Brutus in William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar

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. He had many positive qualities. I

wish to bring these to a light and explore how they affected the plot.

Brutus believes that his role in Cassius's assassination plot is for

the good of Rome and the citizens. This becomes very obvious when he

says,

"But for the general. He would be crown'd: How that might change his

nature, there's the question."

This truly innocent way of thinking allows him to be persuaded by

Cassius to go against Caesar. He is also an honest man. He refuses to

take bribe in act 4, scene 3.

"By any indirection: I did send to you for gold to pay my legions,

which you denied me: was that done like Cassius?"

This is the honesty that gained him respect of the people. Brutus was

a naïve man as well. Sincerity is often misunderstood as being naïve;

however, I will treat each as a separate characteristic. Brutus's

naïve sprit is mostly shown not in one single action, but in overall

willingness he has to believe that those around him are essentially

good.

In the plot to murder Caesar, we notice that Brutus takes control of

the decisions, without q...

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...s falls victim to those he believes are his friends. He

is imperialistic; we see the elements in Brutus that we criticised in

Julius Caesar. The ghost's visit could have represented an evil spirit

questioning Brutus's likeness to Caesar.

I initially began this opinion having the opposite view. I thought

that Brutus was a poor template for the role that Shakespeare put him

in. however, I soon realized that Brutus, in fact, was a state of

moral fortitude because of the reasons I have previously stated. The

plot revolves around Brutus and thus his actions are often scrutinized

and are important to understand. Brutus is a state of honour and

should be recognized as such.

We are meant to see that killing his friend he is denying himself the

privilege of that friendship, but for the good of Rome he will

sacrifice it.