Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

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The play Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare is renowned throughout the world. This tragedy tell the story of the conspiracy to murder Julius Caesar and the results afterwards. Of all the characters in the play, I find Marcus Brutus to be the most interesting. Time and time again Brutus is convinced and persuaded into decisions. At the times when he actually does make a decision on his own, it ends badly. Throughout the whole play, he believes that what he is doing is the right things, he makes choices for only moral reasons. The character of Brutus in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar is easily deceived, tragically wrong, and falsely heroic.
Poor Brutus is manipulated into doing many things. His biggest decision though is to join the conspiracy. Though Brutus believes he has come to thee decision on his own, there are several key factors that guide him to that choice. First off in the beginning of the play when Cassius is speaking with Brutus he is trying to convince him that Caesar is a bad man and a threat to the well being of the public. Cassius gives Brutus two reasons why Caesar should be killed. For his first reason Cassius gives a small anecdote,
“Endure the winter’s cold as well as he.For once upon a raw and gusty day, The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores, Caesar said to me, “Darest thou, Cassius, now Leap in with me into this angry flood And swim to yonder point?” Upon the word, Accoutred as I was, I plungèd in And bade him follow. So indeed he did. The torrent roared, and we did buffet it With lusty sinews, throwing it aside And stemming it with hearts of controversy. But ere we could arrive the point proposed, Caesar cried, “Help me, Cassius, or I sink!” I, as Aeneas, our great ancestor, Did from the flames...

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..., he truly believes he has saved Rome. In the end though, the truth about how he felt of the conspiracy is revealed. With his final breath, Brutus says, “Caesar, you can rest now. I didn’t kill you half as willingly (5.5.55-56) .”
Brutus is a complex character. He is guided to make certain decisions. He was easily deceived by Cassius and convinced to join the plot to murder one of his own friends. Though when he does make his own decisions, things go awry. Each decision he makes without help ends tragically, ultimately ending in the taking of his own life. All in All Brutus believe he is doing the right thing. He believed that killing Caesar was the only option. He is the tragic hero of William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. "Julius Caesar." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2014. .

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