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Marcus Brutus as a Tragic Hero Essay

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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.
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 …show more content…

This displays that Brutus has no personal resentment towards Caesar, but is doing what is best for the Roman people. Therefore, Marcus Brutus’s moral integrity shows in his decisions, which makes him a tragic hero.
Moreover, Marcus Brutus displays qualities of a tragic hero because of his tragic flaw: idealism. Brutus shows his tragic flaw when he speaks to the conspirators after they assassinate Caesar, and he says, Stoop, Romans, stoop, And let us bathe our hands in Caesar’s blood Up to the elbows, and besmear our swords: Then walk we forth, even to the market-place, And waving our red weapons o’er our heads, Let’s all cry, ‘Peace, freedom, and liberty!’ (3.1.105–10). This shows that he wants the Romans to know that he killed Caesar for them. Also that by walking in public showing Caesar's blood on their hands openly he wants to display that there's no shame in what he did because he truly believes it was done with the best intentions at heart. Also, when Brutus meets with the

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