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“Why man, he doth bestride the narrow world like a Colossus, and we petty men walk under his huge legs, and peep about to find ourselves dishonorable graves.”
(Act 1, Scene 2, Line 133-136) This quotation shows how Cassius felt before the assassination of Julius Caesar. He clearly was driven by ambition and envy in his actions. His justification for doing it was because of his ambition forbid him to have anyone above him, and he envied Caesar’s power.
It is said that when men with great ambition clash, major conflicts happen. Both Cassius and Caesar were extremely ambitious. Cassius was motivated by ambition because of his fear that Caesar might take away his power when Caesar becomes king, and Cassius just hated the fact that Caesar had more power than him. Perhaps, Cassius might have wanted to become a king himself. This drives him into killing Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar knew that Cassius was ambitious, and he makes a characterization of Cassius in Act 1 Scene 2 Line 191-196 to Anthony: “Let me have men about me that are fat, sleek-headed men and such as sleep-a-nights. Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look. He thinks too much. Such men are dangerous.” This characterizes Cassius as an ambitious, and a dangerous person, whom Julius Caesar definitely hated. The quotation also shows how Cassius is thought of in the public. After this quotation, it should be clear that Cassius was motivated by ambition. Also, little did Julius Caesar know, that a conspiracy was being made against him by Cassius. Cassius, in Act 1 Scene 3, line 121-124, talks of the conspiracy he is making to Casca: “there’s a bargain made. Now know you, Casca, I have moved already some certain of the noblest-minded Romans to undergo with me an enterprise.” This quotation means that Cassius had gathered some “noble- minded” Romans to assassinate Caesar. This quotation clearly shows this.
how Cassius was so motivated by ambition, to the point that he carefully planned and gathered people to kill Caesar. Cassius’s ambition, was definitely not noble or worthy, as his ambition was driven by personal gain.
Envy is one of the biggest concepts of the play Julius Caesar: many of the characters in the book were driven by envy. Cassius was one of them: he was driven by envy, as he was envious of Caesar’s power, and wanted to have it. Like Cassius’s ambition, his envy drives him into killing Caesar. Before the assassination of Julius Caesar, when Cassius is manipulating Brutus to join in the conspiracy, Cassius constantly complains about how powerful Caesar is compared to him on Act 1 Scene 2 line 115-118: “Did I the tired Caesar and this man is now become a god, and Cassius is a wretched creature, and must bend his body if Caesar carelessly but nod on him.” This shows how Cassius is so weak compared to Caesar, to the point that Cassius has to bow to Caesar, even when Caesar carelessly just nods on him. This shows how Cassius is extremely envious about his lack of power compared to Julius Caesar. Cassius’s envy is further characterized after the death of Cassius and Brutus, Anthony expresses what he thought about the conspirators on Act 5 Scene 5, line 74-75: “All the conspirators save only he (Brutus) did that they did in envy of great Caesar”. Anthony is saying that all the conspirators except for Brutus killed Julius Caesar in envy. This is yet another Characterization made by Cassius’s enemies, which say that Cassius, along with other Conspirators except for Brutus. This is also another public view of Cassius, and the Cassius readers know of. This quotation summarizes Cassius as a person. Cassius’s envy was definitely not noble or worthy, as this motivator was solely for his personal gain.
Cassius was envious of Julius Caesar’s power, and his ambition forbid him to have anyone above him. He was stinking with ambition, to the point that even Julius Caesar was well aware of Cassius’s ambition. His envy was well known among his enemies, so did Cassius’s friends, as he constantly complained about how Caesar has grown to be so powerful. These motivators led Cassius to successfully kill Julius Caesar, hoping that this will give him power, to satisfy his ambition and envy. However, Cassius was only able to achieve his goal partially, as he wasn’t able to gain power from killing Caesar, but instead, lost everything he ever had, and died. The reason why he didn’t succeed was because he listened to Brutus too much without any argument, which led to his downfall. Cassius’s main motivators say that Cassius’s goal wasn’t noble at all, because Cassius was driven by personal gain, not by the common good like Brutus…
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