Cassius as Tragic Hero in Julius Caesar Essay

William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Julius Caesar is a story of envy, downfall, dishonesty, and true loyalty. The story begins with a celebration of Julius Caesar’s return home from a victorious battle. The people of Rome are excited for Caesar’s return, as they value and respect him as a potential leader, but there are also a handful of people that express their unhappiness with all of the attention surrounding Caesar. Caius Cassius is among those handful of individuals unhappy with Caesar’s popularity. Cassius is envious of Caesar and does not understand why he has gained so much power over the people of Rome, which brings him to the conclusion that he needs to bring about the fall of Caesar. Cassius expresses the issue to his brother-in-law

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.

    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,

Julius Caesar is a work of art by William Shakespeare in 1599. Within this play Julius Caesar is portrayed as a tragic hero. A tragic hero is defined as “the main character of a tragedy [who is] usually dignified, courageous, and high ranking” (novel study guide). Also vital to defining a tragic hero is that, “the hero’s downfall is caused by a tragic flaw” ( novel study guide). It is very evident that Julius Caesar in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar is a tragic hero given that he is of noble stature, has a fatal flaw and comes to an unhappy end.

In Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Brutus and Cassius are contrasting characters. They differ in the way they perceive Antony as a threat to the assassination plot, their dominance in personality, and their moral fiber. In Julius Caesar, Brutus is the more naïve, dominant and noble character, while Cassius is the more perceptive, submissive, and manipulative person.

A tragic hero in Shakespearean literature is understood as a noble and heroic character who makes a series of bad decisions based on his bad judgment that leads to his downfall and eventually death. In William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, the tragic hero is Marcus Brutus, a powerful Roman senator who joins a conspiracy to assassinate the Roman ruler, Julius Caesar. Marcus Brutus is a tragic hero because of his noble reputation, his moral personality, the cathartic experience that the audience feels from his life and his tragic flaw: idealism.

For several centuries, tragedy is one of the many popular genres of literature. In every tragedy, there is a tragic hero who makes an error that leads to their own downfall. William Shakespeare is known to have written many tragedies, which includes Julius Caesar. Due to the many downfalls of numerous characters during the play, it consequently led to arguments about who the tragic hero is. Some critics argued that Julius Caesar, who the play is named after, is the tragic hero while others reason that Marcus Brutus is the tragic hero. However, through the analysis of two essays “Julius Caesar- A Tragic Hero” and Toby Le’s “The Tragic Hero of Julius Caesar”, it became evident that Marcus Brutus is the tragic hero of the play because he demonstrates several characteristics: a tragic dilemma, tragic flaw, downfall, and an epiphany. Considering the main points explained in both of these essays, I am also persuaded that Brutus’s character best fits the standards of a tragic hero.

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.

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.

Centuries after the murder of a rising dictator, students, historians, and linguists alike continue to study the death of Julius Caesar as immortalized by William Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. In this tragedy, Shakespeare examines the days preceding Caesar’s downfall, and the aftermath that ensues. The tragedy describes Marcus Brutus, a character with noble and honorable intentions, influenced by Cassius to support a conspiracy against an ambitious politician, Julius Caesar. Brutus, Cassius, and other conspirators succeed in ending Caesar’s life, but are forced to flee when Rome turns against them. Much controversy has arisen over who is the tragic hero of the play. A tragic hero is a noble character who, despite his greatness, is led to destruction by his own fatal flaw. Although many argue Brutus is the tragic hero due to his prominent role in the play and his heroic, yet flawed, character, Shakespeare remains justified in the naming of his play. In Shakespeare’s accurately titled tragedy, Julius Caesar, rather than Brutus, remains the tragic hero of the play due to his heroic qualities, his fatal flaw, and Brutus’ ineligibility as the tragic hero.

     Specifically, Caesar’s problem was that his arrogance made the men closest to him feel threatened, mad and jealous. Caesar acted like he was better than everyone else, and he made others feel insignificant, even though they were great and noble also. “Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world Like a Colossus, and we petty men /Walk under his huge legs and peep about/ To find ourselves dishonorable graves.” (I.ii.135-138) Cassius feels like he shouldn’t have to feel so small next to Caesar, and Caesar thinks he is better than everyone. Caesar talks to everyone like they are nothing compared to him, and he talks about himself as though he could never be questioned, which is basically a dictatorship. Rome was a Republic and the idea that one man could rule it as a king was a threat. Cassius points out, “When could they say (till now) that talked of Rome, that her wide walks encompassed but one man” (I.ii.154-155). This is a reference to the fact that Rome should never be a dictatorship, but a democracy. This is the point that convinces some of the men to move against him. They feel they had to do it to protect Rome. Additionally, Caesar acted so

The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare is a tale not completely focused on Julius Caesar himself. But is instead focused more on the conspirators that surrounded him. Julius Caesar is unwilling to believe several warnings that could have saved his life, Julius Caesar ends up being murdered after ignoring all of the warnings, everyone has a different view of Julius Caesar. A tragic hero is a character of high standing in society that has a flaw that leads to their downfall and must feel enlightened in the end. Julius Caesar is a tragic hero.

     Cassius, up to the end of the play, was very aware of his fate and took the largest strides to overcome that. This is due to the fact that Cassius followed the Epicurean philosophy, which believes that the gods do not involve themselves directly in the fate of man. This belief was highlighted when he told Brutus “Men at some time are masters of their fates: the fault, dear Brutus, is not in our starts, but in ourselves, that we are underlings” (I. ii. 139-141). Because of this belief, he never resigned himself to live in the world in its current state. He always felt that there was something he could do to better his standing in life. This diligent effort to better himself led Caesar to comment “such men as he…are very dangerous” (I. ii. 209-210). Cassius’ role in the play was using his free will to overcome the fate that would come true, the fate that Caesar was one day going to become emperor. Because he was so driven by the desire to overcome this fate, he was

Unlike the common view of leaders, the potential leaders of Julius Caesar are not necessarily nice or giving. However, sometimes that is necessary. In the play Julius Caesar, a long tale of leadership shows the true qualities of the greatest leaders. Where the reader finds themselves started is at the point which Antony and Caesar, the overconfident leader of Rome, are discussing people around them. This discussion boils to a point in which Antony and Caesar discuss the possibility of Cassius being a threat to Caesar. Later, readers find Cassius is indeed a threat, as he and multiple others, including Brutus, stab Caesar to death. Antony then brings Caesar’s body to the multitude, and with a great speech inspires a hatred for those who wrongfully stabbed him. At the next point Antony is seen, he and Octavius are the new rulers of Rome. These two comrades go and finally eliminate the last of the traitors, Cassius and Brutus, in a battle that cements the two as the new leaders of Rome. Throughout all these actions, one man particularly showed that he should control the Roman Empire. Antony was created to be Rome’s leader in Julius Caesar, where William Shakespeare gave him inspirational abilities, persuasiveness, and fearlessness which are unparalleled.

At the start of the timelessly classic play, Julius Caesar was in the final stages of parlaying his military prowess and growing cult of personality into enthronement as the long absent autocrat of Rome. His brother-in-arms, Marcus Brutus, after fighting at Caesar’s side for so long, was forced to weigh his loyalty to Caesar against his loyalty to Rome, setting the stage for the troubling events to come. As Caesar’s divine right to rule and infallibility were trumpeted throughout Rome, others were not so convinced of his purity and worthiness. Cassius, a dissident Senator, opened Brutus’ eyes to the circumstances unfolding before them and to what could be lost should Caesar take the throne. Cassius voiced his opposition strongly, saying: