Julius Caesar Quotation Sandwiches.

Act I:
Cassius is persuasive and wants Brutus to unfairly join his cause to kill Caesar. His intentions for his country are good but the way he plans to fulfill them are not. Cassius tries to help Brutus by saying, "And since you know you cannot see yourself So well as by reflection, I, your glass, Will modestly discover to yourself That of yourself which you yet know not of"(33 lines 67-70). Cassius is cleverly setting up Brutus to think he will help him and tell him the truth when honestly he will only tell him what he needs to hear, or so what Cassius thinks he needs to hear.


Act II:
I would tell Brutus to rethink his actions a few more times and consider how close of friends he is with Caesar. He even said himself, "I have not known when his affections swayed More than his reason"(50 lines 20-21). He, himself, even said that Caesar has made good political decisions before and has not let his emotions or personal feelings get in the way of this. That is most definitely reason enough to rethink joining the conspiracy and killing one of his best friends.


Act III:
Antony appealed to the crowds emotions and was logically, but surely did not give satisfying reasons as to why the conspirators were wrong to have killed Caesar. He asks the people, "He hath brought many captives home to Rome, Whose ransoms did the general coffers to fill. Did this in Caesar seem ambitious? When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept; Ambition should be made of sterner stuff. Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; And Brutus is an honorable man". By saying this to the crowd he is telling them that Caesar was gracious and helped out the citizens of Rome and builds up how fabulous Caesar was. However, he then contradicts himself in the same breathe for effect saying that, even though he did do this, Brutus is an honorable man and he should be trusted for killing just as much of an honorable man. This is how Antony appealed to the emotions of the crowd and got them on his side.


Act IV/V:
By harming your friends, you are ultimately harming yourself. The honorable Brutus was known to be good friends with the soon to be emperor, the beloved Caesar. However, Brutus was persuaded into joining a conspiracy that planned on killing Caesar before he got too much power and used it only to advance himself and not to help his country. Brutus does recognize what a terrible thing he has done as he utters his last breath, "Farewell good Strato. Caesar, now be still. I killed not thee with half so good a will". Brutus killed one of his best friends, and in realizing what he had done and what had happened to his other friend Cassius, he took his own life.