Describe Commodus Essay

Commodus changes for the worse. He is innately devious and this is not resolved throughout Gladiator. He identifies his of import adversary as Maximus, his fathers favourite, moreover in cosmos it is his own lack of moral fibre that is his greatest enemy. Maximuss f all(prenominal)icious demise triggers a surge towards a more confident, vehement Commodus, but when Maximus resurfaces in that location is a resumption of his initial personality. As whatsoever emergence any improvement retracts.Maximuss strengths are Commoduss weakenesses. Commodus realises this and holds Maximus in contempt. Maximus is everything Commodus aspires to be. Whilst Maximuss frosting is full of orthodox qualities, Commoduss is almost empty, apart from a fewer unvirtuous qualities he embodies. It is this emptiness that makes his lack of moral fibre so transparent. Marcus Aurelius sees through the glass and intends to deny Commodus succession by reverting Rome to a Republic. It is here in Commoduss mur der of his father that we see the true(a) extent of his destructive capacity.Maximus has the love of Lucilla, in which Commodus intensley desires. Maximus has the love of Aurelius, the kind of filial love Commodus has al elans longed for. Maximus has acceptance, the kind Commodus will never achieve because he is an effete. Maximus is loved, respected and is in commands of power, whereas Commodus is not. It is these intangible commodities that motivate Commodus to aspire to metaphorically plough Maximus. He acknowledges Maximuss charisma as an obstacle and sets out to uproot Maximus accordingly. He is barely, unsuccessful in his plight.Commodus indicts others as the cause of his deficency. He fails to sleep with that his greatest obstacle is his inner-self. If he had identified the key to success as self-discovery, then he may have acheived his goals. Commodus does not however and makes no growth positive growth as a character. He cadaver immoral, fearful, ambitous, greedy, wea k, 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 uncoerced to cheat, threaten and murder to obtain it. He instigates himself as the protector of Rome, seen in hisspeech to the Senate I am the father of Rome and they are my children. Attempting to represent the adulation that comes with a virtuous poor boy upon himself, an unvirtuous tyrant.The greatest hindrance to Commodus is his all consuming jealousy. It motivates corruption, disallowing Commodus the ability to recognise his own character and to as well as inflate on it. Instead he is entangled in a unremitting reminder of what he is not. This is his pestilence. This jealousy is augmented when Maximus still comands adoration in time as a gladiator, when it should be directed towards Commodus the emperor. It is here that Commodus realizes the trickery he has e mployed to could his absence of virtues, 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 fight 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 encounter 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 observe success with the detainment of vices. It would go against the definition of the conquering grinder. Commodus as a hero would distort the structure of Gladiator. Commodus is the antagonist the one in which unvirtuous qualities are shown to carry a sense of moral code in the film a nd to also display the virtues that compile a hero Maximus. From the moment Commodus murders his father, Aurelius, he is curst not to discover success, unless he redeems himself from the wrong-doing he has committed. This repurchase does not occur, and illustrates that Commodus is lively to change for the worse. Commodus carries out more treacherous acts such as parliamentary law the murder of Maximus and his family. It is here in the killing of innocence that Commodus spirals out of conceal and becomes the epitome of immorality.Commodus faces great conflict and motivation to change his ways. He doeschange, he becomes worse. It is crucial to his role as the antagonist that he does not let out from his mistakes otherwise he would shift to being a protagonist. The tragic hero is one who faces much adversity but after a pilgrimage of discovery finds redemption and usually death. The negative growth of Commodus is essential to the plot of ground line of Gladiator. Commodus offers a comparison by which Maximus can be metrical and the two share a symbiotic relationship in the way they need each other for the personality of the characters to be fully recognised. Commodus ashes trapped in a downward 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 narrative of Gladiator.