Dr. Vella
English 1, Period 4
2 May 2013
Changing Sides In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, the common people played a critical role. They are not very dedicated to a certain side; they tend to switch depending on popularity or role. The common people tend to focus on the stronger person in power. They were for Pompey, but as soon as Julius Caesar defeated him in battle, they immediately switched sides and joined the followers of Julius Caesar. The people of Rome were never on one side for too long. They switched sides multiple times in The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, which favored certain characters and disfavored others. The commoners play a critical part in Caesar’s reign and the conspirators’ plan to kill Caesar while being able …show more content…
Live, live!”, “They were traitors!” (III.ii.48, 154). The people are as fickle as described in the beginning of the tragedy. They can’t stick with a side for too long. The people of Rome always want to be on the most powerful side so once Caesar took control of Rome from Pompey; the people began to rejoice Caesar instead of Pompey. They feel that if they do not switch sides, that they will fall with the weaker side. To prevent their fall, they quickly change sides to avoid conflict with anyone else. The common people are scared of conflict with rulers or other people. They want to have easy lives and in order to make their life easiest as possible, they feel like switching to the most powerful, persuasive, and popular side will indeed make it easier. The citizens of Rome caused the death of Brutus and the rest of the conspirators by their fear of …show more content…
Without the help of the people of Rome, the rulers would have no power. If the people do not accept or agree with a certain ruler, they will revolt or join another group that is against the ruler. The plebeians were a huge part in Brutus’s and the conspirators’ plans. They needed the people to believe that they were killing Caesar for the good of them, “Not / that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.” (III.ii.21-22). For a second, they were on the conspirators’ side, but because of Antony’s great speech and the peoples’ habit of changing sides very quickly, the conspirators’ plan fell through. In the end because of the commoners, that event and their tendency to be persuaded easily led to the death of most of