Thesis: Loyalty can be expressed in virtuous and corrupt manners, that inwhich many people cannot understand. Loyalty defined means faithfulness to one’s friends, country, ideals, etc. What would one do when these things conflict with one another? When theycoincide? One would have to choose. A choice that can make or break a man,which I believe broke many men in the play Julius Caesar. One did not know whowas friend or foe.
One’s dearest friends actually your foes? Not possible, is it? Yes, it is. That is the story of Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar, a great, noble man. Aman for his country.
A man loved by many and respected by all. Even respectedby the men that cursed him with death. Why would men that loved and respectedone kill them? Loyalty is the answer. A feeling of loyalty for your country thatsurpassed the loyalty of righteous virtues. Perhaps if loyalty had not beeninvolved, the country of Rome would not have been torn apart.
Or perhaps ifloyalty to all and everything had been involved a great ruler named Caesar wouldhave reigned for years. If the people of Rome would have remained loyal toCaesar perhaps a war would not have occurred, in fact, it most certainly would nothave. After the death, the angry mob should have put the conspirators to death, notlet them toy with their minds as they would a five year old. The mob, like a greatmany people, believe what is easiest to hear. In the mob of people did loyaltyexist? Doubtful, little if any. What coexisted in the crowd with that little loyaltywas ignorance, and much of it.
I believe that Brutus showed the greatest amount of loyalty to his country. He just went about showing it in a corrupt manner. He sacrificed a great friend forwhat he thought would better Rome. Perhaps Brutus was one of the most noble inthe play, but he was also the most misled.
He was noble for assassinating not forselfish needs, but for the needs of the country. However, I believe he was weak. Weak for believing that Caesar was “ambitious”. Brutus believed the one side ofthings that he heard, and that was from Cassius. Brutus is a prime example ofpeople believing what is easiest heard.
If someone would have mentioned Cassius’attitude and actions I am most certain that Brutus would have seen a sign oftyranny. Brutus was a man that held loyalty to his country close to his heart. Perhaps this blinded him. It made him oblivious to the idea of Caesar being a goodman with innocent motives. Mark Antony, another man who possessed loyalty. However, with Antony,loyalty to friends and to that of his country did not conflict.
He saw Caesar forwhat, I think, he truly was, a noble Roman. Antony was a wise man. Not beingsure of the conspirators plot, he gave them a fair chance to justify theirunjustifiable assassination. When wise Antony saw no reason for the death ofCaesar he played smart.
He did not verbally attack the conspirators, he waited. Because Antony was noble and wise, he waited. He gave citizens of Romesomething to think about. He turned the mob, who had turned against Caesar, forCaesar, against the conspirators. Noble Antony was willing to go to war to claimvindicate Caesar’s death.
He was going to get revenge on the murderers of “thenoblest man that ever lived in the tide of times. “Julius Caesar, the man that deserved to be dead the least, was deceased. Hewas loyal to his friends, the country, even the strangers of Rome. He showed it to. I believe that being loyal to a country means also being loyal to the citizens of it,and that he was. Antony painted the perfect picture of how much Caesar caredwhen he pointed out in his soliloquy that “when the poor have cried, Caesar hathwept.
” Being caring is indeed a good part of being loyal. Caesar, a man who gaveto his country, even after death. Is this a man that should have been killed? Theworld still today needs a leader like him. The death of Caesar affected many.
Brutus’ wife, Portia, was sufferingbecause of the plot she knew of. I believe that Brutus made a terrible mistake oftelling Portia. Because of the sinful acts of her husband, Portia took her life. Initially people were not grief stricken, but in time they remembered the love theyhad for Caesar. People, like Octavius’ servant, felt the heavy weight of sorrowimmediately after stumbling upon the death. Because of this assassination, a warbroke out.
Mark Antony and Octavius’ troops versus Brutus and Cassius’ troops. Many people suffered through this war. Portia stricken with sadness took her life. Not too long after Brutus followed, as did Cassius and Titinius.
Perhaps a messageto readers is when one is blinded and refuses to see open minded there is no hidingfrom vindication.
