Brutus Was Recognized as Hero in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar

“A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to preserver and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles” (Christopher Reeve). Julius Caesar is a tragedy about a ruler that is murdered by a group of angry conspirators that go into a civil war against Caesar’s right hand man. By portraying the qualities of honorable Brutus, William Shakespeare, in his tragedy Julius Caesar, proves that anyone with good intentions, nobility, and the ability to recognize flaws can be a true hero.

People constantly say that it is the thought that counts and that the intentions of the heart mean more than the actions. Brutus was doing everything for the people of Rome. With every move he took, he thought about how it would influence the Roman people. In his soliloquy of self-conflict, Brutus explains why he must kill Caesar. “That at his will he may do danger with. / The abuse of greatness is when it disjoins / Remorse from power” (II.i.17-19). In this quote, Brutus fears what will become of Caesar if he becomes king. He worries that Caesar will become a tyrant and treat the people like slaves. Like a hero, he wants to defend the citizens from peril and conquer the villain. It is not that Caesar was the villain, but that he held the potential of danger. Caesar was essentially a good friend to Brutus. For this purpose, Brutus had to dig deep down into his heart to find the right act for the people. The forming of the conspiracy and the killing of Caesar were difficult for him, but his intentions were always going to be first for the Romans. He even explains to the Roman people: “Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I / loved Rome more” (III.ii.22-23). Again, Brutus enlightens the reader on how dedicated he is to Rome. He displaces the vio...

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...rays the qualities of honorable Brutus, proving that anyone with good intentions, nobility, and the ability to recognize flaws, can become a hero. Brutus has all these characteristics to make him a hero. Several people may debate that he is corrupt because of everything he did erroneously, but he is so much more than what his actions consisted of. It does not take much to be a hero. Being strong or having super powers isn’t what you need to help others. There are heroes all around the world and most of them are not in comic strips. They are our role models, families, friends, doctors, firefighters, etc. The list is never ending. These people are not lionized or given all the attention. None of them has super strength or any super powers, and neither did Brutus. To many others’s consternation, they do not require those. Everything a hero needs is on the inside.