Lying is frowned upon by many, yet others still use their ability to lie well to their advantage, whether it is to get what they want or just to stay out of trouble. The play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare gives examples of people lying and stabbing others in their backs. Out in the city of Rome, Italy, Julius Caesar is about to be crowned king. The senate disagrees with this decision, and plots to kill Caesar. One of Caesar’s friends, Mark Antony, stays out of this plot. Caesar’s other friend, Brutus, decides not to be involved at first. Cassius, a conspirator, writes forged letters , supposedly from plebeians, to Brutus, to get him to join the conspirators. Next, when Calpurnia, Caesar’s wife, has her terrible dream about Caesar, Decius, another conspirator, steps in and manipulates the dream to sound like Caesar should go to the meeting. Finally, after Caesar is dead, Mark Antony says to Brutus that they can be friends, which he doesn’t mean, and Brutus lets him speak to the plebeians. In his play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Shakespeare demonstrates that liars will do anything to get what the want to tell readers to be careful of whom they trust.
To begin with, Shakespeare portrays Cassius, the head of the conspirators, coming up with the plot to kill Caesar. He, like all the conspirators, believes that Caesar will, in time, become a tyrant, wanting as much power as he possibly can. Brutus has not yet decided which side he should commit himself to. Cassius comes up with a little trick: he writes letters, signing them from random plebeians, saying that they do not want Caesar as king. It takes much thought and a little bit of persuasion from Cassius before Brutus decides to go against his friend, thinking it would be for ‘the good of Rome’. Shakespeare is trying to tell the reader that even your best friend can cross you behind your back, even if he was tricked, and that you should always be careful of whom you trust.
In turn, Shakespeare goes to when Caesar is just about to leave for the Senate house when Calpurnia stops him, telling him about her horrible dream in which his statue was spurting blood and the plebeians were washing themselves in it. Because the conspirators are waiting for Caesar at the senate house, they send Decius, another one of the conspirators to persuade Caesar to go. He hears about the dream and Shakespeare works his magic, allowing Decius to turn the bad omen to make it sound like it was a good fortune being told, and that Calpurnia took it the wrong way. Caesar vaguely knows Decius, and Decius had already told an untruth to Caesar, just so he would go to the senate house to meet his end. Shakespeare implies to the reader that liars can lie on an impulse, make it sound true, and even convince people that they are right.
Finally, close to the end of Act III, just after Caesar has been stabbed, Mark Antony is in a state of confusion. With the crowd of plebeians waiting outside, he asks the conspirators if they can be friends. Brutus says yes, and Mark Antony asks to speak to the plebeians, giving Brutus his word that he will not go against the conspirators. After Brutus speaks, he leaves, leaving Antony to speak his mind, going against his word. Shakespeare portrays Antony uses Brutus’ trait to trust people easily against him, and turns the plebeians against Brutus and his fellow killers, using ‘friendship’ to his advantage. All in all, liars will go to the extreme to get what they want, as demonstrated by Shakespeare in the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. He gives multiple examples in his work to prove to the reader that liars are unpredictable and will go to the extreme to get what they want. Cassius tricks Brutus, Decius manipulates the dream so Caesar will go, and Mark Antony uses Brutus and their new ‘friendship’ to stab Brutus and the conspirators in their backs. Whether it is tricking someone to do what one wants or coming up with a manipulated story, liars have no feelings about what they are doing and will never regret what they do.
