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Allusion
Explanation and Analysis—Big Caesar, Big Problems:
In Act 1, Scene 2, Cassius shows his disdain for Caesar as Brutus and he remark on the crowd's ecstatic reception of Caesar's victory over Pompey. He makes an allusion alludes to the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, to describe Caesar's perceived stature over his peers:
BRUTUS:
I do believe that these applauses are
For some new honors that are heaped on Caesar.CASSIUS:
Why, man, he doth bestrie the narrow world
Like a Colossus, and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs and peep about
To find ourselves dishonorable graves.
The Colossus of Rhodes was a massive statue, thought in Shakespeare's time to have once stood straddling the opening of the harbor of the Greek island of Rhodes. Caesar has become a Colossus, Cassius argues, and everyone else must pass underneath him like "petty men"—poor mortals left to scamper about and clean up in the wake of Caesar's destruction.
By painting Caesar as a Colossus, who makes the rest of Rome's political class look small and weak, Cassius casts Caesar as a threat to his fellow politicians' manhood if he continues to amass power. As Shakespeare explores the power of speech to affect political sentiment, Cassius's ability to appeal to the insecurities and doubts of his peers—and to the importance of manhood and honor as prime virtues—stands out as a particularly effective mode of persuasion.
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