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Notes on the themes of Julius Caesar
1) Manhood and Honor: Physical strength is an obvious aspect of manliness in the play with regard
to the violence it possesses as seen by the murder of Caesar and by the war that took place
afterwards
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Brutus hides his love for
Caesar and chooses to go ahead with the assassination because he places honor before
emotions
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Julius also chooses
to go to the capitol as he doesn’t want to appear “weak” in front of his advisors even though he
is at unease with premonitions of his death
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This also has
ultimate consequences as he is assassinated on the same day and his ideology of honor and
strength over his own self-interest then seems rather useless
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This
is evident when Caesar tells Mark Antony that he fears Cassius because he “seldom smiles”
“hears no music” “loves no plays”
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Overall, despite the main characters’ domination of this theme,
with the exception of Mark Antony, we see that this pursuit of manliness and honor brings them
no good as their “manly” and “honorable” deeds lead to their ultimate and tragic end whereas
the least manly character, namely Mark Antony emerges victorious and alive at the end of the
play
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Cassius is a man of speech, he is manipulative with his words and is skillful at convincing
as he manages to manipulate the logical and intelligent Brutus into killing Caesar without ever
explicitly stating to do the deed
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Brutus, as the theme of manhood and honor
suggests, is blinded by his devotion to Rome and as Cassius knows that Brutus is strictly patriotic
and honorable, he uses this to his advantage by making Brutus believe that killing Caesar will
bring him honor and will be in the best interests of Rome
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Antony’s speech also consists of sarcasm and satirical humor, something
which was seen upon close inspection of the common folk and plebeians
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Cassius portrays himself as
honorable while he is privately corrupt
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Brutus
who also thrives to be an honorable and manly figure, appears to be unaffected in front of his
troops after hearing about the death of his wife although he is personally affected by it
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The first
being that Rome must not become a monarchy and second that killing an innocent man to
prevent Rome from any harm is morally acceptable
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To him, the killing of Antony is morally
unacceptable while the killing of Caesar, is
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5) Fate: Animal, weather premonitions
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He is the most respected man and a man of power and if he stands for his decision
of staying home, he can’t be forced to leave home
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So in a sense fate does play a role as what is
determined by fate cannot be changed

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