Julius Caesar Archetype

In tragedy plays, there is always a tragic hero who has a tragic flaw in his personality may it be excessive pride, poor judgement, or both which eventually leads to the hero’s downfall where the hero can perform no action to prevent it. In Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, Marcus Brutus is the tragic hero of the play due to his tragic flaw which is his naïve and over-trusting personality, which he eventually realizes too late and performs an action to prevent his loss of dignity.

The play Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, entails the rise and fall of Julius Caesar and Brutus, the man plotting against him. At the opening of the play Julius is being celebrated for his victory over Pompey. Later, he is offered kingship; but Caesar refuses the crown. On the ides of March Brutus and some other men come before Caesar to plead a case; except, their only motive is to kill Caesar. Antony, Caesar’s right hand man, pretends to side with the conspirators after Caesar is killed, while he gathers an army to defeat Brutus. Antony and Octavius’ army defeats Brutus’ troops; forcing Brutus and many others to commit suicide. The tragic character, Brutus, is usually the protagonist that has a tragic flaw and this causes his defeat. A tragic flaw is the cause of their downfall, usually an action or belief. Brutus’ tragic flaws are his nobility, trust and the inability to wrong people. Brutus is the tragic character in Julius Caesar because of his nobility and because he does all his deeds for the good of Rome.

In Julius Caesar Brutus displays the traits of a tragic hero throughout this play. His tragic flaw is need to be nobel. He makes an error in judgment, and when killing Caesar causes all of Rome to turn against the conspirators everything from then on causes tragic events. All of which eventually lead to his death.

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.

Marcus Brutus was a reputable man to the people of Rome and to his friend Caesar. Brutus had good intentions for Rome’s people, which is why he did not think Caesar would be a good leader. Although Caesar was in shock to see Brutus included in the men that stabbed him, Brutus only did it for the good of the people. Brutus reveals his nobility to his people when he says in Act 3, scene 2, “…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”(126). Brutus’s statement explains that he had all the respect for Caesar as anyone else, but the love for his people and home was much more prized. He killed Caesar out of fear of what may happen to the beloved people of Rome. This proves that Brutus’s intentions were just as honorable as the man he was. In addition to both characters being honorable, their actions got the best of them and may have changed them for the worst.

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

In Julius Caesar Brutus displays the traits of a tragic hero through out this play. His tragic flaw is his being too naive. He makes an error in judgment, and when this error occurred it causes his own downfall. But Brutus causes his own downfall when after killing Caesar all of Rome turns against the conspirators. And all these events cause his death. However, the factors that have made him a tragic hero are discussed below:

He said, “not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more,” as well as “I know no personal cause to spurn at him, But for the general.” Although, Brutus thinks he’s doing good for the sake of Rome, his acts out of his own opinion. It was Cassius who persuaded Brutus into killing him and he sent letters to Brutus posing as a citizen concerned about Caesar's power. This pushes Brutus to his final decision of killing Caesar. Brutus also perceived Caesar as ambitious, someone who would abuse his power as king.

Do you believe that brutus was just a backstabbing friend, or really a tragic hero? Marcus Brutus from William Shakespeare’s, Julius Caesar, was a tragic hero in my opinion. I am going to try and convince you that he was and why he was a tragic hero in this essay. Brutus meets all of the criteria of a tragic hero. He is arguably the protagonist of the play; he has a fatal flaw that leads to his downfall, which he cannot recover from. He had good qualities like patriotism, and he was honorable. His tragic flaw was also one of his good qualities, he was honorable. He killed someone he loved for the good of his country. Brutus also killed himself for honor. In the following paragraphs I will be explaining all of this.

Brutus’ tragic flaw is his love for Rome. Brutus also has love for Caesar. His love for Rome drove him to kill Caesar as he thought that was the best thing for Rome. Brutus is the tragic hero because he was invoked into the conspiracy, he realized he wanted to kill Caesar, and he took credit for Caesar’s murder after committing it. Brutus was invoked by Cassius to aid in the killing of Julius Caesar.

Brutus commits three costly mistakes during the play. The first mistake that he makes is that he participates in the assassination of Julius Caesar. “People, and senators, be not affrighted.

For instance, the protagonist of The Odyssey, Odysseus, suffers from hubris as it causes the gods to turn against him due to his disrespectful acts of superiority towards them. Similarly to Odysseus, Brutus has flaws of his own, the principal fault being his sense of nobleness. When Brutus is manipulated into taking part in the assassination of Caesar, he is the sole conspirator to have a noble motive in killing Caesar. In his soliloquy, he justifies Caesar’s murder by asserting, “It must be by his death; and for my part, I know no personal cause to spurn at him, but for the general” (Shakespeare II. i. 10-12).

Cassius had handwritten notes and threw them into Brutus' room in a successful attempt to cause Brutus to think that the citizens wanted him to take action against Caesar. After thoroughly reading these notes, Brutus made his final decision to take part in the murder of Caesar. As Brutus mentioned, "O Rome, I make thee promise, If the redress will follow thou receivist, Thy full petition at the hand of Brutus!  (II.i.56-58). Brutus honestly felt that he had to kill Julius Caesar in order to save Rome from dictatorship.

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