Brutus was a character that Shakespeare used as the protagonist of his play “Julius Caesar”. Out of the primary characters of the play, Brutus was the most noble of the characters because of his honorable character, his complexity, and the purity of his motivations. Shakespeare used Brutus’ strengths and weaknesses as his motivations, and as a source for his constant internal conflict. One of Brutus’ strengths was that he was a well-respected leader. His nobility was presented through his intelligence, charisma, and honesty. The people of Rome trusted Brutus and would follow him. This is shown when he delivers his speech at Caesar’s funeral. The people of Rome were with Brutus, and believed in his decisions, until Antony turned them against him. His nobility is also shown in his two other strengths. Brutus has strong morals and he was faithful to his idealism of a Republic. Brutus worked hard to live by his morals because he felt a man’s character was defined by his sense of right and wrong and how he lived up to those choices. He was trusted, respected, and liked by everyone. When Cassius coerces him into the conspiracy, he is disturbed at the things he has to do in order to hide his involvement in …show more content…
Brutus doesn’t see the bad in others. He believes that all men essentially follow the same moral code that he does. While this is a noble trait, Cassius manipulates Brutus by repeatedly reminding him that the Republic would come to an end when Caesar became king, and by playing to his idealism. Unfortunately, Brutus blindly follows through and kills Caesar, creating an internal struggle between his convictions and his moral fiber. This is shown throughout the play as he follows Cassius’ plans in the conspiracy. Brutus didn’t want to believe that Cassius was doing this for personal gain, but doing it for the greater good of the
Indeed, Brutus was a honorable man. His honor was his greatest strength, but it was also his weakness. He murdered and betrayed his closest and only friend, due to the fact that he was so focused on doing the most honorable thing. Brutus focused more on principles, than the one person who truly cared about him. Consequently he also cared more about principle, than his own common sense. Therefore, his main focus was on honor and principle, which caused him to kill Caesar. He murdered Caesar because he thought it would solve the problem, but it only caused pandemonium.Consequently, his actions produced an angry mob, ready to avenge Caesar's death. If Brutus never took matters into his own hands, he would not have created a vicious crowd of citizens filled with hatred. He never solved the problem. When it got out of control, he resorted to killing himself. Cowardly, when things got tough, he ran away from it. He
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,
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.
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.
Brutus is truly “an honorable man.” He was initially resistant to Cassius’ suggestion to betray Caesar. Also, Brutus says, “not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.”(3.2.22) This proves that he only does what he feels is necessary to protect the Rome. In act 4, Brutus sees the ghost of Caesar, and this tells us that he is regretting his actions. He never felt right about killing Caesar afterwards. In fact, when he realized that he was wrong, he used the knife that he stabbed Caesar to take his own
Selflessness, a noble trait to have, but when one puts everything before themselves, it will only lead to tragedy. The character Brutus in ¨The tragedy of Julius Caesar” makes the choice to murder his personal friend Caesar, the soon to be ruler of Rome, for the future of his country. This leads to Caesar's second in command, Antony, to pursue Brutus and the others involved in the murder until their death. In William Shakespeare's play ¨The tragedy of Julius Caesar” Brutus through his selflessness in acting for the better of Rome instead of himself, and putting aside personal matters for his country becomes the tragic character.
Marc Antony, Brutus, and Cassius are all critical characters in William Shakespeare’s famous play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. Due to their distinctive personalities and values, there is no trait that all of these characters share, although they do share some traits with one another. Firstly, Marc Antony and Cassius are manipulative in nature, while Brutus is not. Secondly, the root of Brutus and Cassius’ failure is their personality flaw, while Marc Antony proves strong in all the ways they prove weak. Lastly, Antony and Cassius, unlike Brutus, do not separate their private affairs from their public actions while acts only with honor and virtue and completely ignores his personal concerns.
He states that Brutus is just as noble and worthy as Caesar. (Act 1, scene ii). He says that Brutus cannot see what everyone else does and recognize his worthiness. Cassius and the other senators do not want Caesar to be king because they would lose all their power. Cassius is slowly luring Brutus in to do his dirty work. He builds Brutus’s confidence up to make him thing that killing Caesar is the right thing to do. Cassius is basically playing with Brutus’s head because he knows Brutus will listen. So, Brutus joins the conspirators in killing Caesar. Cassius tells Brutus that it is for the good of Rome, and that he is saving them from a dictatorship. Cassius is going for Brutus’s weakest point, his care and concern for Rome. He knows that if Brutus believes the people distrust Caesar, then he will be convinced that Caesar must be thwarted. Brutus knew that if Caesar was crowned, he would never have a chance, and he was power hungry. This is what ultimately leads to the tragedy of Julius Caesar. After Brutus kills Caesar off, he starts to feel guilty for killing his friend, thus creating an internal conflict. Brutus was so confident that the plan would go exactly as planned that he fell apart when they encountered problems. If Brutus and the other conspirators had taken more time to think things through, they probably would have been more prepared for the situation that was handed to them.
Brutus is only one out of few that will not betray the Roman Empire. He wants to do what is right. Cassius tries to convince Brutus that Caesar is a bad ruler. Cassius is plotting a plan to convince Brutus that Caesar is a bad ruler and to help kill Caesar.
While the group of conspirators meet up there is a discussion of whether kill Antony or not. This is what Brutus has to say, “Our course will seem too bloody Caius Cassius to cut the head off then hack the limbs, like wrath in death and envy afterwards” (II.I.169-71). This is an example of how nice Brutus is, he doesn’t want to kill because he wants to, he kills because he needs to. When Casca and Cassius are talking Casca brings up a good point. He says, “Oh, he sits high in all the people’s hearts (I.III.159-60).This quote shows that since he is popular with the people he has to be nice and honorable for people to like him. When they were at Caesar’s funeral Brutus made mistake and gave Antony permission to speak at the funeral, and this is what Antony said, “For Brutus is an honorable man; so are they all, all honorable men” (III.II.81-82). This quote show that Brutus was nice and he got manipulated as the people turned against them and their
Tricking him into doing “what's good for the people” . The next way they try to manipulate Brutus is by flattering him. In the play Brutus is a very self conscious character. He might be the same as Caesar but he doesn't see this. “I have heard Where many of the best respect in Rome, Except Immortal Caesar speaking of Brutus and groaning underneath his age’s yoke Have wish'd that noble Brutus had his eyes” (I.ii.60). Cassius is convincing Brutus into believing he really is a brave and noble man. By doing this Brutus will be more offended by Caesar's remarks and want to join the conspiracy. To wrap up, Brutus is in fact manipulated into killing Caesar.
To start, Brutus is characterized and honorable through his actions and motives. Before Brutus joins the conspirators, he says to Cassius, “If it’s anything to do with the welfare of the people, show me honor on the one hand, and death in the other” (I.ii.84-85). Brutus is telling Cassius that he would do anything for the Roman people no matter the cost. Brutus wants to keep his honor and would rather die than lose his honorable reputation. When Brutus finally decides to join the conspirators, he feels obligated to kill Caesar because not saving the Roman people would cause him to lose his honor. Brutus feels this way because Cassius delivered false letters to his house that Brutus believed were from the Roman people. The letters read, “Brutus, you are asleep. Wake up!... Speak out! Strike out! Reform!” (II.i.48-55). These notes convince Brutus that the Roman people do not wish to have Caesar as a dictator. In response, Brutus says, “Oh Rome, I make you this promise: if reform will follow from my intervention, you will have the services of Brutus unreservedly” (II.i.56-58). When Brutus says this, he has decided to intervene in the path of Caesar becoming dictator because in his view the Roman people
Brutus’ misfortune is caused by thinking that every man is has honorable as he is ,” … But because his peculiar logical stance makes it impossible for him to recognize the common sense of others”, (Houppert), and therefore not seeing people’s ill motives. This characteristic Brutus makes him easy to manipulate in wicked endeavors such as killing Caesar. This is apparent to readers when Cassius tries to get Brutus to help remove Caesar from power, “... Thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods!/ When went there by an age/ Since the great flood/
In “The Tragedy of Julius Caesar”, Brutus was a villain. He was a man who loved Caesar and was a friend of Caesar’s throughout the play leading to his death. Throughout the play, Brutus fell for the manipulative ways of Cassius and the other conspirators. Brutus made several mistakes along with being a bad person in the play. He had several faults which involved him killing one of his closest friends one of the first acts of the play. There were some ways that Brutus is a good person, but those ways are hard to find over the bad choices he made over the course of the play.
Secondly, although Brutus fears Caesar’s ambition, and does not want him to have ultimate power, he protests that he still "love[s] him well” (Shakespeare, I.ii.82). Brutus is caught between the antithetical images of himself as loyal to Caesar and loyal to Rome. Despite the actions that he will ultimately take against Caesar, he cannot bear to see himself as a betrayer, demonstrating that it is impossible for man to see himself clearly when he is engaged in immoral actions. Lastly, Brutus believes he is acting from his best intentions, assuring Cassius that, “If it be aught toward the general good/… I love/The name of honour more than I fear death” (Shakespeare, I.ii.85-89). By juxtaposing the concepts of loving honor more than fearing death, Brutus projects the image of a truly honorable man, willing to sacrifice his life for the greater good.