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Recommended: Brutus as tragic hero
In William Shakespeare's classic tragedy “Julius Caesar” the characters are all positioned on a path that leads them to a terrible and disastrous end. Some destroy themselves for the greater good of Rome or just because of their own selfish greed for power. Some characters proceed to destroy others in hopes of protecting the greater good, but lose those closest to them. Cassius leads a dark conspiracy and kills Julius Caesar, but later kills himself. Marc Antony and Octavius track down and kill the assassins that killed Caesar, but lose those they care about most along the way. A true hero will rise to adversity and meet a situation head on to conquer the problem or his foes; however, a tragic hero may do just the opposite. A tragic hero, through errors in judgment and personal flaws, combined with fate and forces often beyond their control ,will fail and bring those around them down as well. No hero has ever been so tragic in literature than Marcus Brutus. Brutus, through persuasion of others, bad decisions, and his personal fears of those around him meets a tragic end. When his beloved wife, Portia, kills herself, he later is compelled to do the same. Brutus’ character flaws bring about his ultimate downfall, which has been judged by critics throughout the ages. Brutus allows his flaws to overshadow his quest to do good, causing him to appear as a weak character. Brutus’ mistakes begin when he lets his thoughts be infiltrated by Cassius. Brutus admits to having an ongoing struggle within him about where his loyalties lie. When Cassius first presents the idea of overthrowing and assassinating Caesar to Brutus, Cassius begins by saying Brutus looks troubled, in response Brutus says, “Be not deceived. If I have veiled my lo...
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...st Roman of the all. All the conspirators save only he did what they did in envy of great Caesar…’This was a man!” (998). Antony’s words comprise a temerity that describes Brutus. Although he is a flawed man, who has to fall as far as he can, Brutus faces his demons, going down as one of literature's most tragic heroes. Like Brutus, the heroes of today are put under a microscope and their lives are exposed as a series of bad choices. Their actions are no less great, but their flaws spill over into their achievements and destroy their public persona. Although Brutus’ heart is in the right places, he soon cannot control the situation created by all his poor decisions and he must pay the consequences with the ultimate price. The path of Brutus’ tragic life is paved with good intentions.
Works Cited
Elements of Literature. Orlando: Holt, Winston, Rinehart, 2007.
A tragic hero must be a person of importance at the opening of any story. The story must then ultimately end in their demise. Brutus is a mighty man of Rome who is used to living in opulence at the opening of the play. He is not only well beloved by the Roman people, but he is also well loved by Julius Caesar himself. The Brutus is portrayed as an honorable man who is held in highly extolled among the people of Rome. He is even compared to the greatness of Caesar. “Brutus and Caesar—what should be in that “Caesar”? Why should that name be sounded more than yours? Write them together, yo...
Brutus, Honorable Man Brutus, an honorable conspirator? Honorable is defined as genuine, truthful and displaying integrity, while a conspirator is defined as one that engages in an agreement to commit an illegal or wrongful act. Anyone can clearly see that these two words do not belong together. There are also other reasons why Brutus should not be considered honorable. In the play, three distinct acts can be recalled.
In The Tragedy Of Julius Caesar written by William Shakespeare, the leader Caesar is killed by a group of men who are close to him. He was killed because the group of men thought he was not fit to be the ruler of Rome. Brutus, a close friend of Caesar, was a part of the group. Even though Brutus betrayed Caesar, it shows he cares about others more than himself. This proves Brutus is a better leader for Rome and its people.
The infamous line from William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, ”Et tu, Brute?” is seen to be the anthem of betrayal since it’s first appearance in 1599. Every way you look at it, Brutus killed Caesar, period. From an outsider’s perspective, this is seen as betrayal. But this quote from the play proves more so that Brutus wasn’t a traitor. Although the line is said with the sorrow of one being betrayer, it proves as well the love Brutus and Caesar shared. As he died, Caesar didn’t sa...
The tragic hero is one of literatures most used (and sometimes abused) characters. The classical definition of a tragic hero is, “a person with heroic or potentially heroic qualities. The person is doomed by the Gods or some other supernatural force to destruction or suffering. The hero struggles against the fate, but due to a personal flaw, ultimately fails in the battle against fate. It is my personal opinion that Brutus,as he is portrayed in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, is a tragic hero by this definition. I came to this conclusion due to the fact that Brutus shares many similarities with other tragic heroes in literature such as Oedipus, Hamlet, and Ralph from Lord of the Flies. All four characters share the two critical traits that are needed to be tragic heroes: a tragic flaw that eventually leads to a tragic downfall. The tragic hero was defined by Aristotle, yet the “invention” of the tragic hero goes to Sophocles.
Brutus is classified as the tragic hero of “The Tragedy of Julius Caesar” by William Shakespeare because he is blinded by single-minded focus on personal ethics that combined with a tragic flaw dooms him to make a serious error in judgment; however, he himself maintains his morals and his spirit lives on.
Brutus has a naive view of the world. He is unable to see through the roles being played by Cassius, Casca, and Antony. He does not even recognize the fake letters were sent from Cassius. Then Brutus says,“You shall not blame us Antony, in your funeral speech, but speak all the good you can of Caesar.
Brutus’ final flaw is his idealism. His idealism leads him to believe everything that everybody tells him. His idealism causes him to believe in Antony and Cassius. Cassius uses Brutus’ idealism by getting him to believe that they are killing Caesar for the betterment of Rome. Antony uses the idealism to get to talk to the com Brutus’ tragic flaws are part of what makes him a tragic hero. In Julius Caesar, Brutus is a great example of a tragic hero. His tragic flaws are honor, poor judgement, and idealism (Bedell). In Shakespeare’s plays, the tragic hero and his flaws cause the downfall of the play (Tragic Flaws).
A dream which Brutus gladly fights when he utters, “Let us be sacrificers but not butchers, Cassius. And in spite of the men, there is no blood”(2.1.173-175). Brutus offers insight into his notion of worth, he will kill for a righteous deed, an honorable action, but not slay wantonly. Brutus is a true martyr for a deceptive plan, when he says, “I have the same dagger for myself, when it shall please my country to need my death”(3.2.41-43). A person of high moral values, an individual who strives to accomplish his ambition, Brutus was the most honorable Roman.
Brutus has several tragic flaws. One of these tragic flaws is how he trusts people a lot. Brutus says that he “know[s] that we shall have [Antony] well to a friend” (1140). He trusts Antony will be a friend of the conspirators, yet he seems to not realize that Antony is obliviously against them, because they killed his friend. Brutus trusts Antony so much, that he lets Antony speak to the public alone. Antony turns the people against Brutus and the conspirators, leading to the wars where Brutus takes his own life. Brutus also receives letters, supposedly from the people of Rome. As he reads the letter out loud, Brutus remarks “‘Speak, strike, redress!’ Am I entreated to speak and strike? O Rome, I make thee promise, if thy redress will follow, thy receivest thy full petition at the hand of Brutus” (1118).
In conclusion, Brutus is a true example of a tragic hero. He has a hubris that brings about a downfall from a high point in society; however, he also experiences an enlightenment of his mistakes after his downfall. Brutus is truly an honorable and sympathetic character that must studied on many levels to truly understand. He chose country over friend. He committed the only honorable betrayal possible. He killed his friend out of love; not love for himself or money, but out of love for his country and its people.
William Shakespeare illustrates Brutus to have outstanding morals, but also displays Brutus’s naive and over-trusting personality which becomes his tragic flaw. For example, when Brutus suffers from an internal conflict on deciding if Caesar should be emperor or not, Cassius
The play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, has two main tragic heroes. Set in Rome and spanning from forty- four to forty-two B.C., the play tells of Brutus and Caesar whom both fall from the highest positions to the lowest of misfortune and then are enlightened on their mistakes. Brutus is the stronger example of a tragic hero in this story. Throughout this play, Brutus commits many faults, falls more drastically than all other characters, and regrets his previous actions by the end of the play.
Brutus, is a true Roman, and is very important to Rome. But these main motivators of Brutus lead him into his tragic flaw as it made him think about his judgments and turned him into a more decisive decision maker.... ... middle of paper ... ... Brutus finally reached his goal at the end of the story when he realizes that killing Caesar has truly affected Rome by having them heartbroken and that the civil war needed to be stopped in order to get Rome back to normal.
Throughout many of Shakespeare's plays, a tragic hero is acknowledged: a courageous figure that possesses a tragic flaw, which eventually leads to his downfall. In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, there have been arguments over who is in fact the tragic hero. Numerous people concur that Brutus is the tragic hero. However, others argue and name Julius Caesar as the tragic hero. After learning more about these two characters, a conclusion can be effortlessly drawn. Brutus is indeed the tragic hero of this play because when a person who possesses such heroic qualities dies, it is a true tragedy. In order to be the tragic hero the person must contain at least one tragic flaw, and Brutus contains many, but three of them stick out distinctively. His overconfidence along with his impatience and his nobility brought about Brutus's downfall. However, I believe that the main cause of his downfall was his naivety or the fact that he was an idealistic man.