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The Tempest

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The Tempest
Adam Dolah 12/27/12
10B

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In both of the plays The Tempest and Julius Caesar, a group of people is formed to take down and kill one person. In Julius Caesar, the conspirators who came up with the plan to kill Caesar were Cassius, Cinna, Casca, Metellus, Decius, and one can even say Brutus as well even though he was not part of them originally. In The Tempest, there are a couple different murder plots. The first of which is when Ariel puts everyone to sleep except for Antonio and Sebastian and they discuss the possibility of killing Alonso. Next, Caliban and Stefano plot to kill Prospero in his sleep. They all came up with these plots either as a way of personal gain or just a way to get revenge. In Julius Caesar, Cassius is the main person who sets up the whole murder plot on Caesar. He’s the one who convinced Brutus, who was very close with Caesar, to turn on him. His reasons for wanting to kill Caesar was that he was weak and that he doesn’t deserve the position of ruler more than anyone else does. “What’s so special about ‘Caesar’? Why should his name be proclaimed more than yours? Write them together-yours is just as good a name. Pronounce them-it is just as nice to say. Weigh them-it’s just as heavy.” (Shakespeare Act 1, Scene 2, Page 7). Anyone can see in this quote that Cassius is trying to convince Brutus to go against his beloved Caesar by showing him that he is no better than him. Brutus ends up joining the other conspirators not because he thinks Caesar is weak, but because he loves Rome and would do anything to protect it. He though that the power Caesar had would corrupt him and therefor ruin the city of Rome. “If, then, that friend demands to know why I rose up against Caesar, this is my answer: it’s not that I loved Caesar less, but I loved Rome more.” (Shakespeare Act 3, Scene 2). Cassius killed Caesar out of jealousy while Brutus did it for Rome. In The Tempest, there are multiple murder plots that are



Bibliography: SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on The Tempest.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2002. Web. 13 Dec. 2012. SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on Julius Caesar.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2007. Web. 13 Dec. 2012. Shmoop Editorial Team. "Caliban in The Tempest"Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 28 Dec. 2012.

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