Julius Caesar Research Paper
Stoicism has been a big part of Greco-Roman Philosophy which is still studied today, many scholars believe stoicism came about by questioning Plato others believe it was caused by Clashing of Persian and Hellenistic culture. One thing all Philosophers and Shakespearean scholars can agree on is that Shakespeare’s portrayal of Brutus was a stoic, well not a very good one. He is portrayed as emotionless, but near the end of the play he is easily frightened very unstable. Brutus was connected to stoicism because he lacked emotion, however he showed signs of self-conflict and impacted our view of the play through going against his label as a stoic and is finally swayed by his emotions.
As stated before, Stoicism was a practice, primarily used by the Greeks and by the Romans who copied Greek culture. According to “Classical Philology” published by the University of Chicago Press, Stoicism derived from “Questioning Plato’s Theories” (Shorley 491). In a later passage the author includes that stoicism was the “earliest union between the religious consciousness of the east and the intellectual culture of the west” (Shorley 493). Stoics believed the universe is one Cosmos, a single organism, a “coherent rational order” (Rendall 3). They believed that emotion can cloud the mind of thinking logically and obtaining inner unity and stability.
Throughout the play, Brutus Shows signs of being a stoic. For example, in Act V Scene I, he is