 Let's discuss the character of Cassius in the play Julius Caesar. Now Cassius is an intriguing character He is Brutus's brother-in-law and actually initially Brutus was very close to Caesar initially He was somewhat reluctant to engage in the conspiracy against Julius Caesar However, it's Cassius that plays a really important role in basically convincing Brutus to join this Conspiracy against Caesar and of course they are the men who basically lead in the killing of Julius Caesar at the Senate Now he takes part in this conspiracy But of course even after once, you know Mark Antony wishes to speak at Caesar's death And of course even don't forget Cassius did want both Caesar and Mark Antony to be assassinated However, Brutus did not want that to happen Now when Mark Antony wished to speak first at Caesar's funeral, we can see that Cassius is actually a very acute He has a very acute understanding of human nature He already sensed that Mark Antony might change things and tip the balance against them Which he does with his very rousing speech and of course him and Brutus are forced to flee And they organize this rebel army in northern Greece But ultimately after he mistakenly thinks that Brutus has been killed He also kills himself by committing suicide rather than be captured by Mark Antony and Octavius's army Now when you're writing about Julius Caesar and especially if you have to write about the character of Cassius I have selected all the key quotations to bear in mind and to memorize either for your course or for exams When discussing his character. So let's go through them and the word love analysis to do Now the first quotation and of course this quotation illustrates how Cassius really strongly and firmly believes that Julius Caesar has become Far too imperious far too ambitious And he's basically a shadow of his former self as a leader is when he states That Julius Caesar is Groaning underneath his age as yoke. Remember a yoke is basically the thing that's put on the necks of cattle or animals of labor so beasts of labor in Farms so that's usually that wooden thing that's put on the neck. So any one that's laboring under a yoke They're laboring under a burden now what he's saying here and of course bear in mind in terms of word love analysis This is a metaphor. He's basically saying that Julius Caesar. He is no longer fit to be a leader He is groaning under the weight of his old age under how the older he's getting the more and more removed He is from the relevant worries and issues in roman society and he really just needs to be kicked out The second quotation to bear in mind with Cassius's character is when of course again We can see here. He's really resentful, especially of how imperious he sees Julius Caesar as being how arrogant he believes Julius he does become he states this man is now become a god and Cassius is a wretched creature And must bend his body if Caesar carelessly, but not on him Now here what he's basically saying is Caesar, you know, is expecting everybody just basically to sock up to him He you know, he only can only just needs to look at people and everybody should bow down to him So he's really really angry at what he perceives as Caesar's arrogant and imperious nature But also we can sense that Cassius himself has ambitions for his own power and his increase in power And he needs Julius Caesar to get out of the way for that to be fulfilled Now the word love analysis you want to do here is firstly the two metaphors that Caesar has become a god And of course also the metaphor of Cassius referring to himself as just a simple normal creature So in Caesar's eyes, you know, he feels that Caesar looks on him just as you know a mere mortal a creature Also, you want to focus on the alliteration of bend and body Okay, so the alliteration of the words of the letters be and remember that be is the plosive sound And what this is showing is Cassius is really angry at how he sees Julius Caesar's being so arrogant The third quotation to bear in mind with Cassius's character is when he states A man no mightier than thy soft ellipsis yet prodigous Rome So here he speaks to the other senators that speak to other people in Rome and he's basically saying, you know Julius Caesar is no stronger than all of us, but yet he's really he's become too big for his boots He's become way too arrogant. He thinks he's just way too amazing Okay, that's basically what he's saying here and the word love analysis that you can do when you're Analyzing this quote especially the alliteration of em in man and mightier And the essence of oh in prodigous Rome and prodigous means he's become way too You know, his head has become too inflated with you know delusions of his own grandeur The other quotation when it comes to Cassius's character is when of course, uh, he sees Killing Julius Caesar as him doing a duty to Rome and he even tells Brutus and the other men that have conspired You know, we've actually done a duty to our country and we're going to be remembered in history for all the good things We've done and of course this really massive huge important act in Establishing democracy because Julius Caesar was going to probably make Rome a dictatorship And he states so often shall the knot of us be called the men that gave the country liberty Okay, so here he's saying, you know, we're going to be remembered and of course here We can also sense his ambition. He wants to be remembered. He wants to be seen as a great leader and as great ruler Now the word level notice you want to do here, especially the siblings of s and so and shall and also the abstract noun Liberty this idea of him fighting for ideals However, it's interesting that Cassius, even if he fights with similar ideals to Brutus who believes in the importance of democracy We sense that there's a stronger element of ambition within Cassius's ideas as opposed to Brutus who generally believes In protecting democracy for the greater good of his country Cassius we get the sense that he also wants to be remembered In history and Roman history as the man that you know participated in the killing of Julius Caesar So there's also an element of ambition on his side and he's accusing Caesar of the very same things that he harbors within his heart The other key quotation to bear in mind with Cassius's character is when he and Brutus are arguing So this is after the flood and they've Created a rebel army and they're arguing over strategy and things and Cassius gets really really angry at Brutus He states there's my dagger ellipsis strike as thou dist at Caesar Okay, so here he's speaking one level analysis wise and this is a structure technique. You can talk about He's using the imperative sentence strike and he's basically saying okay Brutus If you don't believe me if you don't you know want to follow what I'm suggesting You know, here's my chest. Here's my bed chest and here's my dagger stab me. You might as well kill me Okay, I'm fed up of this and of course here. We can see that he's very very theatrical There's obviously a lot of tension at times between him and Brutus and but usually he ultimately follows what Brutus suggests The other quotation to bear in mind is now when he fills up the end is nigh So the brazes rebel army, but he's sensing that the end is near and he states Ravens crows and kites flirt fly over our heads and downward look on us as we were sickly prey Now here he uses or rather shakes he uses the rule of three to describe creatures such as ravens crows and kites and of course these birds tend to be ominous birds they tend to symbolize bad omens bad luck And what he's basically saying is that he's sensing that they are going to lose and that his end is near He's going to die and what they were hoping for Rome and what they were hoping in terms of establishing their leadership and Leading Rome in the right direction both Brutus and Cassius. That's not going to happen Also, the other key word love analysis to do is of course the simile as we were sickly prey So he's basically saying that these you know these ominous birds are looking at Brutus Cassius and his army As basically prey which is going to be destroyed very soon The final quotation when it comes to Cassius's character is when he eventually decides to commit suicide He's mistakenly believed that Brutus Titianus have basically died And so he doesn't want to be a prisoner and imprisoned by Mark Anthony and Octavius So he decides to commit suicide and he states where I did begin there are shall end my life has run his compass Okay Now here of course this is him deciding that his life has run its course He is now going to commit suicide the word love analysis you want to do here It's firstly the oxymoron the opposite words of begin and end and of course the other word love analysis You want to do is the metaphor compass this idea that his life has now run its course So that's it when it comes to the key quotations to bear in mind when writing about or discussing the character of Cassius