Flattery for Personal Gain

Flattery is used to manipulate people in real life and in fiction. "Julius Caesar" has

many examples of this kind of behavior. Some examples of using flattery to manipulate

people in the story is when Decius tells Caesar a different interpretation of Calphurnia's

dream making Caesar seem to be a hero in it. Another example is when the conspirators

bow down to Caesar at the capitol to draw his attention away from Casca and the first

stab. The last example is when Mark Antony reads the will of Caesar in front of the

people and reveals that Caesar had left them each seventy five drachmas.

To begin with, when Caesar heard of Calphurnia's dream and decided to stay

home on the ides of March, Decius persuaded Caesar to go to the capitol by telling him a

different interpretation of the dream. Calphurnia said her dream was a sign of death for

Caesar. She saw lusty Romans bathing their hands in blood coming form Caesar's statue.

Decius said "Your statue spouting blood in many pipes, in which so many smiling Romans

bathed, signifies that from you great Rome shall suck reviving blood." (Shakespeare 2,2,

90-92). He also told him that the people were dipping objects in the blood to have some

sort of piece of Caesar because he was so great. He said this so that he could get Caesar

to the capitol and carry out his job that the other conspirators had assigned him. Decius

got what he wanted, and so did the other conspirators. They had successfully drawn

Caesar into his own death.

Secondly, the conspirators knelt down before Caesar so he would think of himself

as a mighty and powerful person. They did this to distract him from Casca and the others

that would stab him. Metellus knelt down to ask Caesar to let his brother come back into

town after being banished. Caesar then told him not to bother with begging because it

would get him nowhere. The others then join Metellus in asking for forgiveness of his

brother. Caesar was successfully distracted, and because of this, he was killed.

Lastly, when Mark Antony read Caesar's will to the people, he wanted the people

to go on his side and think of Caesar as a great person. Antony had said "to every Roman

citizen he gives, to every several man, seventy-five drachmas." (Shakespeare 3,2,

255-256). Antony was trying to make Caesar look like a great hero, rather than a tyrant.

He wanted to get the people on his side and make them think what the conspirators had

done was wrong. Antony was successful in persuading the people by using Caesar's will

as the main point of interest.

In conclusion, flattery is often used by people to get what they want, even if it

involves a lie. "Julius Caesar" has many examples of this such as the time when Decius

gave Caesar a different interpretation of Calphurnia's dream, or the time the conspirators

knelt down to Caesar to distract him, and also the time Mark Antony used Caesar's will to

persuade the people into going on his side and making them think the killing of Caesar was

wrong.