Most individuals wish to consider themselves “noble,” as it is generally a positive quality for most humans. By being noble, a person will likely be respected by others, especially when it comes to decisions that can influence more than one person. Individuals who are considered noble usually wield a certain power or authority, especially in literature. In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare utilizes the character Brutus to exemplify these qualities in an individual’s personality in order to convince that people should strive to be like Brutus, even with overly his optimistic view on life. For instance, throughout the play, Brutus displays affection for the public. One example comes from his loyalty to his nation, which creates …show more content…
However, this is not a bad thing, as this makes the character more relatable to the reader, which further encourages being like Brutus. One example of his idealistic views hurting him comes when he tells Cassius and the other conspirators, “Alas, good Cassius, do not think of him. If he love Caesar, all that he can do is to himself” (2.1.199-201). By stating this, Brutus tells Cassius that is not necessary to kill Mark Antony. This proves to be a poor decision by him, for Mark Antony later united the Romans against him and the other conspirators, though Brutus does this from this idealistic judgement. In this case, his optimism proves to be a flaw for Brutus. Another example of his idealistic view is portrayed throughout the play in the fact that he trusts the conspirators. For example, Brutus says to Cassius, “Did not great Julius bleed for justice’s sake? What villain touched his body that did stab and not for justice?” (4.3.20-23). Brutus believed wholesomely that the conspirators were planning on killing Caesar to prevent him from gaining too much power, rather than personal grievances. However, this was not the case, as most of the conspirators did not care about the Roman people nearly as much as Brutus. If Brutus had known this, like most people, he would not have sided with the conspirators. Because of these facts, Brutus’s optimism makes him a more relatable character that could be modeled in real
The tragic flaw in Marcus Brutus was his pride. Brutus was lulled into the conspiracy to assassinate Caesar with Cassius’ flattery and also flattery in the form of letters forged by Cassius to appear that various Romans had lauded Brutus. Brutus would best fit Aristotle’s description of the tragic hero because of his pride—that is, pride in his integrity and pride in his reputation. Brutus’ pride in his integrity is demonstrated when Cassius approaches him because Brutus has “wronged” Cassius (p. 103-105) In a time of battle, Brutus attacked Cassius for defending a man who took bribes from the Sardians (p. 103).
Idealistic Brutus misplaces his trust on his army and the conspirators. Manipulated, Brutus joins into the conspiracy without knowing the hidden intentions. By the time conspirators had brief meeting at Brutus’s house before the plan, Brutus addresses that “they are all welcome” (2.1.97) and shakes hands with the conspirators without any doubt. He misplaces his trust on the conspirators thinking that everyone share same purpose and intention. After the death of Caesar and Antony’s funeral speech, Brutus and Cassius run away from Rome and set up a camp where they can fight against the army of Antony.
“This was the noblest Roman of them all…‘This was a man!’” (V, v, 68-75). In one of William Shakespeare 's most renowned plays, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, a nobleman by the name of Marcus Brutus is highly respected by his fellow “Romans, countrymen, and lovers” of Rome, including his adversary, Antony (III, ii, 13). Throughout this tragedy, Brutus in his admired state has the most considerable effect of any character on the play and advancement of the plot. This admiration is demonstrated several times in which Brutus is highly regarded among his numerous comrades, including the common people of Rome, a very intelligent man by the name of Gaius Cassius, and a man of very high rank in Julius Caesar.
Brutus has a vision, and he intends it to work out in every way he plans. In a sense he achieves what he wants, and killing Caesar may have been crucial to his short-lived success.
A quality all humans possess is questioning leadership. The reasons why we challenge or rebel against our leaders describe what kind of individual we are. Cassius and Brutus have different reasons for questioning Caesars power. Both characters have a common goal but exceedingly different values, thought process, and motives for killing Caesar. Cassius and Brutus are characters who have opposite values.
In William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, Cassius is a foil to Marcus Brutus, for Brutus is consistently described as honorable and kind, contrasting the always clever and self-centered, Cassius. Cassius acts as a character who goes against the virtues and weaknesses of the main character. Brutus announces, “Why man, he doth bestride the narrow World like a Colossus, and we pretty men Walk under his huge legs and peep about To find ourselves dishonorable graves” (Shakespeare I. 2. 142-145). By appealing to Brutus' feeling of honor and loyalty to Rome, Cassius hopes to persuade him to join the conspiracy against Caesar.
/ Why should that name be sounded more than yours[, Brutus]” (I, ii, 142-143). From this conversation, Brutus is shown to let his naive and too trusting personality overcome him to the point he could be guided by his close friends as seen with Cassius in following whatever path they consider to be noble. Moreover, Brutus is shown to have a weak personality, a characteristic of a tragic hero, since he is easily persuaded in following Cassius’s idea that Caesar is indeed not fit to rule Rome as an emperor and should be taken down, and this naivety of his leads to his own downfall by trusting the wrong person. In addition, due to this tragic flaw, he is taken advantage of by his friends. For instance, when Brutus trusts the words of Mark Antony, a man who is very loyal to Caesar and hates the conspirators who killed Caesar, as Brutus asks him to promise that he “shall not in [his] funeral speech blame [the conspirators]” (III, i, 245) to which Antony, taking advantage of Brutus’s flaw, says “[b]e it so, I do desire no more” (III, i, 253), but as Antony does his speech, he describes
When Brutus was talking to the conspirators Brutus was going back and forth think if he should help the conspirators kill Julius Caesar. He was going back and forth because he was thinking of the power he could have and could rule Rome. The reason behind Brutus killing Caesar was for the better of Rome. If Brutus would not have killed Caesar, Rome would have turned into a dictatorship, and in turn it would have ruined Rome and all of its people. Brutus did not kill Julius just for the power to rule Rome, he killed Julius to save Rome from Caesar’s dictatorship.
Brutus believes that Caesar will do more harm than good to the people, and reap benefits for himself. Brutus has already said this, but had said it in his own words, (II, i, 12-14). He has no clue if Caesar will use his power for the good and betterment for the people, or use it for his own needs and other
Brutus fled his country where he eventually killed himself. While Brutus experiences an impactful turning point, Cassius ' actions and personality remain fairly constant within the negative traits. He represents gloominess from the beginning of the play; he is jealous, manipulative and pessimistic. “O coward that I am, to live so long to see my best friend ta 'en before my face.” (V.III.34-35).
Unfortunately, Cassius uses Brutus’ altruistic characteristic and devout loyalty against him by sending fake letters with concerns regarding the crowning of Caesar for Brutus to read and be persuaded to join the conspirators. Cassius’ manipulation of Brutus serves as an example of how Shakespeare
(II, i, 53-55) which allows to say that he wants Rome to be just and do whatever it takes to maintain it away from any threat. Indeed, Brutus states this very clearly when he says, “If it’s for the good of all Romans, I’d do it even if it meant my death. Let the gods give me good luck only as long as I love honor more than I fear death.” (I, ii, 86-88), he explicitly says that the good of the majority is over any feeling or personal benefit which in this case is the love of Caesar for him and viceversa, and the throne. To conclude, Brutus is a complex character that is characterized by three recurrent traits: his well-intention, his hypocrisy, and his naivet.
Brutus and Cassius are two prominent conspirators in the play Julius Caesar; one of these two fits Aristotle's depiction of a tragic hero. The difference between a normal hero and a tragic hero is that the latter will have a tragic flaw that keeps them from succeeding. These characters are often sympathetic and will cleave to the reader's pity. Firstly, we shall discuss Cassius. He was a man of questionable character.
In the play, Julius Caesar by written by William Shakespeare the extended view of Brutus in a result to his idealism. Brutus is convinced to kill Caesar, he was worried about about where Rome is heading as a country as Brutus was an honourable man. He decides to kill his close friend Caesar. Brutus was a very objective man, he didn’t base things on a personal side but always about the facts and what’s really happening.
Brutus has negatively affected the outlook of Rome and created more harm than good for the situation. Not only did it harm Rome, but it brought his own demise and hallucinations of Caesar’s ghost. Brutus’s speech to the plebeians after Caesar’s death, about his dilemma and his viewpoint towards Caesar, influenced the viewpoints of the plebeians and causes them to believe he is the best roman until Antony speaks to them. Brutus’s idealism led to his own death later on and brought him more misery than his idealism could