Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare is a tragedy that portrays Julius Caesar’s assassination in 44 BC, the downfall of the Roman Republic, an empire under Julius Caesar’s adopted son, Octavianus Augustus, and wars between various characters. Mark Antony played a major role in Julius Caesar’s assassination. After Julius Caesar was murdered by his former friend Brutus, he then became the main power source of Julius Caesar’s adopted son Octavianus Augustus.
In Julius Caesar, Mark Antony was a notable character to show his greed and self-interest for being Julius Caesar’s friend. Brutus could have been easily controlled by Mark Antony if he wanted to. However, Mark Antony used Julius Caesar’s death as an opportunity to establish himself as Julius Caesar’s successor rather than Julius Caesar’s friend. Mark Antony committed a series of major blunders after Julius Caesar died.
He made a mistake when Octavianus Augustus was going to win the battle against Brutus and Cassius because he laid down his public duties in order to be with Cleopatra who is the queen of Egypt. The fall of the Roman Republic was affected by Julius Caesar’s death because Julius Caesar had control over Mark Antony who was Julius Caesar’s adopted son at that time. Julius Caesar would have never allowed Mark Antony to do what he did if Julius Caesar were still alive.
Julius Caesar would not allow Mark Antony to run off with Cleopatra and leave his adopted son, Octavianus Augustus alone to fight Brutus and Cassius. Julius Caesar truly cared for Octavianus Augustus unlike Mark Antony whom Julius Caesar viewed as a friend but not an adopted son like Octavianus Augustus whom he viewed as his own biological son. Although Mark Antony went off with Cleopatra, it really didn’t affect Julius Caesar’s adopted son, Octavianus Augustus because Julius Caesar was still able to defeat Brutus and Cassius along with Mark Antony.
Julius Caesar would have never allowed Mark Antony to do what he did if Julius Caesar were still alive. Julius Caesar would not allow Mark Antony to run off with Cleopatra and leave his adopted son, Octavianus Augustus alone to fight Brutus and Cassius. Julius Caesar truly cared for Octavianus Augustus unlike Mark Antony whom Julius Caesar viewed as a friend but not an adopted son like Octavianus Augustus whom he viewed as his own biological son.
Although Mark Antony went off with Cleopatra, it really didn’t affect Julius Caesar’s adopted son, Octavianus Augustus because Julius Caesar was still able to defeat Brutus and Cassius along with Mark Antony. Julius Caesar had more control over Mark Antony than Julius Caesar’s adopted son, Octavianus Augustus did. Julius Caesar could have easily controlled Mark Antony if he wanted to which would have prevented Mark Antony from running off with Cleopatra and leaving his adopted son alone to defend Rome.
Julius Caesar might have actually allowed Mark Antony to go with Cleopatra, but it definitely gave Julius Caesar the perfect opportunity to show how great of a leader he is by defeating Brutus and Cassius on his own without any help from anyone else including his best friend, Mark Antony Julius Caesar truly cared for Octavianus Augustus unlike Mark Antony whom Julius Caesar viewed as a friend but not an adopted son like Octavianus Augustus whom Julius Caesar viewed as his own biological son.
Julius Caesar saw Mark Antony more as a supportive brother rather than being Julius Caesar’s best friend and most trusted ally in battle. Julius Caesar is definitely viewed in a better light than Mark Antony was when Julius Caesar died by the Roman people. Julius Caesar really didn’t care for Mark Antony even though Julius Caesar might have considered him to be one of Julius Caesar’s best friends at the time.
Julius Caesar stopped caring for Mark Antony once Julius Caesar realized how greedy and self-interested he was, whereas Julius Caesar cared about Octavianus Augustus throughout his entire life Julius Caesar truly cared for Julius Caesar’s adopted son, Octavianus Augustus throughout Julius Caesar’s entire life. Julius Caesar viewed him as Julius’ own biological son rather than just his adoptive son that Julius effectively abandoned after Julius accepted Mark Antony as Julius’ best friend and fellow soldier instead of treating Mark Antony like Julius treated Octavianus Augustus.
Fortunately for Antony, Julius Caesar is Brutus’s idol. When Julius Caesar comes to visit Julius Caesar in the Senate room, Brutus cannot help but admire Julius Caesar, “O pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth!/ That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!” (III i 179–180). Julius Caesar can hardly express his grief at being so casually dismissed by the senators who should be respectfully listening to him.
Julius Caesar does not even have a chance to speak his final words before he dies on the Senate floor. But it is less important that Julius Caesar should have died than that Julius Caesar should have been heard! Julius Caesar had no opportunity to say anything because the senators saw Julius Caesar’s very appearance as an embarrassing interruption of their right to govern themselves without Julius Caesar.
This quote shows that the plebeians think Antony is a good man, but he has been treated unjustly. The crowd then starts to sympathize with him and cries out for Julius Caesar as well. Once Julius Caesar is mentioned, Antony changes his tone and begins to convince the crowd of their treacherous leader:
“…he was a tyrant;
Nothing ‘gainst us intended in his death,
And we are blessed in the intent we had;” (III i 223-225).
Antony uses Julius Caesar’s own sword against him as he chops Julius Caesar’s robe off of his back saying, “Look you here -/ This was his robe… ” (III i 229-230). He continues by saying Julius’ body was cut open and his honorable intentions were buried with Julius. Antony is able to convince the crowd that Julius Caesar’s only intention was to be a good ruler for Rome, not kill anyone as it seems Julius Caesar has done in the play.
With this, Antony is now able to gain the affection from everyone that Julius Caesar once had. He demonstrates how Julius Caesar treated him well by saying:
“For I have ever verified my friends;
There’s none so poor and bare, but he may promise/ To whom he loves he adds respect with praises” (III i 264-266).
This quote shows that Julius cared about everyone, which makes people believe it is unjust for him to be killed simply because of what they see Julius Caesar as. Julius Caesar is then murdered again in the mind of the crowd, but this time they are on Julius’ side and Julius Caesar is on Antony’s.
Antony continues to increase his power by using Julius’ dead body against Brutus and Cassius; he says Julius killed himself (III i 276). He claims that Julius did not want to die for nothing, so he had no other option than to kill himself. This displays how Julius didn’t need Brutus or Cassius because Julius could handle things on his own.
Not only does Antony call Julius a coward, but he claims that Julius wanted him at his side when Julius committed suicide: “…he calls me/ To stay him up” (III i 279-280). Julius wanted Antony at his side when he died.
Antony shows that Julius’ death is not considered a loss to him because Julius did not want the conspirators to get in trouble for Julius’ suicide: “Mark, Mark, how all the consuls/ Look from him!” (III i 287-288). Julius did not want Brutus or Cassius to get into any trouble because of Julius committing suicide. This makes the audience of Julius Caesar feel sorry for Julius and it also causes them to be against Brutus and Cassius. By using Julius Caesar’s dead body against Brutus and Cassius, Antony gains power very quickly.
