Marcus Caesar Hero

Caesar or Brutus? Many people think that the tragic hero in Julius Caesar is Caesar, only because the title of the play. The real tragic hero is Marcus Brutus. There are many traits you can have to be a tragic hero, Brutus has at least three of them. In WIlliam Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, it is shown that Brutus is the tragic hero because he has noble stature, he has a tragic flaw, and free choice.

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.

A tragic hero tries to do the right thing but has flaws in their character that prevents them from being a true hero. Scholars argue over whether Brutus or Caesar is the tragic hero in the play Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare. Both men have tragic flaws which cause their downfall.They are both ambitious. Caesar wanted all the power to himself. On the contrary, Brutus wanted what was best for Rome and to keep a good reputation. Brutus is the tragic hero of the play since he falls the farthest due to the fact that he is too trusting of everyone, he naively allows his enemy to speak out about him, and he lacks self confidence.

Indeed, Brutus was a honorable man. His honor was his greatest strength, but it was also his weakness. He murdered and betrayed his closest and only friend, due to the fact that he was so focused on doing the most honorable thing. Brutus focused more on principles, than the one person who truly cared about him. Consequently he also cared more about principle, than his own common sense. Therefore, his main focus was on honor and principle, which caused him to kill Caesar. He murdered Caesar because he thought it would solve the problem, but it only caused pandemonium.Consequently, his actions produced an angry mob, ready to avenge Caesar's death. If Brutus never took matters into his own hands, he would not have created a vicious crowd of citizens filled with hatred. He never solved the problem. When it got out of control, he resorted to killing himself. Cowardly, when things got tough, he ran away from it. He

Brutus is truly “an honorable man.” He was initially resistant to Cassius’ suggestion to betray Caesar. Also, Brutus says, “not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.”(3.2.22) This proves that he only does what he feels is necessary to protect the Rome. In act 4, Brutus sees the ghost of Caesar, and this tells us that he is regretting his actions. He never felt right about killing Caesar afterwards. In fact, when he realized that he was wrong, he used the knife that he stabbed Caesar to take his own

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

Tom Cochrane once said “ Tragedy in life normally comes with betrayal and compromise, and trading on your integrity and not having dignity in life. That’s really where failure comes.” In “ Julius Caesar”, Brutus plays a big role in the betrayal of caesar being part of a plan to kill Caesar. Moreover, Brutus put off that he was for the People of Rome, but the deeper the play goes the more suspicion of Brutus’s true objective comes into play. Brutus was naive in believing Cassius and his moral judgement was off. All in all, brutus betrayed Caesar.

The definition of a tragic hero is perceived as one who is neither wicked nor purely innocent, one who “is brave and noble but guilty of the tragic flaw of assuming that honorable ends justify dishonorable means”. In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Brutus takes the role of the tragic hero. Brutus’s honor, nobility, and self-righteousness makes him “a tragic figure, if not the hero” (Catherine C. Dominic).

“It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.” -Mark Twain. Brutus would of never believed that he has been manipulated into his actions. Brutus was always blinded at the fact that his actions towards people were wrong. Brutus was one of Caesar's good and trusted friends. Cassius, not a huge fan of Caesar, did not like the idea of Caesar as king, for his weaknesses and had a plan to assassinate Caesar. As the leader, he believed Brutus would be a good member for the group for being respected and well-liked by the citizens of Rome. Cassius was able to manipulate him into joining the conspirators. After the assassination of Caesar all his respect from the citizens started to fade away. Antony, a very good friend of Caesar, was able to turn Rome against Brutus. Due to all the hatred from the citizens, he had to flee town and fight a war against Antony and Rome. After losing the war, his wife , and everything he once had, he committed suicide to avoid being killed by an enemy. In William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, Brutus tragic flaw of being gullible and patriotic caused him to murder a devoted friend and betrayed Rome's trust.

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

Brutus’s character goes from a well respected and honored man to a traitor in a few short acts. Brutus is introduced to the audience with a bang, quite literally, as the city of Rome celebrates Caesar’s triumphs. This dramatic entrance fits Brutus’s personality and growth over the play. Brutus struggles with a love for country and a love for a man in Scene 2, “I know no personal cause to spurn at [Caesar], / But for the general. He would be crown’d: / How that might change his nature, there’s the question” (JC 2.1.11-13). Brutus is more afraid of what might happen if Caesar is crowned King to realize that Caesar is still the man that Brutus knows. In the end, Brutus chooses his fear of the future and Caesar falls, knowing the man he considered a son had betrayed him. Brutus’s lack of empathy with Caesar causes much of the tension in the later half of the play. Brutus acknowledges his choice to kill his paternal figure here, “Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome / more” (JC 3.2.23-24). Brutus sees himself as connected to the people of Rome through his love for them but fails to see how the plebeians loved noble Caesar. He also fails to see the implications of his actions on his loved ones.

Centuries after the murder of a rising dictator, students, historians, and linguists alike continue to study the death of Julius Caesar as immortalized by William Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. In this tragedy, Shakespeare examines the days preceding Caesar’s downfall, and the aftermath that ensues. The tragedy describes Marcus Brutus, a character with noble and honorable intentions, influenced by Cassius to support a conspiracy against an ambitious politician, Julius Caesar. Brutus, Cassius, and other conspirators succeed in ending Caesar’s life, but are forced to flee when Rome turns against them. Much controversy has arisen over who is the tragic hero of the play. A tragic hero is a noble character who, despite his greatness, is led to destruction by his own fatal flaw. Although many argue Brutus is the tragic hero due to his prominent role in the play and his heroic, yet flawed, character, Shakespeare remains justified in the naming of his play. In Shakespeare’s accurately titled tragedy, Julius Caesar, rather than Brutus, remains the tragic hero of the play due to his heroic qualities, his fatal flaw, and Brutus’ ineligibility as the tragic hero.

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.

Aristotle once said “a man does not become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall.” He noticed a common theme in stories, there often seemed to be a character of noble character (hubris), who has a fatal flaw which leads to his downfall (hamartia) and a reversal of fortune.(peripeteia) From this concept the title of a ‘tragic hero’ was formed and has remained prevalent throughout classic and current literature. Hamlet from hamlet, Romeo from Romeo and Juliet, Oedipus from Oedipus Rex, Macbeth from Macbeth, and King Lear from King Lear. In shakespeare's classic play Julius Caesar, because of the title, many assume Julius Caesar to be the tragic hero. But although the morals, heros, and villains in this play are far from black and white. Brutus is surprisingly seen to be the tragic hero for the following three reasons; he is of noble character, he displays a fatal flaw, and he has a change of fortune.