How Does Pride Lead To Julius Caesar's Downfall

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Pride, one of the seven deadly sins, is said to be that which opens a gateway for other sin to enter. In Shakespeare's play, "The Tragedy of Julius Caesar", pride or hubris is the driving force behind all of Caesar's actions. Shakespeare proves the saying, "Pride goes before a fall", to be true. Caesar's hubris ultimately led to his downfall by causing him to disregard supernatural warnings, dismiss Calpurnia's dreams, and by making him hold himself above all others in Rome. Throughout the story, Caesar is warned twice about the Ides of the March from the soothsayer at the beginning of the play and later before he goes to the Senate House. In Act I, a soothsayer approaches Caesar during the race at the festival of Lupercal. Caesar replies by saying, “Who is it in …show more content…
She is alarmed by it and insists that Caesar should not step out of the house. Caesar claims that bad omens apply to everyone, not just him specifically. His overconfidence in this scene later turns to bring him down. The conspirators knew Caesar’s tragic flaw of falling for all flattery and cleverly used it to trap Caesar. Due to Caesar’s hubris inflated by Decius, he says to his wife “How foolish do your fears seem now, Calpurnia! I am ashamed I did yield to them. Give me my robe, for I will go. And look where Publius is come to fetch me.”(2.2.105-108) Caesar could not overcome his pride and he trusted someone who was conspiring against him more than his own wife. After all of Decius’ praises, he simply dismisses Calpurnia’s warning. Shakespeare employs dramatic irony in this scene to show how Caesar thinks he is sharing a drink with his good friends when actually, they are conspiring to assassinate him. Decius and the other conspirators knew that approaching Caesar with blandishment was the only way to get him to listen to them over

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