Describe Commodus Essay

Commodus changes for the worse. He is innately devious and this is non resolved through come on Gladiator. He identifies his chief(prenominal) adversary as Maximus, his forefathers favourite, only in reality it is his receive lack of moral fibre that is his great enemy. Maximuss fallicious death triggers a retch towards a more confident, vehement Commodus, but when Maximus resurfaces t present is a resumption of his initial personality. As some(prenominal) emergence any improvement retracts.Maximuss strengths ar Commoduss light-coloredenesses. Commodus realises this and holds Maximus in contempt. Maximus is everything Commodus aspires to be. Whilst Maximuss glass is replete of orthodox qualities, Commoduss is almost empty, apart(predicate) from a few unvirtuous qualities he embodies. It is this vacuum that makes his lack of moral fibre so transparent. Marcus Aurelius sees through the glass and intends to deny Commodus taking over by reverting Rome to a Republic. It is he re in Commoduss writ of execution of his father that we see the true terminus of his destructive capacity.Maximus has the delight of Lucilla, in which Commodus intensley desires. Maximus has the love of Aurelius, the kind of filial love Commodus has unceasingly longed for. Maximus has acceptance, the kind Commodus will never make be establish he is an effete. Maximus is loved, respected and is in commands of cater, whereas Commodus is not. It is these impalpable commodities that motivate Commodus to aspire to metaphorically survive Maximus. He acknowledges Maximuss charisma as an hindrance and sets out to eradicate Maximus accordingly. He is however, un masteryful in his plight.Commodus indicts differents as the cause of his deficency. He fails to recognise that his sterling(prenominal) obstacle is his inner-self. If he had identified the key to winner as self-discovery, then he whitethorn dupe acheived his goals. Commodus does not however and makes no growth positive gr owth as a character. He stiff immoral, cautionful, ambitous, greedy, weak, and shrouded in consuming jealousy. These qualities are expressed in his actions and inter-relations with others. Thriving on death and blood, seen in the gladiatorial games, he mistakes violence for power. He is willing to cheat, threaten and murder to capture it. He instigates himself as the protector of Rome, seen in his speech to the Senate I am the father of Rome and they are my children. Attempting to ap pane the compliment that comes with a virtuous shooter upon himself, an unvirtuous tyrant.The greatest hindrance to Commodus is his all consuming jealousy. It motivates corruption, disallowing Commodus the mightiness to recognise his own character and to as well as expand on it. Instead he is entangled in a permanent reminder of what he is not. This is his pestilence. This jealousy is augment when Maximus still comands adoration even as a gladiator, when it should be directed towards Commodu s the emperor. It is here that Commodus realizes the trickery he has employed to could his absence of truths, to gain the love of Rome, has not prospered. The antithesis of virtue is denied admiration.In an attempt to demonstrate power Commodus challenges Maximus in the fighting arena which signifies his desperation. Maximus is a conquering general and a gladiatorial champion, whereas Commodus is a skillfull swordsman, but he is weak due to his cowardess, and they are unequally matched. This happen could have been a growth point for Commodus, by way of conquering fear but he utilizes his insidious qualities and inflicts a mortal wound before the battle begins to give himself an unfair advantage. Victorious he is not, and death awaits Commodus.Commodus could never find success with the detainment of vices. It would go against the definition of the conquering hero. Commodus as a hero would distort the twist of Gladiator. Commodus is the antagonist the one in which unvirtuous qual ities are shown to enthrall a sense of moral code in the film and to excessively display the virtues that compile a hero Maximus. From the moment Commodus murders his father, Aurelius, he is doomed not to discover success, unless he redeems himself from the wrong-doing he has committed. This buyback does not occur, and illustrates that Commodus is prepared to change for the worse. Commodus carries out more treacherous acts such as ordering the murder of Maximus and his family. It is here in the killing of innocence that Commodus spirals out of moderate and becomes the epitome of immorality.Commodus faces great conflict and motive to change his ways. He does change, he becomes worse. It is essential to his role as the antagonist that he does not learn from his mistakes otherwise he would shift to being a protagonist. The tragic hero is one who faces much visitation but after a travel of discovery finds redemption and usually death. The invalidating growth of Commodus is es sential to the plot string of Gladiator. Commodus offers a comparison by which Maximus basis be measured and the two fate a symbiotic relationship in the way they need each other for the personality of the characters to be fully recognised. Commodus remains trapped in a downward(prenominal) spiral of unvirtue disallowing himself from experiencing redemption the redemption that would have made him a tragic hero. This entrapment in vice is however crucial to the autobiography of Gladiator.