Essay about Was Brutus the Noblest Roman of Them All?

In Roman history, some elite men held certain values that they felt strong enough to take their life in order to defend it. In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, there are certain characters portrayed to show how a person’s values or ideas can change their behavior and influence some significant decisions. The protagonist of the play, Marcus Brutus, supports this thought by having an idealistic view on the world and by showing his patriotism toward Rome. In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Shakespeare uses Brutus as an honorable, idealistic man in order to show the depth that a high-class Roman man will go through in order to defend his honor.

Both Brutus’ and Cassius’ characterizations are results of Shakespeare’s biased dialogue. Throughout the play, Brutus is continuously described as being noble and honorable. The first mention of this is early on in the play. Cassius, when trying to persuade Brutus to join the conspirators, praises Brutus by saying “noble Brutus” and “good Brutus” (page 17, line 68, 72). During Antony’s funeral speech, he repeats over and over “Brutus is an

Brutus in William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar In 'Julius Caesar', Shakespeare intended us to see Brutus as 'noble'. I wish to review his actions, and the motivating factors behind those actions. I intend to prove that Brutus had a strong and well-grounded character. He had good intentions, however, he made one fatal mistake and that was his downfall. When learn that Brutus is dedicated to the public, when Brutus decides Caesar must die, because he fears his ambition, this comes as a big shock to the Shakespearian audience as well as the modern day audience.

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.

In the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, an honorable man, Brutus, is planning to overthrow the soon to be king, Julius Caesar. Brutus is persuaded by Cassius that Caesar is a liar, too ambitious, weak, and not fit to be Rome’s king. Brutus soon believed Cassius, and they and the conspirators made a plan to kill Caesar. After Caesar’s death, Brutus planned to justify his actions of killing Caesar at his funeral in his speech to the people. After Brutus’s speech, the citizens of Rome were all in agreement that Brutus did the right thing for Rome. Brutus then decides to allow Caesar’s best friend, Antony, to speak in honor of Caesar. Antony speaks, and he convinces the citizens that Brutus’s actions were unjust and turned the people against Brutus.

Brutus was a man of noble birth. He had multiple servants and was often referred to as “Lord”, which indicates a certain level of respect for him. He was a very highly thought of

Once Cassius gets what he wants, Brutus to be on his side, they and some others begin to plan how they will get to Caesar and kill him. Then when Brutus agrees to join the conspiracy to annihilate Caesar, it is the beginning of him becoming the villain. He is still the hero though; he only joined the conspiracy for the good of Rome. "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".. This quote is said by Antony at the end of the play. In that scene, he and Caesar's adopted son, Octavius have seen Brutus's dead body. They have seen the good in Brutus and have noticed that he has acted out of his love for Rome." ...not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more" . That was part of the speech Brutus gave to the citizens after he and the other conspirators killed Caesar. This was the last act Brutus did before he started becoming more of a villain. This quote and the quote Antony says at the end of the play are the same. They both are saying how Brutus didn't really want to kill Caesar. He just felt like he had no choice, he saw that what Caesar was doing was changing Rome.

Brutus also frequently demonstrated many acts of affection toward others. In Act 1, Scene 2, he is reluctant to join Cassius's conspiracy because he did not want to betray Caesar. He had to weigh his choices and in Act 3, Scene 2, Brutus kills Caesar only because he is afraid of what will happen to Rome if Caesar remains ruler. He knew the commoners’

Marcus Brutus shows qualities of a noble roman through patriotism. He makes many tough decisions that result in questioning his character, but the actions he takes are for the betterment and out of the love for Rome. After the assassination of Caesar, Brutus orders: “And let us bathe our hands in Caesar’s blood / Up

He compares Caesar to a serpent in an egg which he must kill before it hatches. Brutus knows that Caesar is gaining too much power too quickly and it must come to an end. He shows his belief in a republic government by saying, “We all stand up against the spirit of Caesar / And in the spirit of men there is no blood" (II.i. 180-181). Cassius is a character who is jealous of Caesar’s power and also wants it to end. He forms a group of conspirators who are against Julius Caesar. He persuades Brutus to help him and the other conspirators to kill Caesar during the ides of March. Brutus joins but only due to his love for Rome and its people. He proves this by saying "Let us be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius." (II.i. 179). This also proves his love for Caesar because he wants to kill him with some sort of honor. Brutus wants the citizens to look at him not as a murderer but for someone who cares for his country. He expresses his ideas toward the stabbing by saying , “If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer-not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more" (III, ii, 17-19).

Publilius Syrus, who is a writer states about honor, “He who has lost honor can lose nothing more”. In the play Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, conspirators including Brutus bring honor to themselves by killing a fearless leader, Caesar. The conspirators are a group of men who believes that Caesar is too ambitions and will become more of an over powerful king of Rime. On Caesar’s homecoming from the defeat of Pompey, the Romans cheer and even offer him a crown to be king. The death of Caesar causes much chaos and riots in Rome. The easily manipulated Romans turn themselves against the conspirators and Brutus, and decide to kill them for not being honorable to Julius Caesar. Brutus is an honorable, noble Roman because of his righteous actions.

    The people of Rome, although highly gullible and indecisive, love Brutus. Some reasons for this are his nobility, honorability, intelligence and his caring nature.  Cassius thinks that Brutus is noble, he states this in his soliloquy when he says “Well, Brutus, thou art noble. Yet I see thy honorable mettle may be wrought from that it is disposed. Therefore it is meet that noble minds keep ever with their likes, for who so firm that cannot be seduced?” (I,ii,304-308)  Brutus is wanted so terribly by Cassius because of the fact that so many Roman people, including Caesar, trust and adore

Antony's small speech depicts Brutus as a noble being and the ideal image of a man. Stating that nature would `stand and say to all the world', that Brutus was a man illustrates Brutus as being the idyllic man to become. Brutus is the only conspirator to maintain an honorable reason to assassinate Julius Caesar. Antony believes this, and states how only Brutus `in general honest thought and common good to all made one of them', implying that Brutus is the only one who possessed moral reasons for assassinating Caesar. Both Antony and Octavius, who were two of Brutus' most critical adversaries, state how Brutus is a dignified Roman.

By definition, noble is having moral character, courage, generosity, honor and bravery to do what is right. It is finding the truth and reason in everything that happens around you. Many of the characters in Julius Caesar have a selfish goal to gain more power and wealth. For instance, Julius Caesar was a great general, but he only cared about ruling Rome. Cassius was a smart and wise man, but he wanted Caesar’s death out of envy and jealousy. Many of the senators, who were involved in Caesar`s assassination, hated watching him take over Rome, and many Romans thought of him as their rival. Except for one noble senator named Brutus, who was different from the other senators and fought only for Rome

At the start of the timelessly classic play, Julius Caesar was in the final stages of parlaying his military prowess and growing cult of personality into enthronement as the long absent autocrat of Rome. His brother-in-arms, Marcus Brutus, after fighting at Caesar’s side for so long, was forced to weigh his loyalty to Caesar against his loyalty to Rome, setting the stage for the troubling events to come. As Caesar’s divine right to rule and infallibility were trumpeted throughout Rome, others were not so convinced of his purity and worthiness. Cassius, a dissident Senator, opened Brutus’ eyes to the circumstances unfolding before them and to what could be lost should Caesar take the throne. Cassius voiced his opposition strongly, saying: