Conflicting Loyalities in a Play and a Film

Loyalty signifies one's duty and fidelity to a cause, a person, a place or an ideal. There are times, however, when more than one object of loyalty is present, and the result is conflicting loyalties. This paper will examine conflicting loyalties in two very different characters from two different genres and historical times. The first character is Brutus, a noble patrician in Shakespeare's Elizabethan drama Julius Caesar. The second character is Mookie, an African-American pizza delivery man in 1989 Brooklyn, New York in Spike Lee's film Do The Right Thing. Although both characters are worlds apart in every way, they share a common predicament: how should one behave when faced with conflicting loyalties. Both Brutus and Mookie want to do the right thing, but first they have to know what the right thing is, and convince themselves of its justness.

Brutus' conflicting loyalties involve political ideals. He is a descendant of the Brutus who drove the Kings out of Rome, and as such is devoted to republican ideals. He is friends with and loyal to Rome's leader, Julius Caesar, who is a dictator but also answers to the Senators of the Forum and popular favor. However, Caesar's popularity is such that he is offered the crown, and this greatly disturbs Brutus. "I do fear, the people choose Caesar for their King" (Act I, Scene 1, 77-79). "Yet I love him well" (Act I, Scene 1 82). In Brutus' view, as well as others, Caesar's ambition goes against republicanism. He is guilty

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