Essay 19

Ben’jamin
Mr. H Salsich
English 9
19/4/11

The Potent:
An Essay on Strong Characters in Julius Caesar

In the world of reality, there are many different weaknesses and strengths someone can possess. Some people have more of these curses, both vigor and flaws, than others, for example, “[Mark Twain] has every human strength! and weakness.” (Albert Bigelow Paine, 89) However, most of us have our fair shares of strengths and weaknesses. William Shakespeare has a definite talent at making his fictional characters seem as if they were figures of reality by giving them very real strengths and weaknesses.

Shakespeare’s characters, fake and surreal, are quite real due to him giving them strengths as well as weaknesses. Brutus has a definite strength with wisdom, a rare characteristics among the obdurate Romans. Brutus’ endurance and patience is, in fact, what keeps the conspirators from being discovered from higher powers. He has also proved valuable in selecting trustworthy people to help in the assassination effort. However, not all Romans can be blessed with wisdom; for instance, Cassius mistakes what is his bravery and strength with his ego and stubbornness. He believes that he is one who has battled the gods and won when all he actually did was run through the storm. He rants on about how he saw the gods in this storm, but truly, he seemed more foolish than brave. However, I do not mean that the Romans were a bumbling crowd of idiotic vagabonds. Caesar is the bravest among the characters in Julius Caesar. He took absolute control of Rome in a trying time. He knew that there would be people would not like him for killing the former emperor, but he took power anyway, chancing the consequences. What really makes Julius Caesar such a great play, are the eccentricity of all of Shakespeare’s characters.

It’s the characters that make Shakespeare’s play. Caesar’s bold move to take control of the empire shows great courage by the Roman. Cassius has mistaken bravery with foolishness that has been hidden under his ego, and Brutus’ strength has really saved the conspirators from being discovered. We all have different strengths and weaknesses, for this is part of what makes us human.



Self Assessment

1. What is one strength in this essay?
I worked hard on my fast words and I think my vocabulary makes the essay
2. What is one weakness you see in this essay?
I don’t really see any weakness in this essay, I love the whole thing
3. What is one issue that you are continuing to work on?
I’m trying really hard to get the special effects in my writing, but I think I did that very well in this essay
4. A