The Tragedy of Brutus; Trusting to Extinction. Trust is a trait one should obtain for the people they know are the most honest. To trust someone means to put ones full confidence and reliability on an acquaintance such as someone one is close with. In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Brutus, one of the leading characters put his complete trust in the people trying to tell him what he should believe. Brutus joined the conspirators to help take down Julius Caesar because he believed it was what was good for Rome based on what he was deceived. This resulted in the killing of Caesar and the death of himself and others. Not considering the right kind of trust in someone can lead to very troubling things. Cassius told a lie as if it was a truth so Brutus …show more content…
Brutus put his trust in Antony to not turn on him at the funeral. He was lead to believe that Antony would only speak good of the conspirators and defend them for the actions they have made. He trusted Antony when he told him he would not express such hate and talk of the bad they did and then later turned against them for the vengeance of Caesar. Brutus told Antony, “You shall not in your funeral speech blame us, But speak all good you can devise of Caesar” (III.i.245-246). He told him that the only way he is going to be able to speak at Caesar’s funeral is if he speaks good of the conspirators. After Antony said his speech, the whole crowd immediately switched and sided with him against them. They wanted nothing more than for Brutus, Cassius and the other contributors to be dead. This reveals that Brutus is shameful for putting his trust in someone who was so close to Caesar. Brutus trusted that Antony wouldn't do anything and just imagined he would be to scared to step up and speak out. This leads to Brutus losing the trust he had for Antony and starting a war between the people and the conspirators. As the war was about to proceed, they all prepped for what was about to happen. Antony and his army completely dominated Brutus’ and lead to many of them fleeing for their lives. Many people died by genocide while other committed suicide. Brutus was among the ones of suicide. He no longer wanted to be alive and felt that he had lived and fulfill what he had wanted. People were dead and he knew he was going to be one of them. Brutus’ last words were, “Caesar, now be still; I killed not thee with half so good a will” (V.v.50-51). He wanted Caesar to know that he can now be at rest because the vengeance he was looking for has been given. Because of all the trust he put in the people that were taking advantage of him, he ended up finishing his life. This reveals that Brutus really did
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare is the story about the men who conspired and followed through with the assassination of the great Julius Caesar. These men fear that Caesar will take the crown and become the next king of Rome. The roman people had a true averse feeling toward the idea of monarchy. So in order to prevent this they come up with a plan to end Caesars life, which is duly followed through on March 15, 44 B.C. Out of these conspirators there is one man that stands out to be a tragic hero, and that is a man by the name of Brutus. He was a great friend of Caesar who ultimately became one of Caesars worst adversaries. He betrayed Caesars trust and friendship when he agreed to be part of the assassination plot. A tragic hero is someone who is in a place of high standings or a place of power. This leads to a huge fall from greatness to death. A tragic hero must have many deep complex character flaws that are revealed throughout the course of the story. They then must ultimately accept responsibility for their mistakes; along with being humbled and enlightened. Brutus demonstrates all of the attributes of a tragic hero.
Both Caesar and Brutus have a tragic flaw. In the beginning of the play a soothsayer is telling Caesar to beware the ides of march Caesar Responds “He is a dreamer; Brutus leave him. Pass” (shakespeare page??? line????) When Caesar tells the soothsayer this it shows that he does not believe that he could be harmed. Just like caesar, Brutus suffered a tragic flaw, his being trusting everyone. After Caesar is dead Antony wants to say a speech at Caesar 's funeral, after making the crowd violent says “Now let it work. Mischief, thou art afoot, take thou the course thou wilt.”(shakespeare3.2.266-264). Brutus trusted Antony to say some nice words about Caesar, instead he turn the crowd violent. Caesar and Brutus love the roman people and would sacrifice anything for them. after Caesar dies Antony reads “ to every roman citizen he gives, to every several man, seventy-five drachmas”( page lines title). Caesar loved the romans so much he gave them all a bit of his money after he died. Even though he was prideful he loved the romans as much as Brutus. Brutus saw that under Caesar 's rule romans were suffering and says” Not that i love Caesar less, but that I loved/Rome more”(?) He Explains why he felt
Each ruler of Rome seemed to have made poor decisions, and this is exactly what occurred with Brutus. Brutus became very naïve. All of the conspirators confronted Brutus with the idea of killing Mark Antony. They believed he would continue Caesar’s legacy but Brutus thought differently. Brutus added, “And for Mark Antony, think not of him, for he can do no more than Caesar’s arm” (Shakespeare, 24). He proposed that Antony was too weak for them to worry about while this was actually what brought about his fall. When the murder of Caesar had concluded, Antony wished to speak in honor of Caesar. Brutus agreed with the idea but Cassius was hesitant. Cassius insulted, “You know not what you do. Do not consent that Antony speak in his funeral. Know you how much the people may be moved by that which he will utter” (Shakespeare, 44). Cassius feared that Antony’s persuasive speech would turn the citizens against the conspirators. Brutus continued to ignore Cassius’s warning, but was proven wrong immediately. The locals were influenced by Antony and led an angered march to end the conspirators. Brutus caused their arrangement to fail by lack of
When Brutus betrayed Caesar for the good of Rome by killing him, he had no idea that he would regret it later on in his life. Brutus wanted to kill Caesar because he thought that if Caesar became king, he would forget who his real friends are and he would not pay attention to them. He also thought that Caesar would become too powerful and therefore did not want him to be king. This is shown when Portia says, “…Brutus hath a suit / that Caesar will not grant…” (2.4.41-42). Although Brutus had a clear conscience, the people of Rome did not. This eventually led to Brutus being driven out of Rome by the citizens. Not being associated with Rome anymore made Brutus’ life worse and he eventually took his own life as the only way to...
He has two opposing desires that he has to choose between. These are killing Caesar to preserve democracy in Rome and to save Caesar, since he is a friend of Brutus. A quote from J.L. Simmons that summarizes this well is, “Certainly the material lends itself to a conflict between private and public affections” (Simmons 64). Brutus wants to kill Caesar for Rome because the citizens of Rome want to preserve democracy and Caesar is preventing that by being dictator for life. A quote that puts this in other words is, “The ultimate factor in persuading Brutus to join the conspiracy is his belief that his countrymen wish him to act on their behalf” (Shalvi 71). Killing Caesar would be a choice made for not himself, but the citizens of Rome while saving him would be for himself and to preserve his friendship with Caesar. Saving Caesar would be a deed for himself and would strengthen his relationship with Caesar. He could have warned Caesar of the conspirators’ plans and put a stop to them. Brutus ultimately makes the choice of following through and assassinating Caesar. His plan was for this to be a honorable action, but it ended up negative on his behalf. The majority of the citizens in Rome did not take this lightly and wanted revenge for his actions. This is the main mistake made by Brutus that lead to his own
Since the people knew Caesar because of his friendliness and how nice he was to people he was able to get sympathy for his death. When the people remembered how good he was at one point they wanted to get vengeance on the conspirators,Antony had used persuasion and reverse psychology with the crowd to get mad at the conspirators. Brutus had not connected to the people as well because he did not give as much sympathy about Caesar's Death , and what he will give in return. Antony had touched the people when he sad said that he had money and land for the people of rome but he did not want to read it because it would make them made. Once that had hit there was no way Brutus could fight back against Antony's
Throughout most of the play Brutus is constantly internally conflicted. Does he do what he believes is best for Rome or stay loyal to his friend and leader? Should he assist in the murder of one person to benefit many? Although killing Caesar was in the end a bad choice, Brutus always tries to do what is best for Rome and for the people. However even though all of Brutus’ motives are good he still has the tragic flaw of pride, which ultimately leads to his downfall. The reason that Brutus gets caught up in the conspiracy is because Cassias appeals to his pride and flatters him with forged letters from the Roman people saying he is a greater leader then Caesar.
The play Othello by Williams Shakespeare was First Performed and created in 1604. It was one of the most popular plays throughout the seventeenth century, During the play Othello is led to destruction by his so called friend Iago , Othello unlike Iago is capable of forming . Strong , Loving , and Healthy relationships. Even though Iago is using him. In the plot, it is proven that othello is mentally weakened and manipulated by Iago. In my statement Othello is very sympathetic throughout the text by making mistakes, by listening to others, and having low self-esteem.
Specifically, Brutus has too much pride in himself to realize that he might have a wrong political standpoint, and that killing Caesar might not have been the best option. “Stoop, Romans, stoop, and let us bathe our hands in Caesar's blood up to the elbows, and besmear our swords. Then walk we forth, even to the marketplace, and, waving our red weapons o'er our heads, let's all cry "Peace, freedom, and liberty” (3.1.117)! Brutus shows pride in his actions and thinks it will only bring out great in the world. However, Caesar is going to take the crown when he is slain by Brutus and the conspirators. Turmoil is inevitable which causes a war to break out and many people to
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 act 3 of Julius Caesar, and after the death of Caesar, Brutus and Antony each prepared speeches. Brutus shined light on the glory of Caesar and showed no resentment towards him even though he had just helped murder him. Antony on the other hand bashed Brutus and the other conspirators and avenged Caesar. After Antony’s speech, mobs of Roman citizens directed their rage to anyone that had anything to do with the conspiracy. The death of Caesar turned into a plethora of deaths. Cassius and Brutus went to war against Antony and Octavius. So the death of Caesar turned Roman people against each other, and the outcome was more
In William Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caesar was a tragedy that is mainly based on the assassination of Julius Caesar. The character that was in charge of the assassination was Marcus Brutus. Brutus was the most complex character in the play. He was one of the men who assassinate Caesar in the Senate. Brutus was an honorable man. He was a servant and close friend to Julius Caesar. In Roman times, the only way for someone to get close to a person of high rank is if he/she is close to him/her. The reason of his complexity was because he did not kill Caesar for greed, envy, nor to preserve his social position like so many of the other conspirators. What would cause a person to kill a close friend? He joined the conspiracy in order to help the Romans get rid of Caesar. Brutus would not allow Caesar to rise to power and then turn his back onto the people of Rome. Brutus had a strong relationship with Caesar but a stronger relationship with Rome and its people. Brutus loved Caesar but feared his powers. Brutus advocates peace, freedom, and liberty, for all Romans, which shows that Brutus is an altruistic as well as an honorable man. Not that Brutus loved Caesar Less but he loved Rome more. Brutus had honored Caesar but Brutus felt that Caesar was too ambitious. He also felt that Caesar made the Romans as slaves. Brutus joined the conspiracy because he had the desire to help the commoners.
Brutus also frequently demonstrated many acts of affection toward others. In Act 1, Scene 2, he is reluctant to join Cassius's conspiracy because he did not want to betray Caesar. He had to weigh his choices and in Act 3, Scene 2, Brutus kills Caesar only because he is afraid of what will happen to Rome if Caesar remains ruler. He knew the commoners life would be difficult with the ruling of Caesar. He realizes what a honorable man Caesar was. This is shown again in the same Act and Scene when Brutus allows Mark Antony to speak at Caesar's funeral even though Cassius highly disagreed. Brutus realized Caesar deserved an proper ceremony, and that the best way to do that would be to let Caesar's best friend speak.
Trust is a powerful emotion and can easily be manipulated. In Shakespeare's Tragedy Othello the Moor of Venice the character Iago uses trust as his sword. Othello is so easily duped by Iago because of his carefully built reputation of being honest. Iago studies each character and he knows each weakness. "What should I do? I confess it is my shame to be so fond; but it is not in my virtue to amend it". (847) This was words from Rodrigo to Iago letting Iago know his feelings toward Desmona and giving Iago a tool to use it against him.
In front of the people of Rome at Caesar’s funeral whilst giving his speech, Antony makes up Brutus to up to be this honorable and noble man, nonetheless Brutus is one of the conspirators who ended Caesar’s life. Caesar has been slain by, Trebonius, Cinna, Cassius, Brutus, Ligarius, Decius, Metellus and Casca. All because most had felt that he was too ambitious for their liking, Cassius has manipulated each one of them into committing the crime alongside him. Once Caesar is killed, Brutus delivers his speech, saying, “Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more”(lll.ii.20). Basically just trying to justify the reason he helped to kill one of the most loved Romans in all of Rome. Antony then comes out and begins his speech at Caesar’s