Cassius



Cassius is described as "lean" and "hungry" by Caesar one page 785. This means that Cassius doesn't have much power unlike Caesar. Cassius and Brutus often disagree, but the conspirators listened to Brutus' opinions, not the opinions of Cassius. This shows that Brutus has more power than Cassius within the group. Also he is thought of as more important than Cassius. An example of this is on page 804 when Brutus says he doesn't think they should kill Antony. Cassius dissagrees and says they should kill him because he is so attached to Caesar. After they state their opinions, Trebonius agrees with Brutus and says "let him not die." Cassius thinks that Caesar isn't particularly strong but that Romans are weak. An example would be in Act 1 Scene 2 on page 792 lines 80 -84. Cassius states "...Romans now Have thews like their ancestors;... [but] Our yoke and sufferance show us womanish." He's stating that the people are still built the way Romans used to be built, but now they accept things they don't like and are weaker in the face of injustice to the point where they become timid like '"women". Cassius and Brutus have been known to disagree, and we see this once again on page 828. Brutus has given Antony permission to speak at Caesars funeral and Cassius thinks it's a bad idea, but Brutus gets his way. After Antony gives his speach and rouses the people to revolt we see that maybe Brutus has been wrong all along in deciding not to kill Antony and then letting him speak at the funeral. On page 827 Cassius promises Antony a high spot of power in the Senate(lines 177-178) but on page 828 Cassius pulls Brutus aside to tell him not to allow Antony to speak at Caesars funeral, and before that Cassius tells Brutus that he fears Antony. This leads me to believe that Cassius wouldn't have really let Antony take a spot of high power in the Senate.
 * ** Period 3 **

Throughout the play, we have seen multiple times how Cassius makes snap decisions. He doesn't necessarily think things through. This particular trait makes him a foil to Brutus who always thinks before he acts. An example of this is on page 851, lines 99-106, Cassius tells Brutus very unexpectantly that he is going to kill himself. Without giving much thought to it, Cassius is ready to take away his life. Cassius actually does this multiple times throughout the play showing his spontaneous actions.

Cassius is also a foil in the fact that he is much more realisitc and knows more about politics as compared to Brutus who is almost naive when it comes to people and politics. For example Brutus is completly willing to trust Anthony even though he loved Ceasar. Cassius on the other hand understood that Anthony would never forgive them for killing Ceasar showing Cassius understood Anthony much better than Brutus and is much more realistic than Brutus.

Another way he is a foil to Brutus is in their morals. Brutus is all about honor and justice while Cassius believes the end justifies the means. For example Brutus woulod never take a bribe while Cassius is has no problems with forging letters to influence Brutus to become a killer and a part of an organization that will probabbly get him killed.

Cassius has changed his mind throughout the play. In the beginning of the play, he holds his bare chest to the thunder showing he is not superstitious. However, in lines 75-88 in Act IV scene 1, he explains that he feels a bad omen because eagles fell and the soldiers are now seeing ravens and crows (a sign of bad luck). Cassius also proves to be weak in scene 3 of Act IV as he says "O, coward that I am" (line 34) and he makes Pindarus kill him in lines 40-46 because he is to afraid to kill himself. Cassius is also persuasive as in Act 1 scene 2 he talks with Brutus and then uses logical appeal his speech to persuade Brutus to help the conspirators.

Although rash Cassius can sometimes be clever. At the beginning of the play he seems to be much more clever than he is portrayed at the beginning of the play. For example he comes up with the idea of sending fake letters to Brutus which is completly unscrupulous but also clever he also has the wit to perssuade Brutus into joining them. This is in contrast to the rest of the play where Cassius is shown to be rash and foolish whith his constant proclamations of his own death such as in Act 5 scene 3 where he says "There is my dagger, and here my naked breast... I will give my heart. Strike..."

Cassius' constant proclamations of killing himself may also indicate he is overly dramatic. He is also dramatic in his nature when he walks about the streets baring his chest to the thunder. Who would normally see such odd omens and then stride around with his coat open? Surely Cassius was only being dramatic when he did that.His dramatics also portray him to be very emotional. For example in Act 4 Scene 3 he gets really worked up in his fight with Brutus and when he hears that Portia died he seems to be in stupor.

Cassius has also shown his clever side during Act 5 Scene 1 lines 75-77. He says "Be thou my witness that against my will... am I compelled to set upon one battle all our liberties," This quote shows that Cassius is smart enough not to want to risk everything in one battle they are not sure if they can win. He is also clever in the planning when he points out that they should let the other army tire themselves out marching towards them.

In Act five we also learn that Cassius's eyes are going weak because he says he's having trouble seeing Titinius from where he is at the top of the mountain. When Pindarus sees Titinius "killed" Cassius asks Pindarus to stab him in scene3. It's ironic because that day is Cassius's birthday.

On page 866, Act 5 Scene 1 lines 73-79 Cassius takes Messala's hand and uses him as a witness to tell that he does not agree with Brutus's plan to put everything they have into this one fight. On the next page in line 115-121 Brutus and Cassius say good bye. This foreshadows their demise and gives us a feeling early on that neither will speak to the other again.

In the last Act of this play Cassius is very dramatic as he and Brutus get in an arguement. when Brutus blames his actions on the death of Portia, Cassius won't stop greiving his sister. He continues so vehemently that Brutus gets annoyed and tells him to stop. || Cassius is a very impulsive and not a superstitious man. For example, when he was out in an ominous storm, he concluded that the weather was not an omen. He had waited outside in the midst of the lightning and was not struck by the bolts, therefore it was not a bad omen (line 50, pg 790). His impulsive behavior made itself present later that scene, when he said he would kill himself if Caesar became the leader (line 90). Despite the impulsiveness, Cassius remains a very dangerous conspirator towards Caesar.
 * ** Period 4/5 **

Cassius is sneaky and persuasive in Act 1 scene 3 line 142-148 he tells Cinna to pretend to write notes from the people showing Brutus how much of a better leader he would be. Cassius then successfully persuades Brutus to join the conspiracy

Cassius does not trust a man easily. He has a hard time trusting Mark Antony, and he doesnt want Antony to speak at the funeral (pg 828). Earlier, on page 803, he stated that he wanted to kill Antony along with Caesar. He believed that Antony would become a "shrewd contriver [and with] his means, he [would] stretch so far as to annoy [them]." Another example of his lack of trust is on page 802, while taking a pact to the conspiracy, he wanted each member to swear an oath of secrecy. This leads the reader to believe that Cassius does not have a lot of trust in his peers.

The above disagreements also show how Brutus was naive and how Cassius was right in not trusting Mark Antony. Additionally Cassius does not want to let Antony speak but Brutus insists it is okay, Cassius was right because Antony turns the Roman public that Cassius and Brutus are enemies of Rome.

Cassius' ideas are often shut down by Brutus' opinion. For example on pg 802, he declares that he wants the conspiracy group to take an oath, but Brutus interrupts him and states that the mens words should be enough. Later that page (line140), Cassius throws out the idea of allowing the wise Cicero to join the conspiracy. But once again, Brutus dissaproves of the idea and opts not to let Cicero know. A couple moments later, Cassius relays his idea of killing Antony a long with Caesar, but Brutus immediately disowns the idea. He states that the murder of Antony would make it look as if the murder of Caesar was "too bloody" and it would come of the wrong way in the minds of the Roman people.Later also in Act 4 scene 3, Brutus again puts down Cassius' idea to wait for Antony and his armies to seek them. His ideas that are consistently put down, leads the reader to believe that there is possible animosity building up.

Cassius has made himself look weak by being rash and emotional. When he hears the news of Portia passing on in Act 4 scene 3 he breaks down.

Cassius is an overly emotional character. For example, when Portia dies, he can not get over it. When Brutus begins to talk about a plan of action, Cassius repeats, "Portia art thou gone?" (pg 853) as if he was in disbelief. He continues his emotions when he states that his "nature can not bear [the death of Portia] (ln 193)." Towards the end of the play his emotions take the best of him and end up killing him. After sending his friend to check if there was either friend or foe in the camp, he was told that the men were enemy and were surrounding his friend. He could not bear to see his friend killed under his nose so he decided to kill himself irrationally (96). Cassius emoitions often led him to make rash decisions. Cassius also repeatedly threatens to kill himself, for example he says if there plan to kill Caesar fails he will, he walks around with his chest bared begging the gods to strike him if his ideas are not correct, and in act 5 he asks Brutus if he is going to kill himself if Antony gets the best of them. His most dramatic moment is when he kills himself.

Cassius shows his temperment later in the play. He begins to get in more fights with Brutus. On page 849, he was described as having a "rash choler." Later, Brutus tells him that he "shall digest the venom of [his] spleen." Which means he has a great temper, and he shall eventually suffer the consequences from it. Shakespeare uses a similie in describing Cassius, "you carry anger as the flint bears fire." Cassius has been emotional the whole play, and his anger may have caused him to make some rash desicions later in the play.

Cassius' death is the most ironic part of the play. It is a form of situational Irony. He mistakenly believes his friend has been killed and that Antony's army is very close to finishing his camp. However he was given false information and the army in his camp did not kill his friend they were Brutus' soldiers. ||
 * Cassius is "A hot friend cooling", (pg.847, line 19) says Brutus. He is very angry but is learning to calm down. ||
 * Cassius can not get over the fact that Portia has died; because of this, he has said "Come down; behold no more. O, coward that I am, to live so long, To see my best iend ta'en before my face!" (pg. 869. lines 33-35). Cassius than had Pindarus stab himself for him. Cassius is now dead.

Cassius is "A hot friend cooling", (pg.847, line 19) says Brutus. He is very angry but is learning to calm down.

To convince Brutus to belong with the conspiracy, Cassius shares opinions with Brutus bywriting letters in different writings, faking it from different Roman citicenz; convincing him to join the conspiracy. These letters shared that the "Roman citizens" loved Brutus very much and supported his ideas.

Cassius gets very mad that Brutus is now trying to take over because he thinks everyone likes him. "And let us swear our resolution", Cassius said; but Brutus disagrees, "No, not an oath." (pg. 802. lines113-114).

Cassius immedeatly thinks Popillius knows about there skam, so if they do know, Cassius will kill himslef. He is not a very good planner on how to come up with a resolution. He thinks on his feet and never thinks anything through. Cassius will do what he thinks and not see the outcomes of different sides or ways to do something. ||