Antony and Cleopatra

Isocrates Isocrates was born five years shy of the beginning of the Peloponnesian War (431 B. C.) in Athens to wealthy parents. When Isocrates was fourteen, the democracy voted on the death of all the male citizens of Thracian, a city in Scione. Since that incident, Isocrates sought to unite Greece and for it to be in peace. This remained his political philosophy through the years. After the Peloponnesian War, Isocrates lost all his inherited wealth and had to make a living on his own. He…

The irony helps Marlowe’s objectivity. Through his presentation of a military hero who defeats all enemies, yet who is himself subject to ultimate defeat, death, because of his mortality, through his presentation of two challenges to natural order and his declaration of their futility, through his presentation of an enemy that Tamburlaine conquers but whose character is questionable as a worthy opponent, and through his presentation of opposing points of view regarding names applied to…

repetition is used to stress the significance of certain phrases. When referring to Brutus, Antony repeats the phrase, “honorable man” four separate times. This indirectly implies that in Antony’s eyes, Brutus is a sinner, and therefore, he is not honorable. Additionally, by hearing this phrase multiple times, the audience begins to question whether or not Brutus is an honorable man. Another word Antony constantly…

Civility will encourage your opponents to keep listening to you. The play Twelve Angry Men shows that civility is important. By the end of the play, the jurors were willing to listen to the people who were the most rational. Juror 8 calmly took the others' ideas into account, which swayed the jury to favor not guilty. At first, the jury thinks the boy is guilty, but Juror 8 used relaxed tactics to change their minds. One of the last jurors to change his mind was Juror 3. In the beginning, he…

Violence has always played a big role with the ancient Romans. They amassed one of the biggest militaries ever seen in ancient times. However, they did not use this grand military to conquer other nations, they did this to more easily defend Rome. They felt that if they could decimate surrounding forces, the more secure their standing was. By doing so, they were able to spread Roman culture across the Mediterranean. Later in the Roman times, crucifixion became a popular way to publicly execute…

“There is tears for his love; joy for his fortune; honour for his valour; and death for his ambition.” In the Tragedy of Julius Caesar, there is a conspiracy planning to kill Caesar because they believe that he is becoming “too ambitious”. Caesar’s wife, Calpurnia, who had nightmares about Caesar being killed if he were to go to the Senate, but trickery was used to talk him into going even though it was beyond Calpurnia’s wishes. Caesar is told to “Beware the Ides of March” by the Soothsayer,…

From Alexander to Caesar, there have been many famous generals that have changed the way we look at military strategy. Each great military leader along the way has continued to transform the role of a general and new generals are continually adapting their strategies to optimize what has been done before. Caesar documented his campaign through Gaul during the Gallic War and his accounts show us that he has studied the generals that preceded him. His strategies incorporated those of Alexander,…

Any person or thing you are loyal to will govern your future decisions. In the book The Scarlet Pimpernel, a character named Marguerite struggles with the decision of who or what to give her loyalty to. She has the decision to give her loyalty to either her brother Armand, her husband Percy, the enigmatic hero scarlet pimpernel, or her home country France which is ravaged with injustice. In the beginning of the book a man named Jellyband is shown as a loyal innkeeper who values his customers,…

Truthfully power and powerlessness both corrupt, but in my eyes it’s the desire for power that corrupts more, as it is what corrupts the powerless in the beginning. We have a plethora of examples where those in power become dishonest, greedy, and overpowered by the same power they cling to. While it’s a pessimistic viewpoint, I believe given enough time, anyone in power would digress to a corrupt form. As Lord Acton put it, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely”, meaning…

Brutus is one of the main protagonists in Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar. He plays a significant role in the play and has major speaking parts. Common knowledge gained throughout the play is that Brutus is honorable and trustworthy. He shows that he won’t stoop down to levels of unfair men. The end of play begs the question: “Is Brutus noble?”. The play shows Brutus as being a noble man, and he always tries to stay true to his title. I think that he is still noble in the end. When talking…