Fate vs Free Will in Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

The hubris of rich, powerful, or politically connected men creates a false sense of security that often leads to their fate being a horrific downfall. Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare exposes the conflicting ideas that exist between fate and free will by showing the relationship between Caesar, Brutus, and their wives, and how the decisions Cassius makes effect his fate. Conflicting ideas existed between the spouses and as well as the decisions Cassius make and how they affect him. Fate gives Brutus a chance to change his decision that he made of his own free will about killing Caesar by having Portia, who is Brutus’s wife, encourage him to change his mind. First, Portia gives Brutus a sign of fate by revealing that when the men left her house they hid their faces â€Å"even from darkness† (II, i, 905). Brutus decides to ignore Portia’s warning about men who hide their faces, which is one of the events that leads up to Brutus’s, and also Portia’s suicidal act of â€Å"[swallowing] hot coals†, fated suicide (Salem Press). Next, Portia reminds Brutus that she is not weak because she is â€Å"well reputed† and a woman that Brutus saw fit to marry (II, i, 923). Even knowing and being sufficiently reminded that Portia is not of lesser intelligence than he is; Brutus still continues on with his decision to betray Caesar. Also, Portia reminds Brutus that he can trust her to help him make the right decision and that she will not â€Å"disclose† his secrets to others (II, i, 926). Brutus at thisShow MoreRelatedThemes Of William Shakespeare s Julius Caesar 2063 Words   |  9 Pages Theme, Mood and Conflict in Julius Caesar Savannah Baine â€Å"Come I to speak at Caesar’s funeral. He was my friend, faithful and just to me. But Brutus says that he was too ambitious, and Brutus is an honorable man .† Mark Antony (Act 3,Scene 2,Line 85). â€Å"Julius Caesar† by William Shakespeare, is a classic play depicting the death of Caesar and the chaos that ensues afterwards. One theme in this play is fate vs. free will, the mood is serious and calm, while the conflictsRead MoreJulius Caesar : Fate Vs. Free1298 Words   |  6 Pagesicons. Others might say Bill Gates vs. Steve Jobs because they were different as apples and oranges, yet they had much in common because they both created and dreamed of the idea of a personal computer. But is it possible that fate vs. free will spark an idea in peoples’ brains? Maybe. This essay will be focusing on that relationship and balance in one famous piece of work. In William Shakespeare’s tragedy, Julius Caesar, Julius Caesar proved that fate and free will m aintain a tug-of-war situationRead MoreA Raisin in the Sun vs. Julius Caesar2295 Words   |  10 PagesKyla Beecher Ms. Hilliard English 2 Honors 4 January 2013 Traditional vs. Modern Drama In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun themes, symbols, and characters can be compared. Both A Raisin in the Sun and Julius Caesar were written for the stage; therefore their characters become more obvious and more thoroughly portrayed than in a book, for example. Even though, these works were written by far different authors and in different centuries their similaritiesRead More William Faulkners Use of Shakespeare Essay5388 Words   |  22 PagesWilliam Faulkners Use of Shakespeare Throughout his career William Faulkner acknowledged the influence of many writers upon his work--Twain, Dreiser, Anderson, Keats, Dickens, Conrad, Balzac, Bergson, and Cervantes, to name only a few--but the one writer that he consistently mentioned as a constant and continuing influence was William Shakespeare. Though Faulkner’s claim as a fledgling writer in 1921 that â€Å"[he] could write a play like Hamlet if [he] wanted to† (FAB 330) may be dismissed asRead MoreLiterature and Language10588 Words   |  43 Pagesthe figurative use of language is TROPE, which refers to language used in a figurative way for a rhetorical purpose. For example, ex. 9-4 Friends, Romans and Contrymen, lend me your ears †¦ This is from Mark Antony’ s speech in Shakespeare’ s Julius Caesar. Here lend me your ears is a trope, used figuratively for rhetorical ends in order to make more impact than a literal variation such as listen to me for a moment .We do not interpret the line literally as a wish to borrow the flesh-and-bloodRead MoreLogical Reasoning189930 Words   |  760 PagesSacramento, CA 95819 USA ii iii Preface Copyright  © 2011-14 by Bradley H. Dowden This book Logical Reasoning by Bradley H. Dowden is licensed under a Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. That is, you are free to share, copy, distribute, store, and transmit all or any part of the work under the following conditions: (1) Attribution You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author, namely by citing his name, the book title, and the relevant