This famous quotation
occurs in Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar. It is part of a speech by Caesar in
reply to California warning that he should not move out of doors as evil omens
point to some danger to his life. Caesar refuses to be perturbed by the portents
and declares that death has no terror for him. He is able to rise above .cowardice
because he ignores the dangers that threaten him. The, word “fear’, he says,
does not exist-in his-vocabulary. He throws a challenge at death and refuses to
be frightened by it. He could never have been a great soldier if he had stood
in fear of death.
Caesar’s attitude to
death is, indeed, the right one. Death is a necessary and inevitable end to
life. Nobody has ever conquered the. Death comes to all -- kings and beggars,
rich and poor, princes in their palaces and paupers in their huts. Death lays
its icy hand upon all creatures without distinction or discrimination. Knowing
the omnipotence of death, it is the height of folly for a man to tremble with
fear at the thought of it. It shows an utter lack of spirit to turn pale at the
mention of death. It is extreme cowardice to shrink from the dangers of life
and mark of bravery to face them.
A coward lives in
constant dread; his heart sinks at the prospect of death which is like a sword
of Damocles hanging over his head. The outbreak of war, a riot, the tremors of
an earthquake. The prospect of a famine or a flood--all these make the coward
shudder with fear because he thinks that he v ill be the first target for these
instruments of death. He eyes his food itch suspicion because there might be
poison in it. If he stands on the sea-shore or a riverbank a wave of fear
sweeps over him at the idea of being accidentally drowned. AS he walks along a
road, he is over-careful not to step down his pavement lest he should be run
over by an omnibus. He knows that death pounces upon a man suddenly and in a variety)
of ways and therefore his life a continuous nightmare. Every time he hears that
someone else has died. He secretly congratulates himself on his own escape.
Such is the mental
outlook of a coward. Surely he suffers a thousand times more pain and agony at
the imaginary prospect of death than b. the event itself. For he meets his
death many times in his imagination and endures all the horror connected with
it. He even goes on to imagine the sufferings that are in store for him beyond
the grave.
A brave man, on the
country. Maintains an attitude of defence towards death. He realizes the fact
that death must come sooner or later and that it is no use denying this fact.
For death is an essential part of the scheme of things: this ‘entire of clay,
this gross flesh must someday become a cold. Insensitive and lifeless stock. It
is therefore vain to pity oneself at the thought of death. Besides, with courage
and resolution one may well evade death many times.
So these two lines from
Shakespeare contain a profound lesson. Death is not a frightful monster; it is
only a natural and necessary consummation of life. It is true that premature
death is often tragic and that it is the prospect dying before the time strikes
terror into the hearts of most people. But if one is to die prematurely, no
complaining or self-pity can alter the fact. No one can foresee accidents,
epidemics and other forms of sudden death. It is therefore meaningless to go
about in perpetual fear of the evils that might happen. Surely it is wiser to
preserve an attitude of tranquillity and serenity in the face of both good and
evil.