Mark Antony

Mark Antony is very faithful to Julias Caesar and loves him dearly. Antony cries out, "That I did love thee, Caesar, O, 'tis true!" He does not question Caesar or doubt his motives. But when Brutus, Cassius, Cinna, and many of their followers murder Caesar, Antony falls to his knees and begs them to not kill him. Brutus says, "O Antony, beg not your death of us!" Antony then shakes hands of his enemies, Caesar's murderers, and calls them friends. Antony then speaks at Caesar's funeral and makes clear that his motive and goal is to revenge Caesar's unneccessary death. Antony tells the crowd surrounding him, "I should do Brutus wrong and Cassius wrong". Antony supports the angry crowd with wanting to slaughter the murderers of Caesar and in some way, fuels their actions with his harsh words. Antony stands strong against Brutus' band until Brutus takes his own life. Antony then changes his views on Brutus, saying he was noble and gentle. Antony changes throughout the story of Julias Caesar because he changes his views on the hated murderers quickly and suddenly. This shows that Antony uses the strongest words and outlooks to achieve his goals. Even if he does not believe them himself or if they are not truelly the right thing to say.
Mark Antony was very interesting to me because he knew how to persuade the crowd. He used the right words at the right time to provoke a particular emotion. Mark Antony is very much a people person and this helps him to convince citizens of Rome that he is the one to follow, not Brutus. Mark Antony seemed real to me, much like the politicians of today.
Mark Antony seems to have the same personality traits as Barack Obama. Obama is most famous for his speeches, which Mark Antony is noted for as well. Obama knows how to get an audience nodding their heads in agreement. The PROPUBLICA (journalism in public interest) states, "Obama, on the other hand, won the presidency, in significant measure, on the power of his words". Mark Antony won over Rome with his words, as did Barack Obama won over America.

Plato's "Shadows"

The shadows that Plato tells us of are the illusions in life such as media, culture, religion, etc. Some examples of these shadows are: the illusion that everyone is thin and perfect as magazines portray, that drinking and smoking is the "cool" thing to do, that everyone is the same or should be, that one religion is right and dominate over others and many more. On the internet there are many of Plato's "shadows". For example, this website (http://qualitybooks.com/lose20.htm) tells how you can lose 20 pounds in 14 days. This seems very unreal to me, like an illusion. You would literally have to lose more than 1 pound per day to achieve this "expectation".
Plato's "shadows" are everywhere in our society. We grow up with them all around us and it makes us kind of wonder... what is truth? Plato's "shadows" impact society on how we live every moment by the decisions we make on our clothes, food, friends, school, just pretty much everything. It is very dangerous for us to believe that these "shadows", or illusions, are true because they are lies. Lies hide us from many things in life and believing these keep us from fully enjoying life. They also influence our decisions and sometimes for the worst. What if we could all throw back the curtain of Plato's "shadows"? What would life be like for us?