The Greed in Julius Caesar

“A man no mightier than thyself, or me, in personal action, yet prodigious grown, And Fearful, as there strange eruptions are”- Cassius Act 1 scene 3 line 76-78. In Julius Caesar many of the characters are filled with greed and jealously for power. One in particular man on the rise to have more power was Cassius. He is one of the lead conspirators against Julius Caesar. Greed for power, jealously and the need to build his reputation were the motivations that caused Cassius to conspire to kill Caesar and build his reputation among the Romans .

For years Cassius felt unequal to Caesar. Caesars rise to his power made Cassius greedy and hungry for the same things. This was recalled early when in Act 1 Scene 2 “ 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.” Caesar had viewed himself as a god like figure, high, noble and esteemed above everyone else. This makes Cassius angry because he knows he should be equal in power to Caesar. Why should Caesar be treated like a god and not him? They are equal in Cassius’s eyes. Choosing to walk down the path of greed, this lead Cassius to the plot of conspiring to kill Caesar. Cassius was able to push himself onto and influence several other characters. Knowing that he needed honorable men, men who were above reproach with the Roman people, he chose Brutus to help as an accomplice in the plot to kill Caesar. “ O, you and I have heard our fathers say, there was a Brutus once that would have brool’d Th’ eternal devil to keep his state in Rome as easily as a king.” This quote shows Cassius flattering Brutus because of his fear of losing power and becoming just another citizen of Roman. He needed the help of Brutus .

Jealousy was another key motivator that drove Cassius to kill Caesar. Ruining Caesars reputation among the citizens of Rome was something he tried to do. He wanted to have the power and authority that Caesar carried. He wanted to be seen as the ’Northern Star’ who every looked up to like they did to Caesar . Cassius believed that Caesar had a better reputation than he did. He wanted all that Caesar had, everything. This was the cause for the jealousy that motivated Cassius to kill Caesar. Jealousy! “Alas, it cried, give me some drink, Titinius, ’as a sick girl. Ye gods! It doth amaze me a man of such a feeble temper should so get the start of the majestic world and bear the palm alone” Act 1 scene 2 lines 127-130. This was a great example to show how Cassias felt about Caesar . An equally bad motivation for Cassius was that he often envied Caesar because Caesar had been getting more respect than him. “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”. Act 1 scene 2 lines 115-118 are another example of how Cassius justified to himself the need to kill Caesar.

Cassius was jealous of the power that Caesar and this greed motivated him to the act of conspiring and ultimately killing Caesar. Cassius attempts to rise into the power structure of Rome, his need for more money and influence and his envy of everything that Caesar had were his downfall. In the end Cassius did achieve his goal of killing Caesar and eliminating his threat to gaining power but the outcome of Caesar’s death was not what he expected. Cassius fell from grace with the Roman people and took his own life as a result. Loosing his life and the lives of his loved ones did not justify the need to have more power and glory. Selfish behavior resulted in everyone’s lose. His tragic personality flaws were his own worst enemy.

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