Grievous Ambitions

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Grievous Ambitions In William Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Julius Caesar we find that when a leader is wrongfully murdered absolute political chaos ensues. Brutus our protagonist is the poster child for the position of tragic hero, the one who starts off in such a high position and winds up with nothing, but he can only blame himself. As he and several other conspirators plot to kill Caesar for no logical reason other than lust and Caesar’s ambition. He justifies his actions through fallacies and illogical thoughts and his downfall is that he is eventually slain in the same manor as his victim. Brutus has several character flaws that he is unable to over come and this among the cunning of his political enemies leads to his downfall. Throughout this tragedy Brutus exhibits many character flaws. He starts off by attempting to be too honorable for the adoring people of Rome. He tries to protect him from what Caesar could potentially become, a tyrant. “Wolf but that he sees the Romans as but sheep, he were no lion, were not the Romans hinds”(903). At this point Caesar has not shown any tyrannical ambition. He has been shown to be all for the people without the venture of self gain. “Thrice did I present a kingly crown and thrice did he refuse” (951). He was slightly ambitious, but what human is not? Another flaw we discover in Brutus is that he is an easily swayed man. The truculent and virulent Cassius is able to alter his perception on life especially about his people and the ambitious Caesar. Every move this confused man makes is justified by some flawed logic. This is augmented in his idiotic choice to underestimate Antony and allow him to live. “For Antony is but a limb of Caesar let us be sacrificers not butchers Caiu... ... middle of paper ... ...tension of himself. He had the power to stand up to Cassius and stop this conspiracy before it even began, but did he? He does manage to muster some sympathy in that he lost everyone that meant anything to him. “I had rather be a dog and bay at the moon, than such a roman” (966). He has lost everything and become what he truly feared and hated most. Who could do that to that and realize it in such a form to ruin his whole life. He made the cowardly choice and took the suicide battle over having a chance to reclaim his life. Illogical thinking, pain, and misery are what our pitiful tragic hero laid for himself. He had everything to lose and lost it all through the same grievous faults he killed a man over. Does this in its self bring deserving pity or deserving punishment? Works Cited: Elements of Literature. Orlando: Holt, Winston, Rhinehart, 2007.

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