Marcus Brutus as the Tragic Hero in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar

At the beginning, Fate chose Caesar to be the king and this is not what Brutus wanted.

Selflessness, a noble trait to have, but when one puts everything before themselves, it will only lead to tragedy. The character Brutus in ¨The tragedy of Julius Caesar” makes the choice to murder his personal friend Caesar, the soon to be ruler of Rome, for the future of his country. This leads to Caesar's second in command, Antony, to pursue Brutus and the others involved in the murder until their death. In William Shakespeare's play ¨The tragedy of Julius Caesar” Brutus through his selflessness in acting for the better of Rome instead of himself, and putting aside personal matters for his country becomes the tragic character.

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.

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

    Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar is a tragic play, where the renowned Julius Caesar is on the brink of achieving total control and power by becoming emperor of the Roman Empire. Ironically enough, when he thinks he is one step away from pulling it off, his "friends" (most from the senate) decide to overthrow him, with Caesar's most trusted friend, Marcus Brutus, acting as leader of the conspirators. Though the fall of Caesar from the most powerful man in the world to a man who's been betrayed and stabbed 30 times is a great downfall, he is not the tragic hero. Shakespeare's main focus is Marcus Brutus, a noble man who brings upon himself a great misfortune by his own actions,

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.

The tragedy “Julius Caesar” by William Shakespeare should be renamed “Brutus” because Caesar is not the tragic hero. He is only in a small portion of the play and does not possess a major tragic flaw; however Marcus Brutus fits the description of tragic hero much better than Julius Caesar. Typically, tragedies are named after the tragic hero, which Aristotle describes as: a person of noble birth with a tragic flaw that leads to his or her downfall because of that flaw. Brutus exhibits all of these qualities, therefore rightfully naming him a tragic hero.

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.

“Julius Caesar is a play about people who make mistakes-costly ones, for themselves and their country” (Julius Caesar, Introduction line 1). This quote is from the first line of the introduction to the play of “Julius Caesar” and I think that this line is the best way to start off this essay. If we took a look at each main character in this play, except for Antony, we can see how their mistakes usually would lead to their downfalls. For example, Caesar mistake of not listening to the warnings, the omens, or even his wife telling him to stay home because she had a nightmare about him, led to his death at the Senate. Another example would be Cassius. His mistake of listening to Brutus when it came to marching down to Philippi to face Antony and Octavius’s army led to the defeat of his army and Cassius committing suicide. Now we come to the main focus of this essay which is Brutus. Some people argue that Brutus is a tragic hero and a sympathetic figure. Others argue the opposite. I believe that Brutus noble qualities led to his ignoble downfall which included failure, loss, and shame. While we read through this play we can see many examples of Brutus failures. Different occasions where he was manipulated by people he called his friends, Brutus being too trusting of others, and his sense of honor blocking his common sense. It’s safe to say that he is simple minded and in a way a coward. In this essay I am going to first do an inspection of Brutus, a breakdown his

In a tragedy, the tragic hero always has a downfall and sense of enlightenment by the end. Brutus’s downfall is horrid enough that it has made it this far in history. It is a fall that people will always study and remember. Brutus starts out as a popular man, a friend of Caesar. People think very highly of him, he has a strong relationship with his wife, and he lives in Rome, which he loves deeply. After murdering Caesar, Brutus has the nerve to speak at his funeral and tell the people of Rome that he had a right to kill him; however, Antony talks sense into citizens in his famous speech. All of Rome soon considers him and his counterparts to be traitors, enough so that they become a murderous mob. “We’ll burn the house of

    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 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

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