Analysis Of Julius Shakespeare 's ' Julius Caesar '

Brutus’s motivations behind the death of Caesar is clearly evident in his speech after the assassination. Throughout his speech, Brutus relies on reason and logical rationale and syllogisms to explain the reasons behind the assassination “If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer: not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. Had you rather Caesar were living, and die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live all free man? /as he was ambitious, I slew him”. These strong and emotive words demonstrate Brutus strong love for Rome. Thus it can be said that, although Shakespeare presents various perceptions towards Julius Caesar, the composer’s bias is not negated.

William Shakespeare illustrates Brutus to have outstanding morals but also displays Brutus’s naive and over-trusting personality which becomes his tragic flaw. For example, when Brutus suffers from an internal conflict on deciding if Caesar should be emperor or not, Cassius takes advantage of his confusion and naïve personality to act as the “glass [that] will modestly discover [Brutus] ... / [t]hat ... [shows Brutus’s appearance] which … [he] yet know not of ” (1.2. 68-70) and then says, “‘Brutus,’ and ‘Caesar’: what should be in that ‘Caesar’? / Why should that name be sounded more than yours[, Brutus]” (1.2.142-43). From this conversation, Brutus is shown to allow his naïve and over-trusting personality overcome him. As a result, Brutus follows his close allies in the path considered to be the most noble. Moreover, this characteristic of Brutus makes him weak enough to eventually trust the conspirator, Cassius, to take down Caesar, his own brother. This eventually leads to Brutus’s downfall

Both Brutus’ and Cassius’ characterizations are results of Shakespeare’s biased dialogue. Throughout the play, Brutus is continuously described as being noble and honorable. The first mention of this is early on in the play. Cassius, when trying to persuade Brutus to join the conspirators, praises Brutus by saying “noble Brutus” and “good Brutus” (page 17, line 68, 72). During Antony’s funeral speech, he repeats over and over “Brutus is an

The play Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, entails the rise and fall of Julius Caesar and Brutus, the man plotting against him. At the opening of the play Julius is being celebrated for his victory over Pompey. Later, he is offered kingship; but Caesar refuses the crown. On the ides of March Brutus and some other men come before Caesar to plead a case; except, their only motive is to kill Caesar. Antony, Caesar’s right hand man, pretends to side with the conspirators after Caesar is killed, while he gathers an army to defeat Brutus. Antony and Octavius’ army defeats Brutus’ troops; forcing Brutus and many others to commit suicide. The tragic character, Brutus, is usually the protagonist that has a tragic flaw and this causes his defeat. A tragic flaw is the cause of their downfall, usually an action or belief. Brutus’ tragic flaws are his nobility, trust and the inability to wrong people. Brutus is the tragic character in Julius Caesar because of his nobility and because he does all his deeds for the good of Rome.

Brutus wanting to be very honorable is part of his tragic flaw. He will do crazy stuff just be honorable. While talking with Cassius about why he is not himself, Brutus said “For it let the gods so speed me as I love the name of honor than I fear the name of death” (I.II. 91-92). This quote shows that being honorable is a very big thing for Brutus since he would rather die with honor than die without honor. After talking with Lucius Brutus says, “It must be by his death, and for my part I know no personal cause to spurn at him but

In the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar the main character, Brutus, experiences many things that lead him to become a tragic hero. From the interactions between Cassius and Brutus, the two characters contract each other, Brutus’s character develops into a tragic hero, and the plot advances and a theme is also created.

Brutus was a man of noble birth. He had multiple servants and was often referred to as “Lord”, which indicates a certain level of respect for him. He was a very highly thought of

The topic of leadership in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar has been discussed and argued ever since the play was written. The most prevalent discussion of leadership in the play revolves around Shakespeare’s tragic hero, Marcus Brutus, and the cause of his downfall. According to Shakespeare critic James Bundy, “Brutus... is a man whose affections sway more than his reason, in whom there is this tragic confederacy of passion and imagination against reason” (qtd. in Palmer 402). Ernest Shanzer, however, says that Brutus is “by no means devoid of political shrewdness and practical wisdom”, but he is a “bad judge of character” (Shanzer 1). Although both critics’ descriptions of Brutus have merit, Brutus’ shortcoming, as well as the success of the opposing leader, Mark Antony, is more accurately explained using the observations of Niccolo Machiavelli in The Prince. In this book Machiavelli outlines the characteristics of a successful leader. When using The Prince as a lens to read Julius Caesar, the correlation between a leader’s Machiavellianism and their success becomes very apparent. Marcus Brutus is undoubtedly an honorable and respectable man, but his morality prevents him from adhering to Machiavelli’s principles. Due to his lack of princely virtues, Brutus is doomed to fail, while Antony, a much more Machiavellian prince, successfully seizes power.

There have been many rulers in history who have been betrayed by those they trust, but The Tragedy of Julius Caesar (William Shakespeare,1959) still holds a special place in Western literature as one of the most enigmatic human beings to ever exist. Powerful men like Julius Caesar shaped the life and times of the late Roman Republic, just before Rome would officially become the Roman Empire on the crowning of Augustus as the first Roman emperor. Julius Caesar was a powerful general who expanded Rome's power and who was beloved by the people for his generous charity after his successful conquests. Despite knowing the story of Julius Caesar to some extent, most 16th/17th century English would not have ever visited Rome, nor would know what the Roman Republic was like, which presented a unique opportunity to William Shakespeare to create a play unlike any other he had created before. (Shakespeare Julius Caesar, 1599) Shakespeare's Julius Caesar is a reimagining of Rome from a Elizabethan point of view, and despite some inaccuracies, the play depicts an enlightening view on Roman life, and the life of the Roman general, Julius Caesar.

The play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, has two main tragic heroes. Set in Rome and spanning from forty- four to forty-two B.C., the play tells of Brutus and Caesar whom both fall from the highest positions to the lowest of misfortune and then are enlightened on their mistakes. Brutus is the stronger example of a tragic hero in this story. Throughout this play, Brutus commits many faults, falls more drastically than all other characters, and regrets his previous actions by the end of the play.

In William Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caesar, the main character, Marcus Brutus, is faced with the dilemma of a morally ambiguous situation and the discrepancy between a personal desire and a public duty. Like most literature, in general, the protagonist has to deal with an internal conflict and external conflict. This is a cliché situation because Brutus ends up undergoing a dramatic change, with the plot going from order to chaos, as in a tragedy, with a reversal of fortune bringing about the downfall of the protagonist, usually an exceptional individual, as a result of a tragic flaw in his personality. He has to choose between if it is cold-blooded murder of his best friend because of the jealousy of another man or the death of a tyrant for the greater good of a society.

In this project we had to create a film that incorporated the play “Julius Caesar” by Shakespeare, by using a reality TV show. One of the very first obstacles we had went through was deciding on which reality TV to use. I had wanted to do the reality TV show called Survivor, but most of my other group members wanted to do The Kardashians. The reason I had wanted to do survivor was because I felt like it gave our film a really good structure to follow unlike The Kardashians. We easily resolved this issue by just taking a vote, which led to my group using The Kardashians. This was an example of one of our group’s smaller issues. Now moving on to a bigger issue that we had, which was trying to find days for when we could meet up after school to get our filming

The first side of Brutus that contributes to his hesitancy of joining the conspiracy is he has a good friendship with Caesar. I agree with J.L. Simmons in his article when he states this, “Brutus is the central character, mainly because his moral dilemma about whether or not to turn on his friend, Caesar, and join the conspiracy” (Simmons 61). This is an obvious reason for why Brutus does not want to kill Caesar, but he has an opposing desire for Rome. The other side of Brutus is that he simply loves Rome more than Caesar and wants to do what is best for Rome. This quote from the play shows how Brutus feels about his difficult decision to eventually accompany the conspirators, “Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. Had you rather Caesar were living and die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live all free men?” (Shakespeare 3.2.21-...). Brutus was thinking of the future of Rome and he did not want to live under a possible dictator, which would be Caesar. This is how he tries to justify the assassination of Caesar as a necessity for the Roman’s liberty. Also, Shakespeare presents a character’s inner turmoil directly, through devices like the soliloquy. In the play Brutus announces a soliloquy. During act two and scene one of the play Brutus announces his soliloquy, in which he claims this, “I know no personal cause to spurn him, but for the general. He would be crown’d: how that might change his nature, there’s the question” (Shakespeare 2.1.11-13). This is only part of Brutus’s soliloquy, but it shows his one side or reason for deciding to join the conspirators. Shakespeare adding complexity to his heroes causes Brutus to have opposing desires and suffer hesitation before joining the

Brutus finds himself swarmed with thoughts as he shows his private identity for the first time. Seeming to be at war with himself he says, “It must be by death, and, for my part, / I know no personal cause to spurn at him, / But for the general. He would be crown’d: / How that might change his nature, there’s the question” (2.1.10-13). Brutus convinces himself that the assassination of Caesar will be for the good of Rome, not for his personal advancement. Shakespeare shows the reader this side of Brutus that has not been seen before. In public, Brutus appears to be confident and loyal to Caesar, but deep on the inside he is conflicted on what choice to make and is worried about the actions he may be taking. Due to these troubling thoughts, Brutus becomes stressed and starts to stray away from his true self. “And therefore think him as a serpent’s egg / Which hatch’d would as his kind grow mischievous, / And kill him in the shell” (2.1.32-34). Brutus is conveying his true thoughts about Caesar. He wants to kill Caesar before he becomes king and it is too late. However, because Brutus appears to be loyal to Caesar, he will have to keep his plans secret from everyone or else it will harm his public status. It is just the beginning of Brutus unveiling his true, inner self and how contradictory it is to his public persona.

Brutus possesses many ideals and mannerisms that make him the tragic hero in William Shakespeare’s tragedy. To begin with, Brutus has a deep sense of love for his city, and concerns himself with its well-being. His concern for Rome is actually what causes him to backstab Caesar. He worries that he is too arrogant to be an adequate leader, “I do fear the people/ Choose Caesar for their king.” (Shakespeare I.ii. 85-86). Secondly, Brutus has an undying moral compass that navigates him on his integrity driven choices. Brutus thinks long and hard before he joins the conspirators, and wonders whether or not it is the right choice and questions his choices, “Into what dangers would you lead me…/ That you would have me seek into myself/ For which is not in me?” (Shakespeare I.ii. 69-71). His strong beliefs are what ultimately convince him to join the conspirators, for the good of Rome. Also, Brutus believes in equality and respect. He gives a speech to the public because he feels they deserve to know the reason why Caesar dies, ‘And, waving our red weapons o’er our heads,/ Let’s all cry “Peace, freedom, and liberty!”’. (Shakespeare III.i. 121-122). This heroic quality is one of the things that drives him to be a good leader, and a good person as well. As much as these traits lead us to believe