Berenice Vargas

Mrs. Beal
English10/Period 3
March 4, 2016
The Ambitious Leader
Julius Caesar had leadership qualities but also had qualities like a dictator. Caesar was
loved by so many and at the same time hated from others. There was a group of conspirators that
wanted his power gone for the good of Rome. Julius Caesar was not fit to rule Rome. He was
inflexible to changes, had too much power, and was looking out for his own interest and not of
Romes.
Caesars poor quality of an inflexible individual makes him unfit to rule Rome. If I
could pray to move, prayers would move me;/ But I am constant as the Northern Star,/ Of whose
true fixed and resting quality/ There is no fellow in the firmament.(III,i) Caesar compares
himself to the Northern Star to show he does not change his mind after he has made a decision.
He also say that no one is equal to him but below him. But tis a common proof,/ That lowliness
is young ambitions ladder, /Where to the climber upward turns his face; /But when he once
attain the upmost round. /He then unto the ladder turns his face,(II,i) Brutus compares Caesar to
a climber on the ladder that turns his back once he reaches the top. Brutus is arguing that once
Caesar achieves the crown, he will turn his back on Rome. This is a poor quality in a leader
because it indicates that Caesar might make choices that are not the best for Rome.
The power and authority given to Julius Caesar was all going to his head. Why, man, he
doth bestride the narrow world/Like a Colossus, and we petty men/ Walk under his huge legs and
peep about/ To find ourselves dishonorable graves.(I,i) Cassius comperes Caesar to a gigantic

statue of Apollo a God and says that they act like men that are not free. Cassius is saying that
Caesar is treated like a God and has not even been crowned. This demonstrates how much power
Caesar has and how he has influenced the citizens of Rome. And, since the quarrel /Will bear no
colour for the thing he is, /Fashion it thus; that what he is augumented, /Would run to these and
these extremities.(II,i) Brutus says he does not fear who Caesar is right now but what he will
become once he is given so much authority and becomes a tyranny. Brutus fears who Caesar will
be as a ruler and how he will act when given this power.
Caesar was an ambitious leader and only looking for himself and not the good of Rome.
Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved /Rome more. Had you rather Caesar were living
and /die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live /all free men?(III,ii) Brutus tells the
commoners he was looking out for the best of Rome when he killed Caesar and that if Caesar
was not killed, they would have suffered. Caesars death brings freedom to the citizens and if he
were alive the commoners would have become slaves. You are not wood, you are not stones,
but men: /And, being me, bearing the will of Caesar, /It will inflame you, it will make you
mad: /Tis good you know not that you are his heirs: /For, if you should,O, what would come of
it:(III,ii) Antony tells the citizens of Rome that if someone had told them that Caesar had a gift
they would be furious. Antony is using Caesars death to his advantage just like an act Caesar
would do as a close friend to Antony.
Caesar was a loyal friend, strong, and had leadership skills all qualities needed in a ruler.
He was also ambitious, powerful, and stubborn all bad qualities for a ruler, that seemed to
overpower his positive skills. Brutus, Cassius, and the conspirators were acting in the best
interest of Rome by murdering Caesar. For Rome to be a stable empire it was doom for Caesars
greatness and ambition to come to an end. The citizens loved him and after his death they still

loved him and replaced him with Antony and two other leaders as their new ruler. Caesar was
like a God to the commoners they listen to what he had to say. This was all too much power for
one person to take in and control.