While segmentation between public and private identities helps preserve the character desired to be portrayed, the complexity of a divergent behavior trail renders it difficult to identify one’s intentions on the subject. This grim is attained through manipulating one’s character to match the qualities an observer anticipates. The dynamics of character alteration allow the performer to exploit the innocence of limited knowledge possessed by the subject since little effort is required to cover up for a potentially delicate issue. While there are public and private identities, it is possible to shape other personalities by influencing public and secluded perceptions.
In Julius Caesar, Brutus is presented as possessing a strong belief in separating morals and politics. His ability to obscure his public face ensures hiding government-related issues from his wife (Jin & Peng, 2021). With time, Portia becomes sick and equally tired of being excluded from his husband’s world to the extent of her suggesting that he is treating her like a harlot. Brutus’ public face is so developed that he is bothered by receiving the news of his wife’s death but does not let his private grief be an excuse to quit his public purpose. Brutus emerges as a complex character and as a tragic hero. In his speeches, the audience gains insight into the convolutions of his motivations. The differing value systems combating each other in the play are endorsed as a unit on a large scale in the mind of Brutus. Even after he commits an assassination, questions about the motive for his action remain.
Caesar’s death is propelled as he merges his public image with his private self with the belief that the status of immortality granted to his public self will by some means protect his private self (Hampton, 2018). Caesar’s faith in his perpetuity regarding his allegiance to principles and fitting as a public institution verifies his downfall. Initially, he refuses to pay attention to the nightmares of his wife and disregards the persuasion not to go to the senate and then lets his ambitions of being crowned king get the better part of him. While Brutus perceives Caesar as a dictator, Antony presents him as an ordinary human being, substituting his dictatorial image with the uniqueness of a decent ruler. His respect for leaders and residents of Rome is exclusively demonstrated when he refuses the crown because he reasons that it is a great obligation to rule Rome. Cassius is exhibited as a man who has risen to heights in nurturing his public persona. The public self is revealed as dominant when Caesar expresses his doubts about Cassius, denoting that he cannot be trusted for his possible hazard to the throne. Caesar describes Cassius’ private life as deficient. The statement points out the matter of developed public face and abandoned private life.
The above analysis shows that most of the tragedies that meet characters in Julius Caesar result from the negligence of private feelings and sovereigns in favor of public decency. Equally, characters cloud their private personalities with their public selves, transforming them into political apparatuses. Neglecting on private life is brought out when Brutus shuns his wife because he is acting on the public’s will and goes ahead to forge the murder of Caesar despite their friendship. Manifestations portrayed above impart that as much as there is glamor in the eyes of the public, matched effort should be employed to accommodate and foster the development of the private personalities.
References
Hampton, T. (2018). Writing from history. Google Books.
Jin, W. Y., & Peng, M. (2021). The effects of social perception on moral judgment. Frontiers.