Julius Caesar Hero Quotes

A hero is defined by their actions in the real world. One may be a hero to a whole population of people or just one. No matter what, each of these heroes earn their titles through their actions. In the play, Julius Caesar, by Shakespeare, the main characters embodies the question of who the tragic hero is. On one end, the story consists of the military leader Caesar, who is going to become ruler, but is assassinated through waging fear that he is going to rule as a tyrant. On the other end, the story consists of the character Brutus who backstabbed his best friend, Caesar, to preserve Rome as a republic. To decide who the tragic hero is, one must look at the traits that help identify what makes up one. The definition of a tragic hero, consists of the traits of reputation, prosperity, virtue, and a tragic flaw. Both characters embody these traits, but Brutus is the clearer choice for being tragic hero.

Reputation of Brutus and Caesar are exemplified greatly throughout the play. To begin,

An example may be, Caesar was just as or even more noble to Rome. Because of his military victories and the his care for the citizens of Rome , Caesar was more noble. Although this is a valid point, Caesar was becoming a power hungry, tyrant that was going to run Rome into the ground. Another argument maybe that the play is named after Caesar , so logically he would be the tragic hero. The rebuttal to this point is that the story follows Brutus in his struggle to decide between friendship or country, and to deal with the consequences of his actions. Furthermore, the play does not focus on Julius Caesar but rather Brutus. Finally, some may argue that Caesar’s virtue outweighs Brutus’s. As stated before, these motives would have changed if he came into power, as he was going to an autocratic ruler. Marcus Brutus is the better tragic hero when comparing to Julius