Contrasting Characters
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.
Brutus and Cassius are very different in the way they perceive Antony. Brutus is very trusting and naïve when he judges Antony. When the subject of killing Antony comes up among the conspirators, Brutus underestimates how dangerous Antony could be and says, “For Antony is but a limb of Caesar”(2.1.178). This statement means Brutus does not
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Cassius thinks that Cicero is a good and honorable man that should be included, but as soon as he nominates Cicero to join the group, Brutus steps in and says, “O, name him not! Let us not break with him, / For he will never follow anything/ That other men begin” (2.1.162-165). Instead of contesting Brutus, Cassius just lets it pass and concedes to not permitting Cicero to join the group. Although this particular argument isn’t pivotal to the plot, it augments how Brutus dominates what decisions are made. Brutus again shows his dominance over Cassius when the two are discussing military strategies. Cassius wants to stay where they are and let Octavius and Antony waste their energy trying to find Brutus and him. “ ‘Tis better that the enemy seek us; / So shall he waste his means, and weary his soldiers…”(4.3.228-229). This is a good idea and it should be used, but Brutus shows his precedence over Cassius by instantaneously replying, “Good reasons must by force give place by better…”(4.3.233). Brutus then states his reason: if they get to Philipi first, they will have the better position. Cassius, who has a good argument, does not even try to contest Brutus. He backs down and says, “Then with your will, go on” (4.3.256). This decision leads to their armies losing and to the end of both their lives. Cassius has the better plan but he submits to Brutus. Finally, when Brutus and Cassius are arguing with each other about everything
Cassius’s thinking is that when Caesar falls, Antony is not to be trusted and will most likely seek revenge. However, Brutus once again disagrees with Cassius’s opinion thinking that Antony is an honorable man who, without Caesar, is too weak to actually take revenge against them. Brutus and Cassius’s contradicting thoughts on Antony are shown when Brutus says,
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
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.
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.
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.
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 convinces Cassius not to worry about Antony once Caesar is murdered, “for Antony is only a limb of Caesar”. Basically Brutus believes Antony to be a follower of Caesar and is only capable of “loving Caesar”. Brutus believes that he will be helpless without Caesars rule for “all that he can do is to himself, take thought and die for Caesar; and that were much he should; for he is given to sports, to wildness, and much company” meaning all Antony can do is grieve or commit suicide, but Brutus doesn’t think that he will because he is too hung up his sports and leisure ect.
Brutus is an honorable man in this play but when Cassius, one of the main characters, and antagonists from the play, points out to Brutus why he
Shakespeare’s tragedy, Julius Caesar, displays Brutus as a tragic hero, blinded loyalty and devotion. Brutus's heroic belief of honor and virtue was so powerful that it drove him to perform villainous actions and lead to his destruction.
As you read Julius Caesar you get to know the characters better and better. Like you start to understand that Cassius is way wrong with the whole plan to kill Caesar, and that Brutus should not have listened to him, but that we are talking about Brutus let me just say some things about him. Brutus was a fellow friend of Caesar but the problem was is that he started to listen to Cassius a fellow traitor of Caesar but used to be his friend a long time ago, in the story when Cassius and Brutus met on the day when Caesar has come from his conquest from Pompay Cassius told Brutus stories of how Caesar was a little girl and that he got cold for just falling in to the river and how he cried for help and Cassius helped him but he was a shamed of having such a little girl of a leader. To say the truth Brutus was not that bad of a person, he was a very good friend with Caesar, I bet he would have helped Caesar with anything, but the things changed and Cassius persuaded Brutus that Caesar was a
Cassius' loyalty line goes the other way. In the beginning he is out to set himself up in a position of power, and through Caesar's death he continues to act out of self-interest. By the end of the play, however, he has developed a sense of loyalty to Brutus and to Titinius. Brutus's pattern lies somewhere in between Antony's and Cassius's. In the beginning of the play most students feel that Brutus' loyalty is ambiguous. Although he seems loyal to Caesar, he is swayed by flattery to himself. By 2.1, when he makes the decision to participate in the murder, Brutus seems to be acting out of self-interest, though he disguises it in a rationalization of the good of the country. I find that students often engage in a really interesting discussion of the subtle shifts in Brutus' use of language; he shifts, for instance, to the use of the royal "we." By the end of the play Brutus, like Cassius, develops a sense of loyalty to his new comrades, and his last words, like Cassius's, are a self-condemning recognition of
To compare humans you are simply comparing ideas. Thoughts, experiences and philosophies that all combine together to create individuals. Two experiences and two people who see the same scenario with different perspectives. Such is the way with Brutus and Cassius. This pair of Roman senators shows us the difficulty of having a realist and an idealist work together, yet the pair manages to overcome their different views on the world to work together and assassinate “the foremost man of all this world.” Though, the pair of friends and lovers differences does not simply end at idealism versus realism. The pair seems to be naturally against each other in terms as ideas, it’s a wonder that with such different personalities, oeadership and
Brutus and Mark Antony both loved Caesar but they both spoke differently to the audiences leaving them with completely different impressions that defined the outcome of the play deciding who would survive. Mark Antony was very persuasive and Brutus was more honorable. They were both friends with Caesar, very good friends, they didn't doubt that Caesar was a good person they just didn't think he was right for Rome.
As shown in the previous paragraph, The conflicts revolve around Brutus. Brutus himself is a sincere and honorable man which is a trait of a protagonist. Another trait that makes Brutus the protagonist is his change. In the beginning of the play, Brutus is shown as a honorable and respected Roman. The play also shows Brutus as a naive man, who trusts the conspirators not to betray him. He only does this because he would not betray them. In act IV Brutus starts to change. One of his changes is when he accuses Cassius of taking bribes. “Let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself Are much condemned to have an itching palm, To sell and mart your offices for gold To undeservers”. Other change occurs in act V. In the beginning of scene five, Brutus asks the others to kill him, but Brutus had said that suicide was dishonorable. Strato holds Brutus’s sword so Brutus can run on to it and kill
Unlike Brutus, Cassius is a far-sighted man. He is aware of the capability of Antony and his solid friendship with Caesar. An important item in his plan is to get rid of Mark Antony as well, along with Caesar since he concludes that he is a potential danger to their cause. But this is over-ruled by Brutus on the premise that it will foul their good intention. Brutus’ reaction to the suggestion is: