"Julius Caesar" and "The Republic"

Paper Summary:

This paper compares Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" and Plato's "The Republic" to determine how both texts still have important messages for us today because the same concerns about the nature of state, human nature, and the ways in which these two interact with each other, have not changed greatly since the classical world and certainly not since the beginnings of the modern era when Shakespeare was writing.

From the Paper:

"One of the most important messages in both of these works is the warning that the authors give about how easily those in power lose track of the realities of the world. Both authors argue that many leaders begin to believe that goodness is just the same as to weakness. Plato, and Socrates as he is represented in this text by his student, argues that a leader must understand the nature of goodness, that his or her actions must be informed by knowing how good and evil are different from each other. I would agree with these great philosophers. This does not mean that a leader may never do something wrong or even evil: There is a difference (as we all know from our personal experiences) between knowing what is right and actually doing it all of the time."

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