Antony and Cleopatra

A Failure That Was Not Really a Failure In Acts 21 and 22 Paul almost gets himself killed, twice. Paul’s speech, however, does not warrant this severe hostile response from his audience. This extreme reaction can be explained by the setting of Acts 21. After seven days of purification, Paul, a follower of Christ Jesus, goes to Jerusalem and presents offerings at the temple. The Asian Jews accuse him of bringing Greeks into the Temple, defiling that holy place. The people seize Paul and seek to…

brought fear and chaos. Many Romans anxiously demanded reasons for Caesars death from two people, Brutus, who planned and carried out the assassination of Caesar and a close friend of Caesar, and Mark Antony, who was a high ranking official and also a close friend of Caesar. Both Brutus and Mark Antony had different views on the death of Julius Caesar and they hoped their orations would persuade the audience of Rome to agree with their point of view. But who will you ultimately agree with?…

However, Antony intelligently and subtly leads them back over to supporting Caesar. After degrading Brutus’ ethos, he reminds the crowd of their love for Caesar, “You all did love him once, not without case; / What cause withholds you then to mourn for him?” This…

Antony to Rule the Republic In William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, leadership and the implications surrounding it are recurring themes. Shakespeare’s insights into the human condition create the political setting and mood of the play, which centers on a group of men in various leadership positions. This focus on realistic human condition depicts flawed characters. Their flaws then are unavoidable due to the flawed nature of the world. With all these faults in character, the…

In Act 4 Scenes 2 and 3 there is a lot going on involving Brutus, Cassius, Antony, and Octavius. Brutus and Cassius are joining allies and Octavius and Antony are joining allies. There is some confusion going on in these scenes, that have you wondering what is going to happen next. Two of the characters are arguing and not getting along well. Some of the characters are trying to join forces with each other but aren’t getting along with one another. The fates of each one of them are all…

Flavious and Marullus allow the reader to get an idea of Julius Caesar. Act I, scene II shows both Cassius and Brutus are not at peace with the idea of Julius Caesar as king, and Julius Caesar tells Marcus Antonius, Mark Antony, “He loves no plays, / As thou dost, Antony; he hears no music. / Seldom he smiles, and smiles in such a sort / As if he mocked himself, and scorned his spirit / That could be moved to smile at anything,” (I.ii.204–208). Julius Caesar could have been suspicious…

satisfied. That is until Mark Antony accuses them of being traitors and turns the people against them. The group flees and rallies their armies to standoff against Antony while Octavius, Caesar’s son, arrives to support Antony in this struggle. Fighting ensues and a series of miscommunications leads to the honorable suicides of Cassius and Titinus. Brutus arrives to see his friend’s dead and knows his doom is imminent and decides to take his life as well. Octavius and Antony appear and mention…

"With any good story, you need the adversary, the heroes and villains. You need a good mixture to make it work." - Phil Keogham William Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar, portrays the history of the assassination of Julius Caesar himself. Of course, you could simply just go and read about the assassination in a text book. There it would likely be more historically accurate, but why read a dull history text book when you could read (or watch) a compelling story with murder, love, conspiracy…

Niccolò Machiavelli lived more than eighteen hundred years after the lifetime of the ancient philosopher Plato. Because of the difference in the societies the two lived in, it can appear that their ideas are irreconcilably different and that Machiavelli totally discards Plato’s philosophy. Machiavelli even appears to mock Plato’s Republic when he writes that “many writers have imagined republics… [and] anyone who abandons what is done for what ought to be done achieves his downfall” (53).…

Dante and Farinata had opposing views regarding their political parties. Farinata supported those of the high society and Roman Emperor while Dante favored the lower class and the pope. Although Dante did support the pope this did not spare Pope Anastasius II from being accursed to the sixth circle for allowing the unorthodox practices of his time. As a Catholic, allowing this practice was unacceptable. Dante’s seventh circle of hell is reserved for those that have committed violent actions,…