Julius Caesar

The presence of conflict throughout history reinforces its significance to the human condition. Intrigued by this nature of people, Shakespeare in Julius Caesar explores conflict and its roots: most profoundly surrounding manipulation and power. Arguably the villains of the play, Antony and Cassius abuse their knowledge of rhetoric to achieve their sinister desires. As Antony manipulates the citizens to strip the conspirators of control, Cassius manipulates Brutus to end Caesar’s control over Rome. Similarly, while Antony’s actions incite civil conflict destroying Rome’s political order, Brutus, due to primarily Cassius, suffers a dreadful internal conflict: deciding between a loyalty to Caesar and, as he comes to see it, his responsibility to Rome.   From the spaces of private consciousness to the public streets of Rome, then, manipulation and conflict are inseparable elements of human existence.
By detailing the interactions of ordinary citizens with higher powers, Shakespeare explores manipulation throughout the communal spectrum. In the very first scene he foreshadows the ensuing factional conflict through Maurellus’ scolding the citizens for supporting Caesar: “You blocks, you stones…Knew you not Pompey?” This rhetorical question, coupled with the entire first scene it, signals a core motif of the play: manipulation and power. In the context of a power vacuum following Caesar’s death, where Brutus and Antony battle for control, the significance of language in obtaining power is demonstrated. After appealing to ethos, asking the citizens to “Believe me [Brutus] for mine honour”, Brutus successfully engages and justifies Caesar’s murder to the crowd; before nullifying any rebuttal with rhetorical questions: “Who here so rude that would not be a Roman?” Demonstrating a more manipulative speech however, Antony converts a crowd chanting “Give [Brutus] a statue” into one wanting to “Burn the house of Brutus”. Within his full structural apparatus of classic rhetoric,...