How does Shakespeare present Cassius or Brutus’s intentions?

Shakespeare presents the intentions of Brutus through his conversation with Cassius. Although they both have similar intentions overall, both characters believe Caesar should die. The scence is about killing Caesar, how to kill him and whether anyone should die with him. Contradictingly, Shakespeare’s language also how the present Brutus changes their intentions.

Brutus seems to travel down the road of killing Caesar with ease, or as he says let us kill him bodly, but not wrathfully. This is one of the quotes where Brutus’s intentions are sundered from Cassius’s because he says they shall kill Caesar bodly. The term boldy implies that it will happen with pride and high amounts of respect and courage. On the other hand, the opposing term wrathfully implies the action will occur in a bloodthirsty manor, as Cassius is shown. As comparative adverbs it helps with the clear understand of Brutus’s intentions. The other two quotes:

Let us be sacrificers, but not butchers

We shall be called purgers, not murderers

Similarly, Shakespeare uses the comparative words of sacrificers to butchers, I depict that Brutus wants to give Caesar up to the Gods (another quote; let’s carve him into a dish fit for Gods) for the greater good, in this case Rome. Opposing it is butchers, translating to attacking and cutting Caesar up viciously. Lastly, the term purgers connotes to get rid of something/someone whom are impure, instead of murderers, to kill in cold blood.


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One response to “How does Shakespeare present Cassius or Brutus’s intentions?”

  1. jnorth Avatar
    jnorth

    Moniem,

    This level of analysis and sophistication of phrasing is exactly what we’re after (excepting the odd typo and mis-use of words).

    This is another example of how your strengths as a literary scholar are always developing.

    Target:
    Include some contextual knowledge and explore how this might affect your understanding of the scene – this could be historical knowledge, or exploration of genre conventions and how this has made an impact on the audience.

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