Essay on Shakespeare: A Master of Tragedy, As Seen in Julius Caesar

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.

The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare depicts a tragic hero, or one who has high standing and causes his own downfall. The tragic hero is Brutus, and he makes multiple and ultimately fatal mistakes that lead to his enlightenment and then his death. Brutus’ death is the result of many misfortunes, including being herded into the conspiracy and thus aiding in the death of Caesar, hearing of the death of his loyal wife, and waging a war against Rome.

William Shakespeare's tragedy Julius Caesar provides audiences with an account involving the Roman dictator Julius Caesar, the 44 B.C. conspiracy that resulted in his violent assassination, and the continued violence that dominated Rome consequent to his death. In spite of the fact that the play's title is Julius Caesar, Caesar's character only appears in three scenes. The tragedy's central character is Marcus Brutus and most of the storyline relates to him and to his failure to understand matters from a general perspective when he has the chance to do so. The play actually demonstrates how violence can emerge from individuals misinterpreting behavior seen in others and the idea of violence dominates most of the play, shaping the way that characters interact and think.

In the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar the main character, Brutus, experiences many things that lead him to become a tragic hero. From the interactions between Cassius and Brutus, the two characters contract each other, Brutus’s character develops into a tragic hero, and the plot advances and a theme is also created.

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.

Well, honor is the subject of my story. I cannot tell you what other men Think of this life, but for my single self, I had as lief not be, as live to be In awe of such a thing as myself” (1.2.90-96.). Brutus goes through with killing Caesar,but talks the men out of killing Mark Antony out of the belief he has done nothing wrong. Caesar believes he has done the correct thing and has saved the people of Rome from a corrupt leader, and he performs a speech to the people of Rome explaining his actions and why he murdered Caesar. This leads to his downfall in the end, because the act of not killing Mark Antony creates a war that is order to kill Cassius and Brutus.

Cassius’s character was sneaky and conniving with the motive to kill Caesar for his country because of his jealousy. His role being the mastermind behind the plan led Cassius to deceive a group of people. Cassius’s character was sneaky because he convinced many people to do what he wanted to be done. Which caused the death of Caesar because he thought it would make his country a better place. Cassius was also jealous of Caesar because Caesar had all the power in Rome. Consequently, the jealous man turned against Caesar because he wanted to have the power of Caesar.

For several centuries, tragedy is one of the many popular genres of literature. In every tragedy, there is a tragic hero who makes an error that leads to their own downfall. William Shakespeare is known to have written many tragedies, which includes Julius Caesar. Due to the many downfalls of numerous characters during the play, it consequently led to arguments about who the tragic hero is. Some critics argued that Julius Caesar, who the play is named after, is the tragic hero while others reason that Marcus Brutus is the tragic hero. However, through the analysis of two essays “Julius Caesar- A Tragic Hero” and Toby Le’s “The Tragic Hero of Julius Caesar”, it became evident that Marcus Brutus is the tragic hero of the play because he demonstrates several characteristics: a tragic dilemma, tragic flaw, downfall, and an epiphany. Considering the main points explained in both of these essays, I am also persuaded that Brutus’s character best fits the standards of a tragic hero.

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.

The play involves a highly respected senator, Brutus, who decides to join the conspiracy to kill Julius Caesar, in the effort to keep democracy intact. Brutus believes that if Julius Caesar is allowed to live, Caesar will take a kingship and turn the government into a monarchy. Brutus, Cassius, and the other conspirators kill Julius Caesar, yet they find Antony, a loyalist of Caesar, seeks revenge on them. Plato set out rules on the traits a tragic hero must possess. A tragic hero must neither be an evil villain nor a great hero,

The play makes people conflicted over how they should feel about different parts of the play, such as the scene depicting the murder of Julius Caesar. The audience is driven in two directions because they feel both happy for the people of Rome, and sympathetic at Caesar’s terrible death. When Caesar looks Brutus in the eye in the last panel on the second page, and says “Et tu, Brute?”, the fact that Caesar was stabbed in the back by a trusted friend is emphasized, making the audience agonize over the righteousness of this deed. Caesar simply wanted Rome to continue to develop, only he wasn’t doing it in an expedient mean that the

The play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, has two main tragic heroes. Set in Rome and spanning from forty- four to forty-two B.C., the play tells of Brutus and Caesar whom both fall from the highest positions to the lowest of misfortune and then are enlightened on their mistakes. Brutus is the stronger example of a tragic hero in this story. Throughout this play, Brutus commits many faults, falls more drastically than all other characters, and regrets his previous actions by the end of the play.

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

Although William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar provides a largely accurate and incredibly detailed record of the assassination of its namesake, the play is regarded not as one of the Bard’s histories, but as one of his greatest tragedies. Shakespeare’s poignant lyrical interpretation of the fall of Julius Caesar is defined without a doubt as a tragedy by the sorrowful nature of the development, execution, and aftermath of Marcus Brutus’ betrayal of Julius Caesar.