WE ARE ALL PRISONERS TO OUR ARROGANCE: An Essay on Julius Caesar and Animal Farm

You cannot touch me, but I am always here; I am indecent and I control your actions. What am I? Your arrogance. In the play Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, a group of conspirators murder Julius Caeser, the potential future king of Rome. They are led by Cassius, whose underlying motives are his envy, thirst for control, and hefty dose of conceit. Additionally, in the allegorical novel Animal Farm by George Orwell, the animals of Manor Farm overthrow their farmer in an attempt to establish an equal community. Soon, however, a clever pig steps into a leadership position and acts not in his socety’s best interest, but rather in the interest of his human-like desire for power. It isn’t before long that the animals must face the harsh truth that the smart and respected animal who was once their close comrade has become their worst enemy — an intimidating and ruthless dictator that is no different from their farmer. These examples show that people often act on their greed and will deceive others of their true motivations to gain benefits. Therefore, people are driven by arrogance and self-centeredness.

People will take great measures to gain power. In Julius Caesar, Cassius holds a grudge against Caesar because despite being no better than Brutus or himself, Caesar has become godlike in the eyes of Romans. In trying to convince Brutus to help him kill Caesar, Cassius says to him that “[they were] born free as Caesar … [they] both have fed as well, and [they] can both endure the winter’s cold as well as he … [oh] gods, it doth amaze [him] a man of such a feeble temper should so get the start of the majestic world and bear the palm alone”(1, 2, 104-148). Cassius’ hatred towards Caesar lies in the fact that, despite the two of them being equal in strength, Caesar is the one who is granted great authority. Furthermore, simply because he is so envious of Caesar’s success, Cassius goes the distance to reel in Caesar’s friend, Brutus, using a fervent speech by which tries to influence Brutus to share his anger and falsely emphasizes that by killing Caesar, they can kill the looming tyranny that would be detrimental to Rome. Of course, while Cassius makes it seem as though killing Caesar is for the good of Rome, this is far from his true inner motive of selfishness. This shows that people want leadership over anything else because Cassius is obsessed with the idea of having absolute control to the extent that he takes extreme actions that make him an assassin and sacrifice Rome’s stability in the absence of a secure government. Nothing is more important to him than a taste of power. Being in an authoritative position satisfies people’s arrogance, and when the thirst for power kicks in, it is as if the ends justify the means; all that matters is gaining power.

However, acting in favor of oneself is not unique to Cassius. In the face of great opportunities for themselves, individuals can become unscrupulous even towards those they appear to love. After the farmer of Manor Farm is overthrown, the pigs quickly realize that they are smarter than the rest of the animals, who they can manipulate for their own benefit. Soon, the pigs “[are thinking] of a way round every difficulty. [They] do not actually work, but [direct] and [supervise] the others. With their superior knowledge, is [seems] natural to the others that they should assume the leadership”(11). While, being humans, the corrupt nature of the pigs is obvious to us, it is not so to the less astute animals, who remain under the false belief that having the pigs in power is purely for the efficiency of the farm. Sure, the pigs say they’re “supervising,” but to them, that’s a synonym for enjoying leisure and power. Despite being a story about animals, its allegorical nature makes Animal Farm evidence of the that humans often choose individual benefits chosen over loyalty to friends because when great things were in store for them, the pigs abandoned the animals with whom they had been good friends.

Flawed characters create exciting ripples in a book’s plot and increase a reader’s ability to relate to the story, but they also reveal the innate egotism of humans. Especially with Julius Caeser haven been built off of a true historical event and Animal Farm being representative of Czarist Russia’s evolution into Communist Russia as well as changes that occured before the the Russian Revolution of 1917, these stories clearly express the influence of arrogance on the actions people take, whether it be assassinating someone to gain power or manipulating friends to gain an advantage. Though it is cynical, perhaps this is true human nature. When the potential to gain power or other benefits is presented, people will often dive into the opportunity regardless of the extreme actions they must take or who they must abandon in the process.