Julius Caesar Cause and Effect Essay
Kaya Lawrance Mrs. Ham Honors English 2 March 7th, 2012 Julius Caesar Cause and Effect Essay: A Leader’s Fateful Decision: Decisions. Decisions are what make the world go round. Without them, time would be frozen, never moving forward. They are the choices people make that determine our future. Some decisions are hard, some are easy. But, no matter what decisions are made, they will always end with the same result: an effect. So, it’s important that people go through the decision making process to eventually come to a final choice. Everyone has to make many decisions every day that affect our lives.
Julius Caesar also had to make many decisions that had substantial results. But, only one of his decisions stood out from all the others. Only one decision would determine his rue fate. This essay will talk about the causes and effects of Julius Caesar’s significant decision to be present at the Senate meeting or not. This determines his tragic fate in a matter of life or death. Caesar had to make the fateful decision of going to the Senate meeting or not. Although almost every sign warns him against going to the meeting, he makes the stubborn decision to go anyways, which eventually leads to his violent, timeless death.
This decision has many powerful effects on the people, the conspirators, and Rome. But, it also has many causes or events that led up to it. So, some questions come up: Do the events that led up to Caesar’s decision overweigh the effects of his choice? Or vice versa? The main question is: which choice is the better choice? Causes: There are many causes of Caesar’s final decision. Many of these causes, though, may be better identified as warnings or signs against his attendance at the Senate meeting. At the beginning of the book, Caesar appears at a race in which he is confronted by a Soothsayer telling him, “Beware of the Ides of March. (1. 2. 21) He thinks nothing of it and tells the Soothsayer to move on. Caesar remains blind of this warning while Brutus, Cassius, and the other conspirators plot his hematic murder. Dramatic Irony is when the readers know what something that the character does not know. Dramatic Irony applies to this because readers know that the conspirators are plotting to kill Caesar while he is not aware that they are. Another “warning sign” that he should not go to the Senate meeting occurs on March 15 (Ides of March) right before the meeting.
Calphurnia describes how she has had strange and frightful dreams of Caesar’s stature pouring our blood while happy citizens of Rome bathe their hands in it. Calphurnia sees this as an omen, and since she does not usually believe in omens, she is frightened by them now and believes this one to be a true omen. A servant also warns Caesar, “They would not have you to stir forth today. Plucking the entrails of an offering forth, they could not find a heart within the beast. “(2. 2. 40-42) This is another warning sign for the reason of finding a fault or difference in a sacrificed animal meant bad luck in his time.
Although he ignores the Servant’s news out of his own confident arrogance, he decides to stay because of his wife’s unsettling whim. But after Decius appears with plans to escort Caesar to the Senate House, Decius convinces him to go with quick and sly words. “This dream is all amiss interpreted; It was all a vision fair and fortunate. Your stature spouting blood in many pipes, in which so many smiling Romans bathed, signifies that from you great Rome shall suck reviving blood, and that great men shall press for tinctures, stains, relics, and cognizance.
This by Calphurnia’s dream is signified,”(2. 2. 87-94) Decius lies through his teeth to change Caesar’s mind. He describes how the people will think he is a coward for not going, and how he would receive the crown if he went. The arrogant Caesar changed his mind in a heartbeat, blinded by his fear of looking foolish. Effects: The effects of Caesar’s decision to go to the Senate meeting were great, affecting all of Rome in many ways over a long period of time. Of course the main effect of this is his own death.
If he would have only listened to the soothsayers warning, taken Calphurnia’s warnings into consideration, listened to the servants message, and had just allowed fear to overpower his over confidence – he would have stayed home and lived. He could then see how blind he had been all along. He would be able to see his true self without the mask of arrogance and complete foolishness. But, fate is inescapable. Even if he had not decided to go to the Senate, he would have met his final resting place – somehow. So, do the events that led up to Caesar’s decision overweigh the effects of his choice?
Yes, the causes or events that led up to his death are very good reasons why Caesar should not have gone to the Senate meeting. There were many warnings against him going and Calphurnia’s dream almost made it so clear that he shouldn’t go that it was just foolish to go. Caesar knew that it was a bad idea to go and that the effects of going could be bad. He knew something bad was going to happen, yet his own wretched personality destroyed his life. Two lessons can be learned from this event: 1. don’t allow the faults of your own personality affect your better judgment. 2. “Men at some time are masters of their fates. “(1. 2. 146)
