Julius Ceasar Overview Essay Example For Students

Julius Ceasar: Overview Essay SUMMARY:Shakespeares Julius Caesar is the story of the resultingconflicts from the assassination of perpetual dictator and Romanemperor, Julius Caesar. A great friend of Caesar, Mark Antony,comes to the senate to see the dead body of their dictator. Hepretends to not be angry at those who took part in theassassination, and asks to speak at his funeral, a request whichhe is granted. However, after the men leave, he begins a soliloquyin which he suggests that Caesars spirit will take revenge uponhis murderers and invoke a war involving the entire country. Antony begins the revenge of his death by speaking at the funeralabout the wrong done to Caesar, the mans generosity to thepeople, and how Brutus tried to persuade them to believe hisjustification of the murder. The crowd turns to agreement withAntony and then accuse the conspirators of murder. The accusedmen flee, eventually leaving the bounds of the city, and thecitizens leave to loot and burn the houses of the guilty men. The armies of Brutus and Cassius set up camps near another cityand knowing that Antonys soldiers are coming, they decide tomarch toward the enemy at once. The fighting begins with theconfrontation of the two sides, as Cassius and Brutus armiesarrive. Antony and his partner challenge the assassins to fight,and the bloody battle begins. The armies of the conspirators fallinto vulnerability many times, and their side does poorly, losingmany men. Cassius hears mistakenly that one of his importantsoldiers has been captured, loses hope, and commits suicide, whileBrutus feels that his army has been cornered, and throws himselfonto another mans sword, killing himself also. They call off therest of the battle, for Antonys army now had victory over Brutusand Cassius, Caesars murder had been avenged, and order had beenrestored. CHARACTERS:There are a couple of main characters in this story. Caesar iswell liked by the citizens of Rome, yet is a somewhat arrogant manand believes himself to be above everybody else. He is givenpraise often and honored by events such as a holiday in his name. However, several men do not agree that Caesar should have such ahigh title, as they despise his character. These six men conspireto kill the emperor to end what they see as his tyranny andoppression in Rome. A man named Cassius organizes the event, while a powerful figure,Brutus, persuades Caesar to come to the senate, where he is to bekilled. While the emperor argues with one of the conspirators, aman named Casca stabs him in the back, and the other men followand wound him with their swords until he falls to the ground,dead. EVALUATION:In this play, Shakespeare gave morals to the audience about rightand wrong and acting upon ones opinion. He showed that oneshould not bring death to someone else based on their personaldesires, or whether they believe it is in the best interest oftheir society, for they are only one person out of the many whohave a voice. He also implies that if one commits an act of wrong,justified, or not, they can expect to be punished for it by theothers who were hurt by those actions.