C is for ‘Cassius’.
Gaius Cassius Longinus, known as Cassius, was mourned as ‘the last of the Romans’. He was well-made and well-read, intelligent and brave. He was the prime conspirator in the assassination plot of Julius Caesar. Shakespeare turned him into an immortal hero; his speeches strong and impressive, his stance confident. He was a true Roman.
Caesar was brilliant, no doubt. It was no mean feat to have defeated one as great a as Pompey. But Cassius fought for his belief, he truly believed that Caesar was a bully. He was defeated in the end by Caesar’s primary avenger and a man I think better than he – Marcus Antonius. He did not allow himself to be captured, rather asked one of his men to kill him; only because he believed his good friend Brutus dead as well.
Of course, C could be for Cleopatra too, for she was Caesar’s lover and Mark Antony’s seductress. But then, I didn’t play Cleopatra in school, I played Cassius J
8 comments:
I have got to , got to read some Shakespeare. Good place to start?
Very good place to start. My recommendation to begin is with The Taming of the Shrew or Comedy of Errors. Follow it up with this one and Macbeth!
Literary characters - nice. Good luck with the rest of the challenge!
Haven't read much Shakespeare on my own, only what was required in school.
What an interesting A to Z theme! I will be back. We are pretty close on the sign up list-and that is neat. Otherewise I might not have wandered this way. :-)
Studied Julius Caesar in high school. Brings back memories.
Thanks for the reminder about this story. It's been a while since I read Shakespeare, but I do remember the complicated relationships in this play.
Noted!
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