Marcus Brutus: The True Tragic Hero in Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare illustrates Brutus to have outstanding morals but also displays Brutus’s naive and over-trusting personality which becomes his tragic flaw. For example, when Brutus suffers from an internal conflict on deciding if Caesar should be emperor or not, Cassius takes advantage of his confusion and naïve personality to act as the “glass [that] will modestly discover [Brutus] ... / [t]hat ... [shows Brutus’s appearance] which … [he] yet know not of ” (1.2. 68-70) and then says, “‘Brutus,’ and ‘Caesar’: what should be in that ‘Caesar’? / Why should that name be sounded more than yours[, Brutus]” (1.2.142-43). From this conversation, Brutus is shown to allow his naïve and over-trusting personality overcome him. As a result, Brutus follows his close allies in the path considered to be the most noble. Moreover, this characteristic of Brutus makes him weak enough to eventually trust the conspirator, Cassius, to take down Caesar, his own brother. This eventually leads to Brutus’s downfall

In act 2, scene 1, Brutus is finally introduced to the group of conspirators; in this act we notice the first mistake Brutus makes. "Alas good Cassius do not think of him. If he loves Caesar, all that he can is to himself, take thought, and die for Caesar. And that were much he should, for he is given to sports, to wilderness, and much company." Brutus believes he has only to explain his reasons for killing Caesar and everyone will accept them.

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

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.

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

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.

In William Shakespeare's classic tragedy “Julius Caesar” the characters are all positioned on a path that leads them to a terrible and disastrous end. Some destroy themselves for the greater good of Rome or just because of their own selfish greed for power. Some characters proceed to destroy others in hopes of protecting the greater good, but lose those closest to them. Cassius leads a dark conspiracy and kills Julius Caesar, but later kills himself. Marc Antony and Octavius track down and kill the assassins that killed Caesar, but lose those they care about most along the way. A true hero will rise to adversity and meet a situation head on to conquer the problem or his foes; however, a tragic hero may do just the opposite. A tragic

In Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, the title leads the mind to believe that Caesar is the tragic hero; however, this is not the case. The noble Brutus is a much more accurate fit for the role of tragic hero. A tragic hero is a character with a tragic flaw that goes from good fortune to complete misfortune in a fairly quick downfall. Although some may argue that Caesar fits this depiction, Brutus is a better choice. He goes from the top of the social standings to international scumbag when he joins the conspirators and murders Caesar, his friend. After allowing Antony to speak in Caesar’s funeral, the entire country turns against him and he is forced to flee Rome. His downfall is so incredibly terrible that he is

    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.

Brutus is one of the more complex character in Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. Shakespeare added a lot of complexity to Brutus through dialogue, monologue, and soliloquy. Shakespeare created opposing desires in Brutus and created both hesitation and doubt. His major back-and-forth conflict is him trying to give himself an honorable reason for killing Caesar. He is manipulated by Cassius and the other conspirators into assassinating Caesar, a life-long friend of Brutus. “The ultimate factor in persuading Brutus to join the conspiracy is his belief, a belief based on the the letters cast in at his window or conspicuously left for him in public places” (Shalvi 71). When Caesar was attacked by the conspirators, it had been Brutus’ blade and betrayal that had finally killed him. During the beginning and the end of the play, Brutus struggled to accept that killing Caesar was not what he wanted to do. In his head, Brutus is content that he killed Caesar for the good of Rome. In a speech to Romans after Caesar’s death he says, “Not that I loved Caesar less, but

Each one of the conspirators stab Caesar leading to his death. Towards the end of the play Brutus begins to regret his decision and clashing with Cassius. Brutus and Cassius, both commit suicide at the end of the play after being on the run and being in a war because of killing Caesar. Brutus was seen as a very ethical and moral character, but was a hypocrite. He murdered, Caesar, his friend and misjudged the Roman people and their feelings. Brutus was very naive thinking that he was doing the right thing and also very gullible to easily be manipulated by Cassius. Marcus Brutus was wrong for murdering Julius Caesar and at the end of the play he finally

    In the play Julius Caesar, written and preformed by William Shakespeare, there are many characters, but two, Brutus and Cassius, stood out. The play begins in Rome where a celebration of Julius Caesar's victory over the former ruler of Rome, Pompeii. The victory leads to Caesar's betrayal by his jealous companions. Senators and other high status figures are jealous of Caesar's new and growing power, while others, like Brutus, fear the tyrannical rule Caesar could enforce. The conspirators, Brutus and Cassius being the most important, assassinate Julius Caesar and Marcus Antonius, better known as Antony, and Octavius Caesar, Caesar's heir to the thrown, revenge Caesar's

In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, two potential protagonists are presented to the audience. Both Brutus and Caesar have been mentioned as possible protagonists, but there can only be one protagonist. But who is the real protagonist? Although there is proof to back up Caesar, Brutus has more proof and solid proof. Therefore, Brutus should be named protagonist of the story.

A highly respected man, and admired by others that may of disliked him before it was Brutus’ end. “His life was gentle, and the elements/ So mixed in him that Nature might stand up/ And say to all the world, ‘This was a man!’” (5.5.73-75). Brutus is one with great leadership, and a loyal friend of Julius Caesar. He was easily convinced by Cassius and the conspirators that Julius Caesar was not fit for king of Rome. Before, Brutus was there and supported Caesar. Now, Cassius had talked to Brutus, and he changed his mind and thought it was best for Rome that Caesar was killed before he was crowned. Brutus then took control of the conspirators and became leader. Brutus made all the decisions with Cassius, then turned into Brutus making all the decisions by himself, regarding Cassius. Brutus’ decisions were not the best and that led him into his own death, when he ran himself into a sword. In the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, written by, William Shakespeare, Brutus is a man that contains great leadership skills, and does what is right; but farther in, his decisions lead to a downfall of taking Cassius out of his place when he was a good leader already, and as well as killing himself.