Julius Caesar

In the play Julius Cesar there are many different references to leadership and the qualities of a leader. Characters like Cesar, Brutus, and Cassius are compared to show good and bad qualities of leaders and how they can lead to the leader’s downfall. Some qualities I noticed in Cesar are that, like they said in the play, he is ambitious which can be good or bad depending on the circumstances. If he is ambitious for his people it could be good because he would focus on improving life for his people, but if he is ambitious for himself he could try to gain more power for himself and improve life for himself and the people around him, which would make him a tyrant like Cassius and Brutus predicted. One good quality Cesar had was that he was very good at persuading large groups of people, which can help convince a reluctant group of an idea.

One other character, who displayed qualities of good and bad leaders in the play, was Cassius. One negative quality about him is that he was very manipulative, which helped him convince Brutus and the other members of the group that assassinated Cesar to help him. A manipulative leader can convince people to do things that they otherwise would not, without them realizing that they are doing anything. One positive leadership trait that Cassius has is that he is very loyal, especially to Brutus.

The last main character in the play that showed leadership characteristics was Brutus. Brutus’s best leadership trait in the play was his selflessness and sympathy, which in a leader, help the leader focus on the need of his people and not himself. One bad leadership trait Brutus possessed was that he was very trusting, especially of Cassius. This made him very easy to manipulate in to assassinating Cesar. He was especially vulnerable to Cassius, who was very good at persuading stubborn people.