From my study of the play Julius Caesar, one of the main messages are “ should power controlled by one person, or should it be shared among many” like democracy versus dictatorship.
At the beginning of the play, the Roman political system is not doing good, and if Caesar becomes king, Rome will become a tyranny. Caesar’s greed to become king is shown when Decius comes to bring him to the Capitol but refused until he mentioned about the crown and it might be last offer to Caesar. At the other hand, Calphurnia doesn’t want Caesar to leave as she had a nightmare of Caesar being killed as it says “ Caesar, I never stood on ceremonies, Yet now they fright me. There is one within, Besides the things that we have heard and seen, Recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch. A lioness hath whelped in the streets, And graves have yawned, and yielded up their dead; Fierce fiery warriors fought upon the clouds, In ranks and squadrons and right form of war, Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol; The noise of battle hurtled in the air, Horses did neigh, and dying men did groan, And ghosts did shriek and squeal about the streets. O, Caesar! these things are beyond all use, And I do fear them. “Caesar reply upon saying “ Caesar is a beast without a heart If he should stay at home today for fear, No, Caesar shall not. Danger knows full well That Caesar is more dangerous than he.” After this Caesar goes and is killed by the conspirators
After the death, the conspirator’s belief that they were justified in killing a potentially tyrant to save the Roman republic is gradually undermined by Antony’s rhetorical speech. This makes civil war.
Even the conspirators wanted to protect Rome as a republic, the murder of Caesar leads first to the replacement of the republic by three people who were Antony, Octavius and Lepidus. This gives them power and the army to fight against the conspirators.
At the war between Antony and Brutus, Antony is winning and before they surrender Cassius and Brutus suicide by running into a dagger. Antony finds his body and finishes the play by saying “This was the noblest Roman of them all. All the conspirators save only he Did that they did in envy of great Caesar. He only in a general honest thought And common good to all, made one of them. His life was gentle, and the elements So mixed in him that Nature might stand up And say to all the world, “This was a man.”