The Role of Manipulation in Political Gain - Caesar

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The Role of Manipulation in Political Gain In the play, Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, Caesar is presented to be a hubristic ruler who is blinded by pride, which leads to his eventual death. Caesar’s hubristic qualities are exemplified when he simply ignores the omens from the Soothsayer and other loved ones who try to warn him of his ‘friends’ – the conspirators - and the ides of March. Caesar’s assassination is accomplished by a series of manipulations and self-conflictions that lead to the formation of conspirators consisting of Cassius and Brutus. When Caesar is killed, Antony convinces the conspirators that he believes in what they did and that eliminating Caesar was the best for the people and Rome. Antony is further granted permission to speak at Caesar’s funeral, where he then reveals his true intentions, displayed in the structure of his speech to the people, which results into, namely, chaos. Manipulation is revealed in a series of events in which Cassius, Brutus, and Antony structure, whether intentionally or unintentionally, a constructed reality to influence another for their own political gain. Cassius employs Brutus into joining the conspiracy against Caesar in which he consciously decides to manipulate Brutus using persuasive tactics, consisting of past personal experiences with Caesar and forms of flattery and empowerment. Much like Caesar, Cassius is driven by power and will use any course of action in order to achieve his goal. Unlike Caesar, Cassius is narrow minded and only thinks of the path ahead of him taking no consideration on the consequences. Cassius uses his persona to recruit Brutus on his team of conspirators through tactics of flattery and guilt. Through flattery, Cassius says to Brutus, “Brutus, and Caesar: what should be in that Caesar? Why should that name be sounded more than yours? Write them together, yours is as

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