Julius Caesar Essay---Ambition
...e of Caesar, they are vanished”. Caesar shows similar characteristics later on in the play, Danger knows full well That Caesar is more dangerous than he. We are two lions littered in one day, And I the elder and more terrible, And Caesar shall go forth. [Act II, ii, pg 35, lines 46-50] During this speech Caesar’s excessive ambition is clearly shown when he states that he is “more terrible” than “Danger”. Moreover, Caesar’s arrogance blinds him from the gods’ signs and his wife’s pleas. Therefore, he consequently decides to go to the Senate where he is eventually murdered, “And Caesar shall go forth.” Caesar’s ambition grows and becomes greater; which is clearly manifested in his speech with the senators before his death: I could be well moved, if I were as you; 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. [Act III, I, pg 44, lines 63-66] In this speech Caesar characterizes himself as being like a god when he declares, “But I am constant as the Northern Star”. This speech indicates great defiance of the gods and shows how powerful Caesar believes he truly is. However, Caesar’s excessive ambition and selfishness is best shown in one of his final statements, “Hence! Wilt thou lift up Olympus?” [Act III, I, pg 45, line 80], and this statement compels the conspirators to strike. These words show how arrogant Caesar has become, because he again compares himself to a god and says he is unmoved by the senator's words; their requests for him to repeal the banishment of Publius Cimber. To emphasize this, he challenges the senators to do an impossible act- “Wilt thou lift up Olympus?” Caesar’s ambition caused him to anger both the gods and the senators, but more importantly it blinds him from everything except his goal to become emperor; which consequently led to his murder. Caius Cassius is another character in the play that also shows a great deal of ambition. Cassius’s ambition was fuelled by his jealousy of Caesar, for Cassius saw himself as not just Caesar’s equal, but superior to him. Cassius’s aspiration is revealed early on in the play in his speech with Brutus when he says, “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars/ But in ourselves that we are underlings.” [Act I, ii, pg 9, lines 146-147]. This speech divulges Cassius’s defiance of the gods; he ignores their influence in Caesar’s growth in power. He says that they are “underlings” because they have allowed Caesar to achieve the power and status he has in society. Cassius’s ambition is evinced later on in the play in a speech he has with Casca: Submitting me unto the perilous night, And thus unbraced, Casca, as you see, Have bared my bosom to the thunderstone; And when the cross blue lightning seemed to open The breast of heaven, I di...