Examples Of Betrayal In Julius Caesar

Brutus was in fact a betrayer, and while he did feel sympathy for Caesar after he died, he killed him along with the other conspirators and even started a war of sorts in Rome, causing many to fall in battle- himself included. While Brutus was persuaded by fake letters, no man should be as gullible as him to completely switch sides on only the basis of three anonymous letters that were stuck to his window. Brutus was a villain who felt that he was the hero, more concerned about the safety of the government he loved rather than the friend that he loved.

To betray by definition is to, “expose a person to danger by giving information or being disloyal to”. These books show that not only does conflict lead to broken friendships, but brutal betrayal as well. Betrayal is a part of human interaction, originating from conflict. Betrayal happens when friendship is not just broken, but converted to hatred because of the conflict. This relationship becomes a bitter one, with both people being against the other. Both Shakespeare and Knowles show that betrayal is a natural result of broken friendships. Brutus was considered by some to be Caesar’s son. For him to betray Caesar was upsetting, but it came with reasoning. “Et tu, Bruté?— then fall, Caesar” (III.i.85). It was because Caesar was usurping the Roman Empire, trying to take control. Brutus betrayed him because he was in conflict with Caesar’s new power. When Gene betrayed Phineas it was similar. He pushed Phineas off because his popularity was in conflict with Gene. “Gene understands his inferiority to Phineas and his own moral ugliness, made the more so when juxtaposed to Finny’s innocence. It is this realization that prompts his conscious shaking of the tree, which casts Phineas to the earth and which serves as Gene’s initiation to the ignorance and moral blackness of the human heart” (Ellis, 315). Gene realizes how Finny is superior and purposely injures him because of

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.

     In the play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare shows how friends often betray each other. Julius Caesar is about to be crowned king of Rome, when some well-known Romans decide that it is not a good idea for this to happen. They form a conspiracy and kill Caesar. Brutus, an honorable Roman and a very good friend of Caesar’s, betrays Caesar by killing him for the good of Rome. Antony, Caesar’s best friend and another honorable Roman, betrays Brutus by turning against the conspirators. Cassius, a respected Roman, and Brutus betray each other by arguing and destroying their friendship. All this betraying lead to many deaths in the play.

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.

In the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, an honorable man, Brutus, is planning to overthrow the soon to be king, Julius Caesar. Brutus is persuaded by Cassius that Caesar is a liar, too ambitious, weak, and not fit to be Rome’s king. Brutus soon believed Cassius, and they and the conspirators made a plan to kill Caesar. After Caesar’s death, Brutus planned to justify his actions of killing Caesar at his funeral in his speech to the people. After Brutus’s speech, the citizens of Rome were all in agreement that Brutus did the right thing for Rome. Brutus then decides to allow Caesar’s best friend, Antony, to speak in honor of Caesar. Antony speaks, and he convinces the citizens that Brutus’s actions were unjust and turned the people against Brutus.

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.

Cassius told Brutus, that he should kill Antony, because Antony was the weakest link out of everyone. Naively, Brutus did not listen to him, which caused more trouble. Again, Cassius also warned him to not let Antony speak at the funeral, however, Brutus ignored his warning. If Antony never spoke at Caesar's funeral, there would have never been that much chaos. The conspirators would have gotten away with murdering Caesar. Brutus' honor was the cause of his downfall. The pandemonium that ensued could have been prevented, if Brutus listened to Cassius. This clearly illustrates that Brutus was very naïve in his leadership

Tom Cochrane once said “ Tragedy in life normally comes with betrayal and compromise, and trading on your integrity and not having dignity in life. That’s really where failure comes.” In “ Julius Caesar”, Brutus plays a big role in the betrayal of caesar being part of a plan to kill Caesar. Moreover, Brutus put off that he was for the People of Rome, but the deeper the play goes the more suspicion of Brutus’s true objective comes into play. Brutus was naive in believing Cassius and his moral judgement was off. All in all, brutus betrayed Caesar.

In Act 1, we learn that Brutus respect Caesar and Caesar respects Brutus. Making this an easy target for Cassius to use Brutus to join the conspirators to kill Caesar. Brutus is loyal to Caesar but we know that Brutus will do anything to keep the people of Rome happy. He was willing to betray his friend in order to save the people of Rome. Although Brutus was assuming that Caesar would betray all his friends because he’s stronger than them; he is at war between betraying Caesar or betraying the people of Rome. Either way Brutus has to pick one and obviously from the context of his soliloquy, readers can tell that Brutus truly honors the citizens. Therefore he ends up betraying his friend (that trust him) and joins the conspirator. Another example

Betrayal can come from anyone, but the worst it can come from is from our closest friends. The tragedy play “Julius Caesar” written by William Shakespeare expresses the idea of this quote. This play starts off with a crowd of town folks surrounding Caesar; excited for is arrival to Rome. When Caesar enters the town, he bumps into a soothsayer who tells him to “ beware of the ides of march”. Caesar ignore the sign, and many other signs, for example Calpurnia’s dream and Artemidorus’s letter; all these sign were telling him about the conspirators planning on killing him.

Brutus is one of Caesar?s dearest friends, but cares more for the good of Rome and its people. In the beginning of the play Brutus is persuaded into joining the conspiracy, and turning against Caesar. He helps with the plot against Caesar and furthermore his assassination. Without Brutus the conspirators would not have had the courage to go through with the conspiracy. In his speech at Caesar?s funeral he said, ?If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of Caesar's, to him I say, that Brutus' love to Caesar was no less than his. 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.3.2:17-22? What Brutus is saying is that, If there is any friend of Caesar here,

The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare contains many important themes to the development of the plot; however, none are as important as the theme of deception. Shakespeare used deception to keep the plot rolling and to acknowledge the key moments in the play. By reading the play, it can be clearly seen that the people of Ancient Rome were easily swayed by deception. One of the main examples of deception in the play was Marc Antony’s funeral dirge. Another example of deception was when Decius assured Julius Caesar that nothing would happen to him at the senate. Lastly, the deceptive acts of persuasion committed by Cassius to convince Brutus to join the conspiracy.

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.