Skip to main content

How did Cassius persuade Brutus against Julius Caesar?

Although Cassius sensed that he was bringing Brutus around to joining his proposed conspiracy, he decided to follow up by sending him counterfeit letters purportedly from various important Roman citizens urging him to act against the tyrant Julius Caesar. Shakespeare got this, as he did so much of the information used in his play, from Plutarch. The playwright has Cassius say to himself at the end of Act I, Scene 2:



I will this night,
In several hands, in at his windows throw,
As if they came from several citizens,
Writings, all tending to the great opinion
That Rome holds of his name, wherein obscurely
Caesar's ambition shall be glanced at.
And after this let Caesar seat him sure;
For we will shake him, or worse days endure.



In Act II, Scene 1, we see how Cassius's ploy has an effect on Brutus when he reads one of the phony letters.



He opens the letter and reads.
"Brutus, thou sleep'st. Awake, and see thyself.
Shall Rome, et cetera? Speak, strike, redress."



And to show that this is only one of many, Shakespeare has Brutus say to himself:



Such instigations have been often dropped
Where I have took them up.



Cassius must have Brutus on his side if his plot is to succeed. By himself Cassius does not have the charisma to attract co-conspirators. He is a selfish, miserly man with a reputation for having a bad temper, using threats and abuse to get his own way. Anyone who knows him would regard his proposal to murder Julius Caesar as being motivated by his own selfish interests. Caesar dislikes and fears Cassius. If Caesar became absolute ruler, he might have Cassius liquidated. And Cassius knows it! He is desperate, and he is operating under severe time pressure. A good illustration of his selfish character is to be seen right after his meeting with Brutus in Act I, Scene 2.



Caesar doth bear me hard, but he loves Brutus.
If I were Brutus now and he were Cassius,
He should not humor me.



Cassius would have no objection to Caesar being made king if it would do him personally any good. He and Brutus become partners, but they are entirely different types of men. Brutus is patriotic and altruistic, whereas Cassius is totally selfish and greedy. They were bound to have conflicts sooner or later. Their final conflict erupts in the quarrel in Brutus' tent in Act IV, Scene 2, just before the battle at Philippi.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

etymology - Origin of the greeting "Sweet dreams".

Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What are the similarities between the relationships of the characters in The Outsiders and Romeo and Juliet?

At first glance, it might appear as if the characters in  The Outsiders  by S. E. Hinton and  Romeo and Juliet  by William Shakespeare do not have much in common; however, when one isolates the core of the conflicts, it becomes clear that the relationships in both stories are rooted in rivalry and secrecy.  In both  The Outsiders  and  Romeo and Juliet , an overarching theme is rivalry. While   socioeconomic status separates the greasers from the Socs in The Outsiders , last names separates the Montagues from the Capulets, who appear to be relatively equal in terms of socioeconomic status. Due to these rivalries, there are instances of deadly interactions in both stories. In  The Outsiders , Johnny kills Bob (whether his actions were justified or not is debatable). In  Romeo and Juliet , Romeo kills Tybalt and Paris, and Tybalt kills Mercutio. These deaths have profound effects on the main characters. In Ponyboy's case, the Johnny's death and other events in the novel inspire h...
Post a Comment
Read more