"bathe our hands in Caesar's blood Up to the elbows... then walk we forth... Let's all cry 'Peace, freedom and liberty'"
To Brutus' credit, before he jumps in with bloodthirst, he contemplates the situation. Much like Hamlet debates in his mind: to be a coward or to be a killer. Fight for what he believes to be right, (or at the very least necissary), or protect another human from murder by his hands...?
"Since Cassius first did whet me against Caesar
I have not slept.
Between the acting of a dreadful thing
And the first motion, all the interim is
Like a phantasma or a hideous dream:
The Genius and themortal instruments
Are then in council, and the state of man,
Like to a little kingdom, suffers then
The nature of an insurrection"
Hamlet is compelled by a ghost to avenge a murder, and is... cautiously reluctant...he has a few monologues to the effect of "what do I do?"; Brutus is compelled by a forged letter and some flattering words from another soldier, and with only a few moments of grief, not even really questioning it, he goes ALL IN to destroy a very good man.
The "mob mentality" kind of reminds me of the "bystander effect," which I guess in some ways is the opposite of mob mentality, the crowd that together is NOT motivated to do something.
ReplyDeleteBack when I was the opinion editor for The Daily Universe, I wrote something kind of about the "bystander effect": http://universe2.byu.edu/node/8160
As far as how this relates to Julius Caesar...what if Brutus had behaved more like Hamlet? What if he had been more hesitant? Whether its mob mentality or bystander effect, I think all it takes is one person to make a decision. Unfortunately, once it seems like a decision has been made, whether to act (mob mentality) or not act (bystander effect), it's almost never reversed.
JJ- loved the article! but are you sure that's the one you were talking about...?
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. After I read the funeral, it almost felt like Brutus was convincing himself that it was the right thing to do, you know? Almost like, "well it's too late now, it better have been the noble cause I thought it was"
but then after his own wife kills herself, and he is basically in exile... I feel like he sort of felt like a fool for being so easily swayed...
you're right, either way, Ceasar died.
Oh, I just meant that quick story about the homeless man in New York who was stabbed and left to die, even though people walked by him and didn't help him. It was in the middle of that article. I remembered that as an example of the opposite of mob mentality, the mutual motivation to not do something.
ReplyDelete