One might think about how the opening scene presents the conflict between the government and the general population in William Shakespeare’s tragedy Julius Caesar

Flavius and Marullus are a part of the government, yet they don’t treat the common people nicely. Their interaction with the carpenter and the cobbler is patronizing and scornful. They lambast them for their fickle allegiances. First, they root for Pompey. Now, they cheer on Caesar.

If one sees the commoners as symbolic of the population, then the population could come across as sympathetic to the audience. An audience member might be more likely to side with the belittled commoners than with the snobbish, classist tribunes.

Even if Flavius and Marullus have a point, an audience can question their ethics. It doesn’t seem like Flavius and Marullus are on the side of ordinary people so much as on the side of themselves. They want more power, and Julius Caesar stands in the way of their goal.

Overall, the politicians and higher ups seem much more partial to liberty than the population. Perhaps Shakespeare is asking the audience to be open to the idea that not all dictators are absent of reason and ethics. Some autocrats have the support of the people.

In the second scene of the play, Brutus tells Cassius, “the people / Choose Caesar for their king.” If the people like Caesar, perhaps the conflict isn’t between the government and the population, it’s between Caesar and a select group of people that the audience should probably be suspicious of.