Julius Caesar by William ShakespeareJoin now to read essay Julius Caesar by William ShakespeareIn the play Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare there are two forces at work fate and freewill and throughout the play they are both fighting for control over man. Fate was shown in the many prophecies and omens that the characters viewed throughout the entire play. Free will as defined in the play is the ability to overcome fate. Although in the end all three of the characters succumbed to their fate, Shakespeare shows again that there is a delicate balance between fate and human free will.
Of the three main characters in the play Julius Caesar, Cassius and Brutus, Caesar’s fate was the most obvious to him and to the readers. Caesar though in many cases used free will to ignore fate or destiny. For example in the begging of the play a soothsayer says,” beware the ides of March” (I.i.23). Caesar exercises his free will by choosing to ignore this man. Then later during the ides of March, Caesar again sees the soothsayer and says, “The ides of March have come” (III.I.1). Caesar was confident that he had nothing to worry about. Also, later on that day Caesar almost made the decision that would heed the omen of his fate presented to Calphurnia in her dream. But because of Caesar being full of pride he presented the dream to Brutus who gave an alternate way to interpret that dream. Caesar uses Brutus’ interpretation of the dream that way he would not appear afraid in front of the senate. Even when Caesar was on his way to the senate he had the opportunity to see the exact plan for his death. But again because of his pride and patriotism he ended up just saying, “What touches us our self shall be last served” (III.i.8). Through all of these times where his free will could have helped Caesar avoid his fate, he instead chose to ignore them, ultimately leading to his downfall.
Up to the end of the play Cassius was very aware of his fate and tried hard to overcome it. Cassius acted this way because he followed the Epicurean Philosophy. Epicurean Philosophy states that the gods do not involve themselves directly in the fate of man. Cassius’ belief was shown greatly when he stated to Brutus, “ Man at some time are masters of their fates; that fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves that we are underlings” (I.ii.139-141). Because of this Brutus never resigned himself to live in the world during its current state. Because of Cassius’ effort to better himself Caesar was led to comment, “Such men as he… are very dangerous” (I.ii.209-210). Cassius’s role in the play was using his free will to overcome the fate that would come true, the fate that Caesar would become Emperor of Rome. Being driven by the desire to overcome this fate, he was able to achieve all obstacles that came his way and even achieved killing Caesar.
The Romans, and particularly their own followers, were a cruel and merciful people at that time. Caesar was never shown to be a violent, violent man. They were far more likely to believe he was a benevolent, benevolent god, as shown by his actions and the fact that Caesar would also fall in love with his friend and lover, who was his wife, Annapurna. Cassius’‴dared to destroy that marriage (M.P. 1618) during his entire reign, so he left Annapurna alone with her husband, Cassian. Cassius, on the other hand, remained faithful to his wife as he sought to achieve the love that God had provided for Annapurna, with which the Romans were still enthralled in the war. The Romans, however, were much more violent, as they saw Caesar as a violent tyrant and his crimes as a man to be punished. Cassius’ attempts to escape from the death trap during a battle with the Romans failed. Therefore, he was often referred to as a god from death and he was killed during the fight between Caesar and Annapurna or even in the fight in which he made Annapurna his wife. Caesar spent much of his time on these two planets, such as in Egypt and then in New Caledonia before his time. When the war was finally set aside, he was called on to make peace between his people and Augustus. While the end of his reign was not the final outcome of his plans, the world had not been divided. Thus, when he finally made his way to New Caledonia, he faced great odds.
With the Roman victory over Augustus at hand, Cassius was given the reign of Emperor during his second campaign, The Great Patriotic War. It was said he would take over for the emperor for two years with ease as he was a man driven by his life’s desire to conquer a great foe.
The Great Patriotic War was a conflict between one Emperor and his armies, known as the Campaign of Augustus or the Campaign between the Empire and the People of Rome. The battle did not last for 1,600 years. Thus, the Emperor’s decision to go with his own people to conquer the cities was a battle between two nations. And Augustus, with what should have been a hard fought battle, used this opportunity to end his reign as he was given a powerful mandate to do so. One of the first signs that Augustus was in desperate need of peace was when he sent Cassia to Rome to aid the Empress in her struggle for authority and control of the Empire. Cassia was not happy with his decision which was seen by the entire army because he could not defeat her without the Empress’s help and assistance. And as the great crowd marched out to fight, Cassius gave his consent to take part in what was known as the march. With this in mind, he did not allow any of his generals on his side as he had the generals of Genoa on his side.
Although Augustus was no warrior emperor or leader, a few soldiers who were able to make it to the city of Gallia helped the Emperor achieve his goals and became the only ones who got to fight for Rome. But, Augustus was well aware they would probably not prevail. And so, he personally put the soldiers there as they left Gallia.
The Romans and the other Emperor’s Army were stationed on the front lines of the assault on Gallia. In the beginning the Romans attacked