“Who is the real protagonist in Julius Caesar?” The two options we are presented with are Brutus, and Julius Caesar himself. Although the play is centered around the murder of Julius Caesar, I believe that Brutus is the real protagonist. Not only does Brutus have much more stage time than Julius Caesar, but his internal struggle also makes up the main part of the plot. Then, the play only ends right after Brutus committed suicide. For Julius Caesar, his main part in the play is being murdered, his corpse at his funeral, and later reappearing as a ghost to Brutus. That leaves the title of the play as Caesar’s main advantage in the never-ending “War of the Roles.”
When it comes to how much time on stage they had, Brutus wins by a landslide. Brutus was in most of the scenes in Julius Caesar, and on at least one of the few scenes he wasn’t in, people were talking about him. Julius Caesar, on the other hand, was mostly behind the scenes. In contrast to Brutus’s activity throughout the play, Julius Caesar was mostly talked about by others. He had less time to actually be on the stage and interact with others. The times he was on stage, he either being rude, dead, or a ghost that came back to life in order to give Brutus the fright of his life.
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His main struggle is figuring out if joining the conspirators and killing Caesar is really the best option for Rome. Brutus fought with himself over that up until the night of the assassination. Then, at Julius Caesar’s funeral, and when Brutus was finally at ease with his actions, Rome turned on him and the conspirators. The people of Rome decided that Brutus was the one who deserved death for killing Caesar. This made Brutus question his actions yet again, this led the Brutus, and the play, to their
The driving forces in the play Julius Caesar are the characters Marcus Brutus, Julius Caesar, and Marc Antony. Julius Caesar is the center of the ordeal of leadership in Rome when the play begins. When Caesar returns to Rome he is looked upon by the fickle plebeians as a glorious and triumphant hero. The authority of his heroism is questioned when the honorable Marcus Brutus speaks to the townspeople during Caesar’s funeral. Brutus proves to be the better leader for Rome rather than Caesar or Antony. Brutus is wiser and more honorable than the other Romans. He was the only one truly looking out for the good of Rome and not himself.
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 of Julius Caesar Brutus is the most sympathetic character because he murders Caesar for the good of Rome. Brutus is persuaded by Cassius to kill Caesar and Brutus was a noble Roman. In the final scene Mark antony describes Brutus as the noblest Roman of them all, for this he is the only conspirator who acted for the good of Rome. Brutus think if he kill Caesar Rome will be safe, he did not kill caesar because of ambition he murder Caesar of loyalty to Rome.
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar can be interpreted in multiple ways when it comes to who the characters are and if the name holds true. An immense amount of people would say that the conspirators are the antagonists while Mark Antony is the protagonist. Others may say it was only Cassius who was the antagonist. Many readers believe that the name of the play is completely wrong and William Shakespeare messed up. There are numerous amounts of evidence for each concept. As it does for many, my idea of who was who in the play varied as I continued to read on. Opinions may differ, but I believe the protagonist is Brutus while the antagonist is Mark Antony and the name holds true to the play.
Brutus has some obstacles when he was trying to decide if he was going to kill Caesar or not. He was trying to decide if he was helping Rome or if he was destroying Rome. One obstacle the Brutus did face was deciding if killing Caesar was really helping Rome at all. In the end, Brutus did kill Caesar weather or not it benefited Rome or not. Brutus also believes killing Caesar is what the people want but really he is trying to to it for his own sake.
The protagonist in this play is Julius Caesar. He is the Protagonist for many reasons. One is that the main plot if the play is to kill Caesar for being a bad ruler against Rome. The consipators were making plans to kill Caesar. There are many warnings in the story that Caesar is going to die, but he ingores all of them because the consipators tell him not to.If he wasn’t the Protagonist then there would be no need to have him in the play for most of them time. Even after his death Caesar still makes many appernices in the book and that makes the other charcters die. Protagonist is the main charcter in a story and that is what caesar is. It is clear that no one else is the Protagonist except for Casear. Caesear lives on in the
As the play opens, Brutus is known as a Roman nobleman and a member of one of the most illustrious families in Rome. He is first seen in Act I, scene ii, as one of Caesar’s “close friends” who is part of his entourage. But while alone with Cassius he is persuaded into taking a part in the assassination of Caesar. He is weary at first, and it seems as though it took Cassius some time to talk him into agreeing, yet Brutus looked at Caesar as some type of threat as well.
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
Throughout the play Brutus showed signs of promise, good character and he even put the love he has for his country before anyone in his life, including friends and family. With every tragic hero comes a tragic flaw and Brutus’ tragic flaw was that he had way too much lust for power and he put too much trust into people that didn’t deserve it. He felt it was HIS duty to kill Caesar in order to save Rome from being a monarch. Of course Brutus felt bad about killing his best friend, but at that point in time he was so power hungry that nothing else mattered until he got what he wanted and that was the control that Caesar had and he would stop at nothing until he got
In the determination of whether Julius Caesar was an intelligent, political hero or an egocentric, dictating villain, it is important to look at all of the facts. Born in 100 B.C.E. and assassinated in 44 B.C.E., Julius Caesar was legendary. He along Pompey, and Crassus created the first unofficial Triumvirate which was negotiated to appease both the Roman citizens and the power hungry rivals. Still, this agreement would not last long. After Pompey’s wife, Julia Caesar and daughter of Caesar’s daughter given to Pompey to establish the Trimvirate, dies in childbirth, civil war breaks out as Caesar leads his army against Rome. He fights until Pompey is murdered in Egypt. As Rome is “shattered,” Julius Caesar one person should rule. He
He wrote letters under different peoples’ names and threw them into Brutus’s window to try to convince him to work with the conspirators. Once Brutus was convinced, he and a few other conspirators started their plans to kill Caesar in hopes of saving Rome. One of the only reasons these men hate Caesar was because he was offered the crown of Rome three times and denied it every time it was offered to him. Throughout the beginning of the play, one of Brutus’s faults was shown. Brutus was easily manipulated by others which could’ve lead him to do bad things.
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.
Throughout the play Julius Caesar, Shakespeare examines themes of power throughout, as well as letting your true colors show. Towards the end of the play, Brutus is able to show this theme perfectly while in the beginning, Brutus is thought as someone who is unsure and insecure. He is also an exception to this ongoing theme. But as the play progresses and Brutus becomes true to himself, giving in to the tempting power that appears to be reachable, he becomes the epitome of this theme. It becomes clear to Brutus that Caesar is not what’s best for Rome, in fact, he is the reason that it is falling apart. However, because it is already embedded into his mind by his good friend Cassius, he believes that the only way to fix this situation is to kill Caesar. This pivot into a more narcissistic version of himself is gradual, while him agreeing with killing Caesar is sudden. In the beginning of Julius Caesar, Brutus is insecure, but as the play progresses and he gives in to Cassius’ manipulation and his own hidden thirst for power, Brutus
“The play can be performed with Caesar almost totally eclipsed by Brutus’ part” (Paolucci). Compare to Caesar, Brutus earns the more important influences to the play. As the leader of the conspirators, Brutus makes lots of decisions for himself, the conspirators and Rome. For example, He decides to be a proponent who against Caesar and he decides not to kill Antony and let Antony speech in Caesar’s funeral. Brutus’ decisions are the key to move the play to the next stage. Though most decisions are flaws of Brutus, these decisions are the main causes of the plots in the play. For example, “Brutus insists that their armed forces leave their hilly territory where they have the military advantage, and lead the attack on the enemy at Phillipi on level ground. The decision is disastrous and victory for the enemy is relatively easy” (Cotham). This decision is one of three bad decisions Brutus makes in the play and a main cause of Brutus’ death. Brutus makes many similar decisions in the play that are the main reasons of future events and is the trail of play, so he is the real