Brutus:
we all stand up against the spirit of caesar,
and in the spirit of men there is no blood.
oh, that we then could come by caesar’s spirit
and not dismember caesar.

explain the irony in brutus’ wish to kill caesar’s spirit as indicated in the passage above.

In the soliloquy in Act 2 Scene 1 in the tragedy of Julius Caesar explains Brutus' involvement in the assassination plot against Caesar as he thinks about the consequences if Caesar is crowned. He compares the crowning procedure of Caesar to that of the hatching of a serpent from the egg. He assumes that when Caesar would become the king of Rome he will show his cruel nature and bring destruction to the people of Rome. Hence, Brutus joins the conspiracy against Caesar in order to prevent Rome from the ambitious nature of Caesar in the coming future. While addressing the crowd after the murder of Caesar, Brutus says that he has killed Caesar because of his growing ambition which would be very harmful to the citizens of Rome. He adds that he would never accept that because of one person the whole of the Roman empire would be trapped in the web of slavery.

the first proposition is to question economic materialism and victorian christianity. the lines are:

“it moves us not.—great god! i'd rather be

a pagan suckled in a creed outworn; ”

wordsworth is stating that nature no longer interests mankind, that the latter is not “moved” by it and explains that ancient western paganism had a more positive attitude concerning nature since it lacked the perv erted judaeo-christian interpretation of having received the world and all its animals and elements from god to use as we , instead of humans actually being not only part of nature but its wardens, meant to appreciate it and protect it.

the next lines are:

“so might i, standing on this pleasant lea,

have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;

have sight of proteus coming from the sea;

or hear old triton blow his wreathed horn.”

wordsworth here make it very clear that by actually looking and contemplating nature, human beings would reconnect with happiness, serenity and purpose. the use of mythological figures is quite evocative as well, proteus is a greek mythological god of the changing sea. he personifies the sea that changes, which symbolizes the way nature changes and inevitably can change to be destructive not only due to natural causes but to human pollution. furthermore, the sea is even more symbolic since all life originated in the sea so it is not only our past but our future since no life form in our planet can survive without water and if all water is destroyed in earth all life will be gone as well.

he then uses triton which is symbolic of the synthesis of both nature and mankind. triton is a mythological greek god that has the upper body of a man and the lower body of a fish (a merman). this human fish duality evokes the fact that humans are not only human but also part of nature, the fish tail representing nature. the main attribute of this god was that he used a conch shell as a horn to calm the roaring seas. in other words, triton uses nature through science for the benefit of human sailors who risk death during tempests. with the use of such metaphor, wordworth is conveying the message that human technology   is supposed to use nature to preserve nature and thereby humanity as well.

animal farm, written by george orwell, is a representation of russia after the revolution that led stalin to take over power.

in this excerpt, the central idea seems to be that the animals (a representation of society), when they believe to be working for a greater good and equality, are obedient and productive. they were convinced that, after expelling the owner (jones) from the farm, they would live in harmony and be fairly treated.

as we know, the pigs become the leaders and grow more selfish and dictatorial with time. in the end, they look and act in a way so similar to humans that it is impossible to tell the difference. the ideals of equality are shattered, and the farm turns out to be worse than it was before. the animals are manipulated with false propaganda and forced to work in order to enrich the pigs.