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The Manipulation of Men in JC

Julius Ceasar by William Shakespeare, where the plot in short is the murder of Julius

Ceasar and the subsequent dissension that occurs in Rome. For the murder of Caesar to take

place first the conspirators must form and get the main face the people will take trust, however,

the man they search for in Brutus has to be made from the man they have in current. Then for the

subsequent dissension in Rome, the Romans must be swayed to go against the conspirators and

take arms in the battle to regain Rome. In JC it is the manipulation of Brutus and the Roman

people that allows for JC to take place.

Brutus must first be swayed to join the conspirators for the story of JC to happen. During

the great Lupercal race Cassius comes up to Brutus and first tests his constitution by asking

questions such as “Then must I think you would not have it so” (Shakespeare JC 1.2.89). As

Caesar is Brutus's best friend, there would be no reason for Brutus to have any form of ill will

against Caesar. However, Cassius finds that Brutus would not have Caesar become king. Brutus

then is “faced with questions of Caesar's nature and potential”(Greene 4). These questions allow

Cassius to further manipulate Brutus until Cassius reaches his goal, which is to have Brutus join

the conspirators to kill Caesar and he does so by having the “real strengths of [his] argument [as]

weaknesses in Brutus’s character”(Greene 17). Brutus still has an intact sense of what is moral

though and decided that it would be best to not kill anyone else but Caesar as he wanted the

conspirators to be “sacrificers, but not butchers”(Shakespeare JC 2.1.179). Cassius then

continues for a bit longer on weakening Brutus’s constitution and sense of morality to no avail

but is still satisfied with the fact that Brutus is fully on board with the conspirators on killing

Caesar. The manipulation Cassius conducts on Brutus is the only reason that Brutus goes on to
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kill Caesar and as Brutus has to kill Caesar for the story to happen the way it does, it is

imperative that Brutus ends up killing Caesar. The death of Caesar leads to the setup Antony gets

to be able to manipulate the people of Rome to his side rather than Brutus.

Then it is the manipulation of the Romans after Caesar’s death that allows for the story to

happen. Antony asks Brutus if he may take Caesar's body to the marketplace and give a speech

in honor of his friend at the funeral. To which Brutus replies “You shall, Mark Antony''

(Shakespeare JC 3.1.250). However, Brutus sets the conditions that Antony may speak but only

if after Brutus gets to explain to the people the cause of Caesar's death and that Antony speaks at

the same place as Brutus did as to have it be the same crowd. The conditions allow for Antony to

be able to manipulate the Romans the way he wants because Brutus leaves after he speaks and

does not stay so Antony can speak in a way to make the Romans go against the conspirators and

being able to speak after Brutus makes it so that the Romans who are described as fiscal will go

against the conspirators. All made possible due to the fact that “Antony is a master of language

who has the power to make words mean what he wills” ( Greene 20). As Antony is a great

speaker he finds no difficulty to manipulate the Romans into going against the conspirators.

From the Romans going against the conspirators, the story has the capability to continue forward

till the eventual death of Brutus and the rising of the new triumvirate of Rome.

It is through the manipulation of the Romans and Brutus that the story of JC occurs in the

way it does. In the story where Brutus does not join the conspirators, the assignation of Caesar

may not occur. When in a story where Anthony does not get to speak to the Romans the fight

against the conspirators to regain Rome would not have happened as the Romans would expect

and believe in the conspirators into being their leaders. In conclusion, the story of JC is not

possible without the manipulation of Brutus and the Romans.

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Works cited
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Greene, G. (n.d.). 'the power of speech / to stir men's blood ... - jstor.org. "The Power of Speech /

To Stir Men's Blood". Retrieved April 17, 2022, from

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/41917179.pdf?addFooter=false

Shakespeare, William. Julius Caesar. Edited by Roma Gill, 4th ed., Oxford University Press,

2001.