Julius Caesar - Theme of Friendship
Uploaded by muscles_66 on Mar 26, 2001
Friendship is a wonderful part of life, but it can unfortunately be used to deceive, for it is easy to manipulate with it, but only true friendship cannot be defeated, even after death. This element could well likely be the very thing that had sealed the fate of Julius Caesar, and Brutus, Cassius, and all the other conspirators knew that they could use this to their advantage, and to Caesar’s disadvantage. Friendship, was what the conspirators used as a cover to blind Caesar from the truth, just as a hunter uses camouflage to keep the animals from seeing what he is up to. The conspirators also used camouflage, but they used flattery along with manipulation as a way to soothe any feelings of doubt that Caesar may have had about their sincerity. These essentials would gain trust, which is the key to all friendships.
This trust would be lost and transform into betrayal, with the murder of Caesar. Even though Caesar was plotted against and murdered by Brutus and Cassius, friendship still proved a strong theme because it would falsify the conspirators intents. Caesar was susceptible to the power of friendship just as any normal person would be and his friendship for the conspirators unfortunately blinded him until Brutus’s final blow, by which time it was too late for him. An example of how the conspirators used their friendship with Caesar against him was when Decius, who is one of the conspirators, came to the house of Caesar on the Ides of March. The first thing that Decius says when he walks into Caesar's house is "Caesar, all hail! Good morrow, worthy Caesar."(2.2. 58-59) Decius also referred to Caesar as "most mighty". This only made Caesar become more comfortable with Decius, and trust him all the more.
The conspirators had already decided how and when they would kill Caesar, and Brutus, Cassius, along with Decius, knew they had to lure Caesar close. They had an advantage at this because they knew that all they would have to do was prove to Caesar that they had a good, solid friendship, and this would help their situation and leave Caesar completely sightless to the fact that his situation had grown dire. So they decided to use their friendship with Caesar in a horribly deceptive manner, effectively, in order to kill him. Decius managed to start this off well by using flattery and...