Exploring The Cause Of Brutus In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar

Shakespeare's Julius Caesar recounts the murder of Rome’s idol, Julius Caesar, to the suicide of Brutus, Caesar’s closest friend. Members of the senate conspire to murder Caesar in attempt to avoid his reign while Brutus’ righteous cause is to protect Rome. After Caesar’s death, Brutus speaks among the Romans in attempt to appease their anger for the death of their beloved icon. He delivers a speech expressing his cause for Caesar’s murder and his love for Rome using emotion, reason, and credibility to convince the Romans that his cause intended to Rome. In the first part of Brutus’s speech, he first states expressing his love for Caesar. He declares he loves Caesar in order to grab the the Roman’s attention: “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” (3.3.19). He compares himself to the audience expressing that he too loves Caesar as much as any Roman. This comparison proves to the audience Brutus’s love to Caesar thus grabbing their attention toward Brutus's reason.

Brutus uses the

Toward the end of his speech, Brutus repeats himself but rephrases what he says to impact the audience more. He begins with the positive aspects of Caesar and ends with an unfavorable one. The second time he repeats himself, he shortens what he said before to summarize why he rose against Caesar: “As Caesar loved me, I wept for him. As he was fortunate, I rejoice at it. As he was valiant, I honor him. But, as he was ambitious, I slew him. There is tears for his love, joy for his fortune, honor for his valor, and death for his ambition” (26). Through repeating himself, Brutus catches the attention of the audience even more. He ends with Caesar’s ambition to influence the audience. As the audience listens, they hear all the favorable qualities of Caesar noticing in the end the cause for his