Suri Yang

Dr. Zimolzak

Language and Literature Foundations I-B

24 February 2022

Manes Iulii Caesaris

THE GHOST OF CAESAR

Brutus, I come to ease your mind.

I see you are confused, your heart is lost. Lost, lost, lost.

Once so convinced that killing me was the right option, so why are you confused now?

Perhaps you are thinking what would have happened if you let me be? Honorable Brutus, my lover, Honorable Brutus.

…I defeated Pompey with my leadership and experience in war.

My men were serpents, under the control of my will and power.

A foe to my once good friend Pompey. I respected him.

But for Rome, I stood a lion against him, for my people, my Rome.

Pompey’s ambition was only hatred for me.

My love for you, Brutus, for the people, was stronger than my love for Pompey.

My trust in you was vast. I trusted you, I trusted you because your heart is gold.

I respected you because you were honorable. But how, how did an honorable man with many riches become hungry?

Could you not have sold your riches for food? For something to ease your hunger? Why did you become as hungry as Cassius? Was his hunger contagious or your only own?

Cassius, Cassius, that man was a hungry man. Always a hungry man, one with riches even! Like King Meliodas, who could never sate his hunger for gold and riches until his poor daughter became a statue of gold.

Oh the irony! Something he valued and loved so much, gold, could teach him such a lesson!

You, Brutus, your hunger grew. It grew until it ate you!

I totally never wanted the crown!

They say I displayed a show of refusing the crown. I totally never wanted it!

Hah! Like a child who assumes they will always be rewarded for every good thing they do, you were. But you are no child, you were never rewarded. Why might you ask yourself?

Because you were a hungry man, your smell for power, sharpened with the blade of hunger. You smelled the “power” on me. Did you not?

You became starving. Starving, starving for my “power”. Starving to take away something that never was.

A lion racing after an elephant, you are.

A wolf and his pack chasing after a measly rabbit, you are.

Brutus, my lover, I had many glories awaiting a master. A master that would be you. You, you, you, set those glories loose and off they went.

Scattering in every direction. Only to be soon extinguished.

I was the very flame keeping those glories alive. Yet you extinguished me. The flame of Olympus, I was. Power was kept alive by me! Yet you extinguished me!

I wanted for you only your happiness and glory. To be my right hand. My right hand.

Yet you extinguished the flame.

Rome would speak to you.

Only you. Only you, only you.

Yet your hunger was more important to you. Not Rome.

Not the people, not your best lover, Caesar. Julius Caesar! Me!

You listened to a hungry man! Not your best lover! Your best lover who loved you!

Respected you so!

Rome will only speak to Octavius now. Not you.

Never you. Glory and power could have been your servants.

But they were your masters.

Then, was my slaying, my bloodshed, my death, the way to save Rome then? Did Rome need to be saved? From me?

My monologue is about the Ghost of Julius Caesar’s silent rage at Brutus, for killing him. I imagine this scene as a deleted “epilogue” scene in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar play. After the assassination of Caesar, a war has broken out. In Brutus’ tent, where he is seen pacing and grumbling out his doubts of killing Caesar. The Ghost of Caesar comes to reinforce Brutus’ doubt and confusion. The Ghost slowly helps him enlighten himself and shows him that Caesar’s assassination was wrong. The Ghost of Caesar appears before Brutus right as he utters the words, “...maybe I should not have killed him…”. After the Ghost of Caesar leaves, Brutus crumbles and finally realizes that killing Caesar was a grave mistake. Brutus quickly realizes what could have been, had he acted on facts, not inference.

The choice of having the Ghost of Julius Caesar for this monologue was essential for the molding of this monologue. In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar , The Ghost makes a brief but powerful appearance before Brutus sleeps. In the actual play, the Ghost of Julius Caesar symbolizes Brutus’ guilt. An example of this is when Brutus sleepily says, “Art thou some god, some angel, or some devil, / That mak’st my blood cold and my hair to snare?” (4.322-323). Brutus is unable to sleep and soon the Ghost appears, unbeknownst to Brutus. Soon, Brutus feels the Ghost’s presence, which causes his blood to turn cold and his hair to stand. I wanted to portray this symbolism of the Ghost, not only with the character himself but words that further describe the Ghost’s motivations. The motivations of the Ghost are to portray his feelings of betrayal and anger, and to see the guilt and devastation written on Brutus’ face. Furthermore, Brutus’ guilt would be a “repentance” for his actions. Furthermore, because of the Ghost of Caesar’s somewhat elusive character and identity, the need to highlight this was vast. With the choice of the Ghost of Caesar over the living Caesar, this trait is emphasized because ghosts and their appearances symbolize and represent omens, change, and possible foreshadowing of revenge. Through the understanding of the Ghost of Caesar’s motivations, character, and the use of literary techniques, rhetorical appeals, and questions, the hope is that the audience feels the Ghost’s emotions and understands the importance of one’s emotions.

When the Ghost of Caesar first appears in Brutus’ tent, he approaches him slowly, so as to not scare him. The Ghost knows that Brutus is confused and doubtful of his actions. He uses this knowledge in order to see Brutus show his guilt and devastation. By speaking of his past accomplishments such as defeating Pompey, he slowly makes Brutus feel that he made the wrong decision. The Ghost of Caesar wants Brutus to see what could have been, if he had not killed him. Then, the Ghost starts to talk about his love for Brutus. He emphasizes his powerful love for Brutus; the respect and care he had for him. This slowly climaxes the monologue by highlighting the feeling of betrayal and anger from a best friend. This happens when the Ghost of Caesar questions why Brutus followed Cassius, the “hungry man”. As the monologue progresses in length, he reveals the power and “glories” that Brutus could have had. The purpose of revealing these possibilities was to make Brutus truly regret his actions. Furthermore, revealing these possibilities would enable the audience to clearly see Brutus’ identity. As the end of the monologue approaches, the Ghost of Caesar uses the Romans’ respect and love for Brutus to make him regret his actions even more. Using Brutus' values and beliefs, the Ghost of Caesar enlightened Brutus about the truth of his actions.

When the Ghost of Caesar first speaks to Brutus, he uses the metaphor and symbol of his army as “serpents” controlled by Caesar. Caesar and his army were able to defeat Pompey. While the symbol and metaphor of serpents does represent sin and evil, in this monologue represents more the utter strength and power of Caesar’s men in war. Furthermore, Caesar is the commander of these “serpents”, which shows his status, capability, and strength. The symbol of the serpents represents the temptation for more power. Caesar and Pompey’s war was for power. With the once friends fighting for power, the serpents of Caesar symbolize his temptation for more power. To further emphasize to Brutus about Caesar’s brilliance, the Ghost tells of how he “stood a lion” against Pompey, for Rome. The symbol of the lion represents strength and power. Also, this symbol portrays the kind of leader Caesar was, one who stood up for his people and cared for them over his personal relationships. Lastly, with Pompey and Caesar as past friends, to fighting each other for power, the Ghost uses this symbol to highlight his dedication to Rome and its people.

Later in the monologue, the Ghost uses several literary techniques to help further reveal Brutus’s identity and guilt. For example, in the monologue when the Ghost says, “ I totally did not want the crown!”, he is using verbal irony. The verbal irony represents the Ghost’s true feelings about the crown and what it represents to him. Furthermore, this can also be dramatic irony, as the audience knows that the Ghost possibly wanted the crown, but the characters did not necessarily know this. Two examples of symbolism were also used, when the Ghost compares Brutus to a “lion racing after an elephant” and the “wolf and his pack chasing after a measly rabbit”. The symbolism of the lion racing after the elephant was power racing for power. As lions are predators and carnivores, one of their food sources is elephants. Lions are known as the kings of the sahara and symbolize strength and power. However elephants also represent power and strength. Therefore, this phrase symbolizes power racing for more power. Likewise, Brutus “racing after” Caesar. Lastly the phrase of the wolf pack chasing after the measly rabbit also symbolizes power chasing wealth. The wolf symbolizes power and predator, as they are carnivores. The measly rabbit symbolizes “measly” wealth. The word “measly” was added to enforce that Caesar did not have as much ambition for power as Brutus believed he did. Therefore this phrase symbolizes Brutus hunting and killing a “measly” power.

To appeal to the rhetorical elements, the Ghost used metaphors, a rhetorical question, and repetition. The first rhetorical device used is metaphor. There are two instances where the Ghost of Caesar uses metaphors. An example of a metaphor is when the Ghost first approached Brutus and highlights Brutus’ confused state by describing it as “your heart is lost”. This represents Brutus’ growing confusion over his actions and character. It also embodies Brutus’ character because it describes the spontaneity he possesses through his passion for more than what is given to him. Another metaphor used is “my men were serpents”. This metaphor is frequently highlighted because of its significance to the audience and to the characters themselves. As mentioned before, serpents usually represent sin and evil. However, in this monologue, the serpents do not entirely represent this. The serpent is meant to represent the strength of Caesar’s army. This strength is particularly significant since Caesar required an army or a system that could support his goals for power and expansion. Furthermore this metaphor appeals to the rhetorical element ethos. This is because the Ghost is essentially “marketing” his character as a leader to Brutus. The second rhetorical device used was a rhetorical question (“Once so convinced that killing me was the right option, so why are you confused now?”). This question not only represents the Ghost’s motives behind this monologue, but also emphasizes Brutus’ doubt. This question represents the internal conflict that Brutus faces as he sees Caesar’s ghost. As mentioned, Caesar’s ghost is a symbol of Brutus’ guilt and doubt towards his actions, and furthermore questions if Brutus’ actions were justified. This question appeals to the rhetorical element pathos because of the emotions of doubt and questioning that are highlighted in order to convince Brutus that he was wrong. Lastly, the Ghost used repetition to appeal to pathos. The repetition emphasized the feeling of frustrated helplessness that comes from being a ghost and highlighted the confused soul of Brutus. The example that represents this emphasis is when the Ghost of Caesar repeats the word “lost” three times after saying Brutus’ heart is lost. The repetition represents the seemingly amusing part of Brutus' confused state to the Ghost. This also portrays the spiraling feeling of doubt after a spontaneous action. Lastly, another example that represents this frustrated helplessness by repition is when the Ghost of Caesar reiterates the fact that Rome would only speak to Brutus. “Only you, only you, only you.” the Ghost says. This device represents the anger that Caesar has, for the Roman people, because of Brutus' actions. He is frustrated that Brutus did not think of a better way to benefit the people of Rome.

In conclusion, the Ghost used these symbols, literary techniques, and rhetorical strategies and appeals to form a purposeful monologue that convinced the audience that there was a better way to solve this conflict and helped him fulfill his own wishes.