The Senate of the Roman Republic is the ruling power over most of the known world. Yet this powerful and influential Senate is easily threatened by one man; Julius Caesar. For the senators, Caesar is the catalyst for the fall of a Republic they had worked so hard to create and protect. Playwright William Shakespeare delves into this world of betrayal and ambition with his play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. Using his writerly voice, he takes the audience to Rome and lets them experience every gripping moment of Caesar's fall. The play shows that Caesar is not the cause of Rome's eventual fall, but that the senators who conspire against him and ultimately kill him are the most reprehensible. Shakespeare introduces the characters of Brutus and Cassius: two men, both of high rank, who are behind the conspiracy against Caesar's life. The actions of their plan have chaotic consequences, consequences so dangerous that Brutus and Cassius flee to Asia Minor. After the Battle of Phillippi, once Octavian and Marc Antony appear to have one, both men commit suicide. This final action returns them to a world with Caesar, a world they have tried so hard to escape. At the end of Caesar and Brutus' lives, they discover a truth they had so eagerly avoided. For Caesar, that truth is his overconfidence in his ideals and his ignorance of the warning signs so often presented to him. Caesar's fall and his premature understanding make him a tragic hero. Although Caesar is a brilliant leader, he is also a very proud Roman. He makes one of his biggest mistakes by not listening to the loud and wise soothsayer. “Be careful of the Ides of March,” says the Soothsayer (800). It’s one of the first ...... middle of paper ...... bitious,” explains Marc Antony (950). Here, at his funeral, Antony speaks in Caesar's honor and gives convincing evidence of why he is not a bad man. “When the poor cried, Caesar wept. The ambition must be firmer,” says Antony (950). It takes an honorable man to shed tears, but to cry? It takes honor. Caesar's actions as Antony describes them create the image of an extremely sympathetic character that many audiences can relate to. In the end, a great leader was killed because of the jealousy and insecurity of two men. What everyone forgets in this play is that Roman children were raised with a power-hungry mindset. So why did Brutus and Cassius, the two men who renounced all rights to logical reasoning when they concocted their corrosive plan, find Caesar ambitious when they are guilty of the same crime, of which they were raised to be guilty ??