Why Is Brutus A Noble In The Tragedy Of Julius Caesar

As John Acton once said, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Many people always tend to get a tunnel vision to get power, however a small percentage of them realize what tragedy may happen when the power is given to them. Brutus has a variety of reasons to join the conspiracy, and he has made them known throughout this tragedy. First, Brutus has made it clear that he wants to join the conspiracy for what he thinks is the good of the general public. Secondly, Brutus wants to follow his family's past and keep the republic in working order. Thirdly, Brutus knows how power can corrupt people.

In his conversation with Cassius, Brutus tells him, “For let the gods so speed me as I love/The name of honor more than I fear death” (1.2.88-89). Within the first act of the play, the reader can understand Brutus’s desire to maintain his reputation, particularly shown in his opinion on the value of honor. To Brutus, being faithful to Rome is far more important than his own life. He expresses this idea further when he tells Cassius, “Brutus had rather be a villager/Than to repute himself a son of Rome” (1.2.172-3). As Cassius constantly persuades Brutus to overthrow Caesar from his throne, Brutus becomes increasingly disillusioned by Caesar’s quality as a leader, and his eligibility to rule the throne. Through persuasive exchanges and flattery implemented by Cassius and Casca, Brutus becomes well aware of Caesar’s inability to swim and his frequent attacks of epilepsy. At this point of the play, Cassius is slowly beginning to convince Brutus of Caesar being unfit to rule Rome and to this Brutus responds that he would much rather step down from the social hierarchy than live under Rome ruled by Caesar. Brutus compares Caesar to that of a “serpent’s egg” and that if “hatched”, would “grow mischievous” (2.1.32-4). Therefore, rather than live under the rulings of Caesar, who is unfit to rule, Brutus expresses that he would much rather

He states that Brutus is just as noble and worthy as Caesar. (Act 1, scene ii). He says that Brutus cannot see what everyone else does and recognize his worthiness. Cassius and the other senators do not want Caesar to be king because they would lose all their power. Cassius is slowly luring Brutus in to do his dirty work. He builds Brutus’s confidence up to make him thing that killing Caesar is the right thing to do. Cassius is basically playing with Brutus’s head because he knows Brutus will listen. So, Brutus joins the conspirators in killing Caesar. Cassius tells Brutus that it is for the good of Rome, and that he is saving them from a dictatorship. Cassius is going for Brutus’s weakest point, his care and concern for Rome. He knows that if Brutus believes the people distrust Caesar, then he will be convinced that Caesar must be thwarted. Brutus knew that if Caesar was crowned, he would never have a chance, and he was power hungry. This is what ultimately leads to the tragedy of Julius Caesar. After Brutus kills Caesar off, he starts to feel guilty for killing his friend, thus creating an internal conflict. Brutus was so confident that the plan would go exactly as planned that he fell apart when they encountered problems. If Brutus and the other conspirators had taken more time to think things through, they probably would have been more prepared for the situation that was handed to them.

In William Shakespeare’s tragic play Julius Caesar, the protagonist, Brutus, conspires against and successfully kills Caesar; to only find the city he loves in chaos and mutiny from his actions. Brutus in the eyes of many people was a noble and honorable man who loved and adored the city of Rome, and no person thought more of this than Caesar. To Caesar, Brutus was the son he never had, and his love of Brutus was known, therefore the thought of Brutus betraying him was absurd. However, imagine if not only Brutus did not love Caesar, but he hated him. If that was the situation in the Julius Caesar, the play would then change drastically, with almost every quote from Brutus changing. If this is the case, Brutus’ hatred of Caesar and love of

In Act 1, Scene 2, Cassius is trying to manipulate Brutus into believing that there will be danger as Caesar’s power increases. Cassius is trying to bring Brutus to the conspirators side. He uses this quote to exaggerate what might arise from Caesar’s power: “Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world / Like a Colossus, and we petty men / Walk under his huge legs and peep about / To find ourselves dishonorable graves.” (1:2:136-139) Alongside this, Cassius tries to convince Brutus that he would be a better leader than Julius Caesar. Cassius claims he would never manipulate his good friend, Brutus, but this is exactly what he does. “And be not jealous on me, gentle Brutus. / Were I a common laugher, or did use / To stale with ordinary oaths my love / To every new protester; if you know / That I do fawn on men and hug them hard / And after scandal them, or if you know / That I profess myself in

So call tThe virtue of Brutus was that he cared about the public way more than his own private life. If he was convinced that someone was trying to disrupt the government in a way, he would much prefer them to vanish. Once he heard about Caesar trying to be dictator of Rome, he immediately sprung into action just for the better of Rome. As seen by the traits of Brutus, he didn’t have the intention of wanting more power but instead to protect Rome.he field to rest, and let’s away To part the glories of this happy day.”Shakespeare has included this moment to depict that even though Brutus was one of the murderers of Caesar, he was truly an innocent conspirator. He killed Caesar thinking that it was better of Rome, not the intention of gaining

He was killed in large part due to jealousy and others being afraid that he would not maintain the power that certain people had. Casca shows how jealousy changed an influential member of the senate into an outlet for their uncertainty about the power they will retain. Casca says, “O, he sits high in all the people’s hearts; / And that which would appear offense in us, / His countenance, like richest alchemy, / Will change to virtue and to worthiness” (I.iii.162-165). Casca is envious of Caesar’s power and how well liked he is. He realizes that the only way for them to remove Caesar from office is to have Brutus join the conspiracy because he is rational and known for thinking things through before he does it. Brutus joins largely because he is tricked into thinking that the Plebeians wanted the republic to stay. Brutus says, “And therefore think him as a serpent’s egg / Which hatched, would as his kind grow mischievous, / And kill him in the shell” (II.i.32-34). Brutus is convinced that the republic is what is best for Rome and he decides that the only way to prevent Caesar from becoming a tyrant is to kill him before he gains enough power to become a dictator. However, Brutus does not understand that the rest of the conspiracy has personal reasons for killing Caesar. Most of them, like Cassius, are jealous of how well liked Caesar has become and want an excuse to preserve and maybe

In the play Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, Brutus is my favorite character among those good and excellent characters from Act 5. He is my favorite character because he is a skillful and honest man in the play. For instance, he found out the weakness in Octavius’s army and decided to push in it. This shows that he is a talent leader because he is able to find out the mistakes of his enemy which is the key to be successful in all battles. However, he did not win that battle because he had made the decision too eagerly and too soon. Furthermore, Brutus is also a honest character in the play. For another example, when Anthony saw the body of Brutus, he said that Brutus is a honorable noble because he only acts for what he believed is good.

Brutus’ trust in others and his love of Rome are his greatest faults. His tragic flaw is the trust he places in others. Brutus is easily swayed to trust Cassius when he plots to kill Caesar. Cassius uses his cunning to trick Brutus into believing Caesar is ambitious and that he is killing Caesar for the good of Rome. Cassius says to Brutus, “Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world like a Colossus, and we petty men walk under his huge legs...the fault, dear Brutus is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings” (Shakespeare Act I. ii. 142-148). Cassius is speaking of how Caesar is becoming almost like a tyrant or emperor in the aspect that he is becoming more powerful than everyone else. Brutus love Rome dearly and does not want it destroyed or ruled by a tyrant or emperor. Therefore, Brutus is manipulated by Cassius into murdering Caesar. Later on after Caesar is murdered, Antony makes a speech that is full of irony. His speech tells of how Brutus says Caesar was an ambitious man, and that Brutus is an honorable man. Antony says, “Brutus says he was ambitious, and Brutus is an honorable man… When the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept; ambition should be made of sterner stuff. Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, and Brutus is an honorable man” (Shakespeare Act III. ii. 95-103). Throughout his speech, Antony says Brutus is an honorable man, and that Brutus said Caesar

Brutus was loved by Caesar and respected by many. People looked to him for answers and support and this is where I think his problem lied. Brutus loved Rome more than anything. He would kill and lay down his life for Rome. This is also where his hamartia lied. Noble Brutus took the life of his dear friend Caesar “for the good of Rome”. In the end only to have taken his own life in fear of Antony’s armies prevail. The fate of Rome was then in Antony’s hands. How’d killing Caesar work out for you Brutus? He killed his best friend and left Rome worse then before. In conclusion,

To accomplish their plan, the conspirators needed a noble man of high stature to justify their actions. The best man for the job was Brutus. Brutus was Caesar’s best friend, loved by the people, and he loved the people back. Therefore, it only made sense for the conspirators to recruit Brutus guarantees the support of the Roman people. Cassius admits this too, “Brutus shall lead, and we will grace his heels / With the most boldest and best hearts of Rome” (3.1.135-136). Cassius himself says that Brutus’s credibility will lead to the success of the plan. If Brutus leads the way, then the people will assume that maybe Caesar’s death was not that terrible since this noble man killed Caesar. Brutus’s nobility in the conspiracy not only convinced the

Brutus loved Caesar and considered him a good friend but a bad leader. If Brutus would have known the conspirators were not thinking of Rome’s best interest he may not have made the decision to help. As Brutus says, “...Did great Julius bleed for justice sake? / ... But for supporting robbers, Shall we now / contaminate our finger with base bribes / ...I had rather be a dog and bay at the moon, / than such a Roman” (Shakespeare 4.3.19-28). By saying this Brutus is telling Cassius that he would rather be a dog than be a Roman like the conspirators. Like J.L. says in Shakespeare’s Brutus: A Man Torn by Conflicting Values ,“He insisted in the first place that they should act only with strict justice,” (Simmons 64). Brutus also has a tragic flaw. His tragic flaw is that he is gullible. After a short period of time the conspirators were able to easily persuade Brutus that their plan was a good idea. The conspirators did not need to give a lot of information or detail to have Brutus join. The conspirators needed Brutus so much that they were willing to lie to him. Like Shalvi says in Brutus’s Personal Failure Is the Central Tragedy ,“The conspirators need Brutus precisely because he is known to be honourable and will therefore lend colour to their conspiracy when the time comes to justify their action to the people of Rome,” (Shalvi 71). Also when Antony wanted to make the speech at Caesar 's’ funeral he said yes

Throughout history, many noble people have lived. From this group, a vast number of these people have suffered very greatly. Few examples of these cases are Abraham Lincoln and Mahatma Gandhi. Similarly, in Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, the theme that noble men’s intentions can lead to the most dire consequences is developed through the character Brutus.

Throughout the play, Brutus is very patriotic and nationalistic. He is unconditionally devoted to the good of Rome, always wanting the best for his city. As he is talking to Cassius, they hear a loud cheer come from the crowd. Brutus “[fears] the people choose Caesar for their king” (77-78), and Cassius says that he assumes that Brutus doesn’t want him to be king. Brutus replies that no, he doesn’t wish for Caesar to be king, but he is very fond of him. This shows that Brutus is conflicted between being a loyal friend or doing what’s best for his country. He ultimately stays true to his patriotism and chooses what he believes to be the best option for Rome, which is to kill Caesar. When he kills him, Brutus says “Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more” (20-21). He is suggesting that while he was friends with Caesar, if Caesar was crowned king, it would not be good for the Roman Republic. Because of this, he believes that it is better if Caesar is dead. Brutus’ patriotism allows him to justify killing Caesar, and gives him a reason to explain to others.

Brutus is a very honorable and trusting character, this may sound like a good trait, but it also led to his downfall. Brutus was very trusting of others, some examples include, trusting Cassius’ word and Antony to give a speech at Caesar's funeral. Cassius forged letters and gave them to Brutus, making it seem the Roman citizens wanted him to kill Caesar. As Brutus and the conspirators killed Caesar, Brutus said “If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of Caesar’s, to him I say that Brutus’ love to Caesar was no less than his. 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 (3.2.19-24.) This means that he loved Caesar but he loved Rome more. By saying this, he was trying to win over the Roman’s which didn’t agree with the conspirators.