Omer Suleman.

What do you understand by the term Hubris? Refer to Julius Caesar, Brutus or Mark Antony.

At the brink of catastrophe we witness the final act of arrogance before becoming accustom to the conspiracy and experiencing the final tragic downfall. This is acknowledged by the term; Hubris. A 16th century audience would be aware of the following act after witnessing hubris or in other words a characters pride before fall. In comparison a 21st century audience will also be aware of the forthcoming event as we are familiar with the result of excessive pride towards an act or incident occasionally a defiance of the gods, ultimately leading to nemesis(fall/doom.).

In Act 2 Scene 2; As a 21st century audience we begin to witness the traditionalism of the catastrophic tragedy of the Hero as we are introduced to the opening of Julius Caesars hubris. Caesar shall forth. The things that threatend me... the face of Caesar they are vanished... This quote evokes to us the severity of Caesars arrogance and the extents he is willing to pursue in pursuit of fulfilling the desires of his ego. Caesars wife Calpurnia attempts to persuade Caesar to stay away from the capitol are overshadowed by his will to portray his pride and braveness as we are shown later in Scene 2 Act 2 after being persuaded by Calpurnia to stay he is still adamant in showing he is not frightened. The cause is in my will. I will not come With this quote we begin to familiarize ourselves with the character of Caesar as he is too arrogant and egoistic to admit he is at all worried of the forthcoming events.

The arrogance leading to his belief of containing the inability to be defeated eventually leads to his death as it combines with his naivety as he ignores the vital warnings referred to as signifiers from characters such as his wife

Calpurnia and earlier in the play from the Soothsayer. Caesars ambitions are made imminent as his lack of judgement leads him to believe his disloyal former companion. "The senates have concluded to give this day a crown to mighty Caesar. The climax of the Hubris is brought to us when Caesar evokes his final and most fatal lack of judgment when eventually being persuaded by Decius (one of the conspirators) who leads him to believe that the senate have intentions in crowning Caesar emperor of Rome that tragic day. This defines the concept of Shakespearean Hubris to its peak as we are witness to a final display of naivety and egoistic prideful behavior before the tragic fall.

In conclusion we are enlightened with the traditionalism of Greek/Shakespearean Hubris. Shakespeare is extremely effective in conforming a character to reach the peak of his Hubris igniting tension leading to the final tragedy(fall). As a 21st Century audience we can go that little bit further with close analysis we can infer from the textbook play that Caesar had himself finally come to understand maintaining his high social and royal status had just become too much to handle uttering Then fall, Caesar! directly before his death as to suggest he was in anticipation of it.

Omer Suleman.