Marcus Brutus As A Tragic Hero

In 1599 Shakespeare wrote the play Julius Caesar. The main character of the play Brutus as he represents a tragic hero. being a tragic hero means. He is above us but human And he falls from a high place, He struggles against his own fate, he is guilty of a fatal flaw (honor), he has an epiphany, and by the end of the play, he is dead

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.

Shakespeare’s complex play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar contains several tragic heroes; a tragic hero holds high political or social esteem yet possesses an obvious character flaw. This discernible hubris undoubtedly causes the character’s demise or a severe forfeiture, which forces the character to undergo an unfeigned moment of enlightenment and shear reconciliation. Brutus, one of these tragic heroes, is a devout friend of the great Julius Caesar, that is, until he makes many execrable decisions he will soon regret; he becomes involved in a plot to kill the omniscient ruler of Rome during 44 B.C. After committing the crime, Mark Antony, an avid, passionate follower of Caesar, is left alive under Brutus’s orders to take his revenge on

Antony and Cassius, unlike Brutus, never separate their private affairs from their public actions while Brutus tries to prove himself by acting only with respect to honor and virtue, completely ignoring his personal concerns. For example, Cassius disliked the fact that Caesar became “godlike” in the eyes of the Romans, so he leads Brutus to believe that Caesar had become too powerful and must die by sending him forged letters claiming that the Roman people support the death of Caesar, ultimately converting Brutus to his cause. At last Brutus ends up murdering his good friend in an act he truly believed was honorable. Marc Antony, who also shares in Cassius’ selfish trait, persuaded the conspirators that he is on their side, therefore gaining their leniency. He proceeds to persuade the plebeians of the conspirators’ injustice and gains support of the masses.

While the group of conspirators meet up there is a discussion of whether kill Antony or not. This is what Brutus has to say, “Our course will seem too bloody Caius Cassius to cut the head off then hack the limbs, like wrath in death and envy afterwards” (II.I.169-71). This is an example of how nice Brutus is, he doesn’t want to kill because he wants to, he kills because he needs to. When Casca and Cassius are talking Casca brings up a good point. He says, “Oh, he sits high in all the people’s hearts (I.III.159-60).This quote shows that since he is popular with the people he has to be nice and honorable for people to like him. When they were at Caesar’s funeral Brutus made mistake and gave Antony permission to speak at the funeral, and this is what Antony said, “For Brutus is an honorable man; so are they all, all honorable men” (III.II.81-82). This quote show that Brutus was nice and he got manipulated as the people turned against them and their

Brutus's poor decision-making and faults bring about his downfall, though they alone are not totally responsible. Brutus' decision to exempt Antony and let him make a speech in Caesar's funeral incites the crowd to go against the conspirators. This brings Antony to great power, which he then uses to pursue all the conspirators. Brutus's dire decisions bring about many misfortunes for Brutus. The first tragedy Brutus encounters is the disturbing death of his beloved wife, Portia,

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.

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.

William Shakespeare focuses the play on Brutus’s choices even after the assassination of Caesar. The first bad decision of Brutus was trusting the conspirators, which shows his bad judge of character. This was bad because their intentions for killing Caesar were not for justice. It was only because they were jealous of Caesar and his leadership. They did not like the possibility of Caesar becoming the ruler of Rome. Brutus was the only one who did not kill him out of jealousy, which Antony realizes towards the end of the play when he states, “ This was the noblest Roman of them all. All the rest of the conspirators acted out of jealousy of great Caesar.” (5.5.73-75) Another bad choice Brutus made was letting Antony speak at Caesar’s funeral. Antony was going to tell the truth about everything. Before the funeral Antony tells Octavius’s servant, “There I’ll use my speech to test what the people think of these bloody men’s cruel action..” (3.1.307-309) Antony must have been the most angry about Caesar being gone. It’s not surprising for him to be wanting to tell everyone the

Brutus is a tragic hero because he is well-respected in Roman society. This is displayed when Cassius, Casca and Cinna are speaking about the conspiracy after the marathon on the feast of

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:

Once Cassius gets what he wants, Brutus to be on his side, they and some others begin to plan how they will get to Caesar and kill him. Then when Brutus agrees to join the conspiracy to annihilate Caesar, it is the beginning of him becoming the villain. He is still the hero though; he only joined the conspiracy for the good of Rome. "This was the noblest Roman of them all. / All the conspirators save only he / Did that they did in envy of great Caesar. / He only in a general honest thought / And common good to all, made one of them" (V.v.68-72). This quote is said by Antony at the end of the play. In that scene, he and Caesar's adopted son, Octavius have seen Brutus's dead body. They have seen the good in Brutus and have noticed that he has acted out of his love for Rome." ...not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more" (III.ii.21). That was part of the speech Brutus gave to the citizens after he and the other conspirators killed Caesar. This was the last act Brutus did before he started becoming more of a villain. This quote and the quote Antony says at the end of the play are the same. They both are saying how Brutus didn't really want to kill Caesar. He just felt like he had no choice, he saw that what Caesar was doing was changing Rome.

    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.

He wishes that he had never fallen for Cassius’s insidious plan to assassinate Caesar, “Caesar, now be still; / I killed not thee with half so good a will”(997). He regrets, that through these actions, he destroys his name and his stature. Brutus, scrutinizing all of his mistakes, and wishing that he had done things differently verifies that he is the main tragic hero in this classic work. Through these final moments of Brutus’s life, the audience of the play can truly see that Brutus is not lying about his love of Caesar, but that he honestly regrets participating, and is sympathetic about the last years of his life. Brutus, even though he has made many mistakes throughout his life, he makes one final one with his last action. Unfortunately, the audience does not know whether or not he regrets committing suicide. Had he not done so, Antony most likely would have restored some of his stature in Rome, and granted him his life, “This was the noblest Roman of them all. / All the conspirators save only he / Did that they did in envy of great Caesar; / He, only in a general honest thought / And common good to all, made one of them”(998). It is clear that Antony is saddened by the loss of Brutus, because he realizes the true meaning of Brutus’s actions.

    Brutus and Cassius are both conspirators against Caesar, but for diverse reasons. Brutus, though pressured for the wrong reasons by his friend Cassius, joins the conspirators solely to promote the well being of Rome. Through out the play Julius Caesar, the guilt of the thought of slaughtering his benevolent friend Caesar overwhelms him. His wife Portia comments on the anguish caused from his inner battle between his love for Rome and his love for his Caesar. "Yesternight at supper you suddenly arose and walked about, musing and sighing, with your arms across" (Julius Caesar, 571, act 2, scene 1). Portia displays her concern of her husband's problems,