy kind of person. It also shows that Cassius has been waiting for something for a long time, in this case it would be the perfect moment to release his plan to kill Caesar. This quote also shows that Cassius is showing himself talking to Brutus in a sly way to Caesar to warn Caesar that something will happen to him. Cassius was motivated by 2 goals to do all these actions. 1, he wanted to prove to Caesar that he was and still is better and more powerful than Caesar. 2, he wanted to gain higher power. The reason for Cassius being motivated like this is because he knows that if Caesar were to be crowned king he would loose every bit of his power and this he does not want. In this essay I will be talking about what motivated Cassius to do what he did and the behavior caused by this.


One of Cassius’s motivators was the need to be better than Caesar. Cassius is motivated like this because he believes that if Cassius hadn’t saved him from the raging Tiber, he wouldn’t at this stage. This motivator was not much the major because it just made Cassius start to think of awful things to do to Caesar. “I, as Aneas, our great ancestor, Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder the old Anchises bear, so from the waves of the Tiber did I the tired Caesar.”(pg.34; lines 111-114) in this quote Cassius is speaking with Brutus about his past “bond” with Caesar, and how now he has to kneel upon his presence. This quotation means that when Caesar was young, Cassius and Caesar were friends and had a competition to swim across the Tiber to the other side. When Cassius was close to winning Caesar cried for help because he began to drown. Then Cassius describes himself as Aneas who had carried the old Anchises to the city of Rome. This really enraged Cassius and began to plan ways to defeat Caesar. One of his plans was to take in noble Brutus into his group of conspirators. “Brutus and Caesar: what should be in that Caesar? Why should that name be sounded more than yours? Write them together, yours is as fair a name; sound them, it doth become the mouth as well; weigh them it is as heavy’ conjure them ‘Brutus’ will start a spirit as soon as ‘Caesar’”(pg.36;lines 140-145) in this quote Cassius is slowly pulling Brutus into his trap and tries to convince to him that he can also be a leader not only Caesar. In this quotation Cassius is trying to say that Brutus has to rise up against Caesar and take over Rome. What Cassius is trying to do is that he wants use Brutus as a noble tool to fulfill his needs. Another reason for Cassius to use Brutus is because Brutus is Caesar friend and could be a very good target. Also Cassius notices that Brutus is not liking what is happening and Cassius tells him that together they can put an end to this whole drama. So, Cassius is using his past and a very loyal friend as tools to fulfill his task.


The second motivator for Cassius is his greed over power. Since he doesn’t have a lot of power before Caesar’s death he thinks that if Caesar were to live on and become king he would loose all of his power and become weak. So, Cassius thinks of killing Caesar. Then he realizes that there are other people in Rome who don’t like Caesar. Cassius begins a group of conspirators, including Brutus and devise a way to kill Caesar. “And this man is now become a god, and Cassius is a wretched creature, and must bend his body if Caesar carelessly but nod on him” (pg.34; lines 114-117) in this quote Cassius is trying to convince Brutus to fight against Caesar by telling him all the bad things he did. This quote also portrays how angry and enraged Cassius about Caesar. This enrage motivates Cassius to think of the brighter side if Caesar were dead. So, Cassius is using his past to portray his agony that resides within him.


Eventually it all comes down to Cassius hatred against Caesar. The need to prove himself and greed for power has made Cassius swell up into a big ball of anger that can’t wait to release all that is trapped in it. Cassius’s goal was to kill Caesar and rule Rome beside of Brutus. This was partially accomplished because he killed Caesar and did not rule Rome with Brutus instead died. I don’t think that this act was noble because they had killed Caesar because they thought he was ambitious, and not for any reason. They didn’t support the idea that he was ambitous