The whole play is essentially a major power struggle. It begins soon after Caesar’s defeat of Pompey, one third of the triumvirate that ruled Rome. A number of tribunes worry at Caesar’s growing popularity and power. Cassius seems jealous, mocking Caesar’s physical weaknesses and conspiring with Brutus to get rid of him.
In spite of his friendship with Caesar, Brutus succumbs to Cassius’s manipulations. Though Cassius seems driven by greed and a desire for power (Brutus later accuses Cassius of having “an itching palm; / To sell and mart your offices for gold”), Brutus seems genuinely concerned about the Republic of Rome.
Brutus believes that power corrupts: “He would be crown'd: / How that might change his nature, there's the question.” He thinks the balance of power in Rome is so essential to its well-being, he decides to help assassinate Caesar for the greater good.
Caesar may very well desire absolute power. Antony offers Caesar the crown three times, which he refuses. However, Casca describes him as being “very loath to lay his fingers off it.” In the senate, he declares how uniquely consistent he is:
Yet in the number I do know but one
That unassailable holds on his rank,
Unshaked of motion: and that I am he…
Brutus’s good intentions are marred by his ignorance about power plays. His idealism overwhelms his wisdom. The other conspirators or not as principled as he is, and Antony, whom he allows to live, quickly turns the crowd against Brutus in a manipulative speech at Caesar’s funeral. Antony and Cassius know how to play the game, but Brutus does not.
In the end, Brutus and Cassius kill themselves. Even years after their suicides, the never ending game continues to be played by Antony and Octavius Caesar, as is portrayed in another Shakespeare play Antony and Cleopatra.
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