There are many characters in the play “The Tragedy of Julius Caesar” that have changed throughout. The characters all had something that impacted them enough to change their thoughts, but Brutus really had something different. Brutus was a main character in the play and was Caesar's right hand man at often times. Although Brutus admired Caesar, Cassius changed his thinking with his persuasive tongue. This led to the forming of a conspiracy with Brutus elected as leader. Brutus had good intentions for the killing of Caesar, but he made awful choices to act upon it. Not only did he make terrible choices, but when his choices were made, he would accept no criticism from any man. He was confident in his decision making which sadly, led to his downfall. In the play “The Tragedy of Julius Caesar” devised by William Shakespeare, Brutus was flawed throughout by letting his confidence get the better of him while making the wrong decisions in dire situations.
The first example of how Brutus’s trait led to a flaw is in his confidence. Brutus was so confident in his judgement skills and decision making, that he pushed all of the other ideas away from him. A quote from the play by Brutus says, “Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius,/ To cut the head off, then hack the limbs,/ Like wrath in death and envy afterwards;/ For Antony is but a limb of Caesar./ Let us be sacrificers, but not butchers Caius.” (2.1. 162-166). In this quote, Brutus is explaining to Caius Cassius why he
Brutus’ tragic flaw is his honor, poor judgement and his idealism. The conspirators wrote him fake letters to get him to join them. They made it seem good that they were killing Caesar. For his second flaw, which is first taken advantage of by Antony, when he talked Brutus into letting him speak at Caesar’s funeral. His second example of poor judgement is thinking Antony could cause no harm to the conspirators or their plan. His last example of poor judgement was attacking Antony and Octavius at Philippi. His idealism leads him to believe what everybody tells him, he believes Antony and Cassius. Cassius makes him believe they are killing Caesar for the betterment of Rome. Everybody took advantage of Brutus’ flaws except Caesar.
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
Brutus is shown as being easily manipulated in the play. This trait is shown a few times in the play. At the beginning, Brutus is tricked by Cassius into believing that killing Julius Caesar would be for the better of Rome (1, 2, ll. 32-321). Cassius is able to deviously influence Brutus into thinking that Caesar is no different from Brutus. He says, “Brutus and Caesar: what should be in that Caesar?/ Why should that name be
Brutus in William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar In 'Julius Caesar', Shakespeare intended us to see Brutus as 'noble'. I wish to review his actions, and the motivating factors behind those actions. I intend to prove that Brutus had a strong and well-grounded character. He had good intentions, however, he made one fatal mistake and that was his downfall. When learn that Brutus is dedicated to the public, when Brutus decides Caesar must die, because he fears his ambition, this comes as a big shock to the Shakespearian audience as well as the modern day audience.
Brutus was very naive and got influenced by Cassius very easily. Cassius was very smart and manipulated Brutus to make him agree with him. Cassius said, “If I were Brutus now, and he were Cassius, He should not humour me.” (Shakespeare, p.13). Brutus believed that his friend, Caesar had a negative impact on Rome decided to join the conspiracy to assassinate Caesar. Even though Caesar was his friend, Brutus always showed loyalty towards Rome. Brutus' tragic flaw is that he is not good at figuring out other’s intentions, and trusted Cassius. If Brutus never listened to Cassius in the first place, he would not have joined the conspiracy, and might not have had a tragic end.
Shakespeare’s complex play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar contains several tragic heroes; a tragic hero holds high political or social esteem yet possesses an obvious character flaw. This discernible hubris undoubtedly causes the character’s demise or a severe forfeiture, which forces the character to undergo an unfeigned moment of enlightenment and shear reconciliation. Brutus, one of these tragic heroes, is a devout friend of the great Julius Caesar, that is, until he makes many execrable decisions he will soon regret; he becomes involved in a plot to kill the omniscient ruler of Rome during 44 B.C. After committing the crime, Mark Antony, an avid, passionate follower of Caesar, is left alive under Brutus’s orders to take his revenge on
To start off, the character Brutus alienates from his indecisive, good hearted nature into a more powerful corrupted character who easily makes decisions that may not always be based off morality. For example, in the beginning of the play Brutus shows his good-hearted character when he states, "Nor construe any further [his] neglect than that poor Brutus with himself at war forgets the show of love to other men"(Shakespeare, 1.2.45-48). Clearly, before Brutus gained power he was unsure of himself, and still wasn’t against Caesar because his heart still pushed for moral choices. Furthermore, without power Brutus did not appear to be corrupted in anyway, and rather seems to want to do everything he can for the good of Rome. While it is true, that Brutus began as an innocent it is clear that further on in the play he began to be corrupted by power and this is seen when he states, "Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius, To cut the head off and then hack the limbs, Like wrath in death and envy afterwards; For Antony is but a limb of Caesar" (Shakespeare, 2.1.162-165). Obviously, Brutus quickly becomes more confident and decisive in his decisions, and is even willing to tell the other conspirators what courses of action they must take. Therefore, further proving that as Brutus gains power his arrogance, and sense of control also increase.
Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar is a tragic play, where the renowned Julius Caesar is on the brink of achieving total control and power by becoming emperor of the Roman Empire. Ironically enough, when he thinks he is one step away from pulling it off, his "friends" (most from the senate) decide to overthrow him, with Caesar's most trusted friend, Marcus Brutus, acting as leader of the conspirators. Though the fall of Caesar from the most powerful man in the world to a man who's been betrayed and stabbed 30 times is a great downfall, he is not the tragic hero. Shakespeare's main focus is Marcus Brutus, a noble man who brings upon himself a great misfortune by his own actions,
William Shakespeare uses breathe taking, spectacular, and deep characters throughout the play. From major characters like Caesar and Brutus to smaller ones such as Lucius and Portia they all feel fleshed out and part of the story no matter their stage time. One of the major ways a character is displayed is Brutus as he decides to go against and kill Caesar. Quoted from Shmoop University “Brutus on one hand does not want to kill Caesar since he is great friends with him and respects him very much. But on the other he wants Rome to stay a republic and fears that Caesar will make it into an empire’’. However Brutus is later convinced by Cassius and other conspirators to kill him. Brutus explains how he has a war within himself over this
Brutus is an important character in the play ‘Julius Caesar’ as he is portrayed as a tragic hero where he possessed heroic traits such as being noble and honourable that earn the sympathy of the audience. However, he also has flaws and made many mistakes and hamartias that ultimately lead to his downfall.
In the beginning of the play, we meet Brutus, a highly respected, much loved, senator of Rome. He loved Rome as a republic and he has a good life until he is led astray by Cassius. When he becomes embroiled in the assassination of Caesar, he is very reluctant to do so. In the way he acted, you could tell he has sleepless nights over what he should do. He decided to kill Caesar for
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.
Brutus a high-ranking, well-regarded Roman nobleman that killed Julius Caesar, went to the top of the ranks and was crowned king. Even though Brutus was able to become king, he was not going to get that title without killing Caesar. In the play Julius Caesar, Brutus agrees to kill Caesar and is one of the three murderers that stabbed Julius Caesar. In Act III scene i William Shakespeare writes “CASCA and the other conspirators stab CAESAR. BRUTUS stabs him last.” This is when Brutus’s fate begins because he starts listening to the wrong people such as, when Cassius uses his power and authority to convince Brutus that he loves Caesar but loves Rome more. This is quoted when Shakespeare writes in Act III scene ii, “ I say to him that my love for Caesar was no less than his. If, then, that friend demands to know why I rose up against Caesar, this is my answer: it’s not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.” This shows Brutus’s major flaw and when he starts to believe things that other people tell him. Brutus shows that he is the Tragic Hero right when he agrees to kill Caesar because this is his tragic flaw that begins the downfall of himself.
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
William Shakespeare's play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, was mainly based on the assassination of Julius Caesar. The character who was the mastermind behind the assassination was, ironically, Marcus Brutus, a senator and close friend to Julius Caesar. But what would cause a person to kill a close friend? After I examined Brutus' relationship towards Caesar, his involvement in the conspiracy and his importance to the plot it all became clear. Brutus had one particular reason for killing Caesar and that was for the good of the people and the republic. Brutus had no personal reason for killing Caesar. Some of his most admirable traits were his morality and leadership skills.