“O, you and I have heard our fathers say, there was a Brutus once that would have brook’d th’ eternal devil to keep his state in Rome as easily as a king.” In the play Julius Ceasar by William Shakespeare, Caius Cassius is the ringleader of the conspiracy to assassinate Ceasar. He, shown through the quote above, is very skilled in being able to alter a person’s views, and their emotions to his bidding. He is extremely good at enabling somebody by flattering them, or over stating the situation, to make his view look right. Caius Cassius’ actions were driven by his envy and hatred of Ceasar.
Cassius was extremely envious of the power that Ceasar had gained, and wondered how a man of his disposition, and health, had managed to achieve this. Cassius speaks of Ceasar like a weak man, who doesn’t have the ability to control anything, let alone an empire, he is frustrated with the fact that Rome is falling into this façade of strength and leadership that Ceasar had been putting on, when really in private he was weak as dirt. 1.2: 126-130 “ Alas it cried ‘Give me some drink, Titinius,’ As a sick girl. Ye gods, it doth amaze me a man of such a feeble temper should so get the start of the majestic world, and bear the palm alone.” This quotation shows Cassius as being jealous of Ceasar’s power, because he speaks of how Ceasar is a weak girl, and touches on the fact that any of them are stronger than the weak and feeble Ceasar. He believes that Ceasar is unfit to hold the crown of Rome, and believes that he himself would be a better suitor, but instead of saying it, he enables Brutus by telling him he could wear the crown more confidently than Ceasar. Cassius is also shown as envious when he speaks to Casca when the storm is raging in Rome. Casca is scared past explanation by the storm and the weird occurrences, but Cassius instead sees them as signs and omens that he should kill Ceasar. He believes that the gods are basically giving him the green light, by showing him that under Ceasar’s rule, Rome is falling apart. He speaks to Casca, and attempts to bring him in on the conspiracy against Ceasar, by hinting a man weaker than both of them has become a god like character who can be compared to the storm. 1.3: 80-84 “Let it be who it is: for Romans now have thews and limbs like to their ancestors; but, woe the while! Our fathers’ minds are dead, and we are govern’d with our mothers’ spirits; our yoke and sufferance show us womanish.” Cassius never actually says his name, and does not directly answer him when he guesses that he speaks of Ceasar. Instead Cassius says that in the worship of this person, Romans have lost their masculinity, and that by tolerating his rule, they have become women at heart. This shows Cassius using his wit and logic to get somebody interested in the way that he thinks of Ceasar, again he states that in worshiping a weak man, we are weak, and through this suggests that Rome needs a new leader, and in gaining friends, he believes that he might just become that ruler. Cassius is jealous of Ceasars power and cannot for the life of him understand why people worship him like a god.
Through his encounters with Ceasar, Cassius believes that he is arrogant and egotistical, and Cassius hates him for those traits. Cassius, in his position in the senate must obey Ceasar as his ruler, but on a more personal basis he has spent time with him, and after doing many things for him, Ceasar gives nothing in return, and treats Cassius like an animal. During his first talk with Brutus, Cassius tells a story of how Ceasar challenged him to swim across the Tiber, and Cassius being the brave and honorable man had to save him from drowning. And even after saving his life, Ceasar treats him as if he was a slave. 1.2: 114-117 “ And this man is now become a god, and Cassius is a wretched creature, and must bend his body if Ceasar carelessly but nod on him.” This shows Cassius’ hatred of Ceasar, that he has bottled up for so long. He is furious that after saving this man’s life, he is still treated as if he was worthless. He believes that after doing this man such a favor, he should at least be treated better or even get a ‘thank you’, but no, life continues on as normal, without even a second glance at his valiant action. Cassius’ hatred is also shown when he at one point basically says how the heck did he get this power! And that his rule is a disgrace to all Romans and the age that they live in. 1.2: 146-149 “Upon what meat doth this our Ceasar feed, that he is grown so great? Age, thou art sham’d! Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods!” This is the most straightforward thing Cassius says about Ceasar in the play. He actually flat out declares his anger and confusion about how this man came to power. This obviously shows his hatred because he blames all of Rome and shames the age of Ceasar as the age of idiots basically, for letting this man become this god. Cassius hates the way that Ceasar conducts himself, and the image that he has shown to the public of this strong and powerful leader, when instead he is extremely weak and does not have the means to back his words.
Cassius is driven to kill Ceasar because of his intense hatred and envy of the man’s power. Through his skills in speech, and persuasion he is able to draw others into following his cause, and eventually succeeds in his short term goal of killing Ceasar, but from there everything went down hill. Cassius’ hatred and envy drove him to not think things through incredibly well, he was blinded by rage, and overlooked many things that would have been easily caught by somebody who thought things through. Cassius succeeded in his short-term goal of killing Ceasar, but having not thought things through, forgot to consider the outcome of the murder too deeply. After the death of Ceasar, Rome was convinced that the killing of Ceasar was dishonorable, and from there lead a rebellion against the conspirators, from which spawned a war, that was lead by Ceasar’s most loyal follower Marc Antony. During the war, Cassius felt as if he was defeated, and that everything and everyone he loved was being destroyed. Having felt that he had lost, he eventually took his own life. I believe that Cassius’ cause was not worthy, because he desired to kill Ceasar for personal reasons, not for the good of Rome. The murder of Ceasar could be justified if the motives were driven by a love for Rome, but for the motives that drove Cassius, I believe that his act was not noble o
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