Essay on Brutus in William 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.

In Roman history, some elite men held certain values that they felt strong enough to take their life in order to defend it. In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, there are certain characters portrayed to show how a person’s values or ideas can change their behavior and influence some significant decisions. The protagonist of the play, Marcus Brutus, supports this thought by having an idealistic view on the world and by showing his patriotism toward Rome. In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Shakespeare uses Brutus as an honorable, idealistic man in order to show the depth that a high-class Roman man will go through in order to defend his honor.

Both Cassius and Brutus play major roles in the play Julius Caesar. Cassius and Brutus both plan Caesar’s death. Although they are working towards a common goal, Cassius and Brutus have very different motivations for doing this. On the one hand, Cassius sees it as a way to gain more power for himself while destroying the king and all his power. On the other hand, Brutus believes that in killing Caesar he is preserving peace for the Romans’ future years. Throughout the play, Shakespeare uses different techniques to create biased characterizations of the two men so that readers and viewers develop identical attitudes towards each of them. In Julius Caesar, Cassius is portrayed as a greedy villain while Brutus is depicted as an

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.

As noble and great as Brutus might be, all tragic heroes have some tragic flaws and make some errors of judgment, which leads them to their downfall. In this case Brutus's great flaw is that he is too honorable, and he's too naïve when he is dealing with people. An example of an error of judgment is when Brutus underestimates Antony, and thinks him incapable of being dangerous after Caesar's death, "For Antony is but a limb of Caesar...he can do no more than Caesar's arm When Caesar's head is off."  This turns out not to be the case. One example of Brutus's excessive honor being damaging to him, is when he decides that only Caesar should die and no one else even if they seem to threaten his cause, as Cassius warns repeatedly that Antony does.

Brutus’s main goal in his speech was to justify his action of killing Caesar in hope that the citizens would be in agreement with him and understand that he had Rome’s best interests at heart. Brutus attempts to persuade the people through ethos, pathos, and logos. He mainly uses ethos. He continuously says that he is an honorable man who loved Caesar but loved his country more. He uses an example of ethos when he says, “Hear me for my cause, and be silent, that you may hear: believe me for mine honour, and have respect for mine honour, that you may believe.” In this quote, he uses restatement to show his credibility as an honorable man. Because he approached the people in this way, they think, “Why would an honorable man, such

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.

This displays that Brutus has no personal resentment towards Caesar, but is doing what is best for the Roman people. Therefore, Marcus Brutus’s moral integrity shows in his decisions, which makes him a tragic hero.

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

 Brutus was admired throughout Rome for his honorable reputation which was the reason he was an essential member needed for the conspiracy. Yet his heroic virtues that brought him on a glorious, honorable, and joyful platform ended up pushing him into a bottomless pit. A tragic hero has many outstanding qualities, creating the illusion of a knight in shining armor. However, Julius Caesar's Brutus, the knight in shining armor, was converted to the wrong side. The reader is moved for they can

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

Shakespeare has a keen eye for producing effective characters, proven by his broadening of Marcus Junius Brutus in his 1623 play “ Julius Caesar”. Brutus is a strong example of how in order to accomplish the most, it is reasonable to manipulate. This is an important thought when considering how Brutus not only fluctuates the entirety of Rome, but also each of his peer conspirators. Very clearly, Brutus begins to have doubts about Caesars ability to lead Rome. Brutus illustrates the theme in the quote “What means this shouting? I do fear the people do choose Caesar for their king…yet I love him well.”(act 1, scene 2, ll.85-89). Brutus’s relationship with Caesar notably holds the same reasoning as the theme “exploit for the greater good”. As seen in the previously stated quote, Brutus has conflicting feelings on Caesar’s political placement. This marks the development of the theme within Brutus and his relationship to Rome.

A protagonist is the leading character or actor in a play, novel, or story. The leading character of a play is not easily interpreted. A protagonist does not necessarily have to be good or bad. Determining the protagonist is one of the many engaging issues presented in the play. Many characters exhibit the characteristics of a true protagonist in Julius Caesar, few stand out over all others. Caesar was a powerful, courageous, yet arrogant leader who is depicted in many different ways. Brutus friend of Caesar, loves Caesar greatly but does not think he possess leadership skills. Antony is loyal, trustworthy, and a devoted follower of Caesar, and proves to be a required character in Julius Caesar. All three of the protagonist must go

In the play Julius Caesar, the tragedy of the play was directed mainly at one specific character, Marcus Brutus. Brutus was the tragic hero of the play, because of his idealistic and pragmatic qualities. The mindset that Brutus possessed only allowed him to see the world and its people from one point of view. This point of view allowed him to make judgments that assumed only the best of people. This tragic weakness resulted in many errors throughout the play. The major incidences such as decisions made during the orchard soliloquy, the discussion with Cassius and the conspirators regarding decisions about Antony and the oath, his speech to the commoners after Caesar's