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Tragic Hero Essay
Sometimes our friends keep us from achieving our goals. We make sacrifices to make our friends a part of our goals and achievements. If a friend gets left out, we stay behind with them to keep them from being alone. Some achievements require us to leave out our friends. This is what happens in the case of Julius Caesar. He became the ruler of Rome, leaving out his good friend Brutus. Brutus and other conspirators assassinated Julius Caesar turning him into a tragic hero. A tragic hero must portray four main traits. The hero may neither be perfect nor ultimate evil, the audience must feel pity or fear for the hero, and must be a ruler or leader; good but with flaw. The hero must also come to recognition; from ignorance to knowledge. William Shakespeare identifies three tragic heroes throughout the play; Caesar, a great ruler who took advantage of his power; Brutus, a gullible noble Roman, and Rome.
Julius Caesar was an honorable man, but with his power, came his corruption and greed in the eyes of Rome’s leaders. Several high political figures in Rome were becoming more and more discontent. Caesar’s friend Brutus tells Cassius, “[w]hat means this shouting?/I do fear the people choose Caesar for their king.” (24). Brutus and Cassius felt Caesar was gaining to much attention to quickly. With each amount of increasing support from the Romans, Caesar extended his use of power further. Brutus and the conspirators then go on about Caesar’s abuse of power:
“Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus, and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs and peep about
To find ourselves dishonourable graves.
Men at some time are masters of their fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.”
Cassius uses this line to persuade Brutus into joining him in a conspiracy against Caesar. To Cassius, Caesar was a gigantic Colossus walking all over the common people, ignoring the opinions and thoughts of the Roman people. His abuse of power leads to the discontent of several political figures.
Brutus was a kind noble man; however, he was very easy manipulated. This bad trait eventually molded Brutus into a tragic hero. Cassius tried to persuade Brutus by stating that:
“Brutus and Caesar: what should be in that 'Caesar'?
Why should that name be sounded more than yours?
Write them together, yours is as fair a name;
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.
In conclusion, Brutus is a tragic hero in this awe-inspiring play because he is burdened with countless character flaws that engender his inevitable awakening, enlightenment, and death. They also lead to his dramatic change from a despicable fiend, to a loved companion of Rome. Through massive loses, and profound change in character, Brutus is transformed into a kingly tragic hero.
In addition to this characteristic of Cassius, he also has a devious nature. This attribute allows him to invent informed manipulative plans to eliminate his opponents. For instance, after saying his farewells to Brutus, he gives a soliloquy that reveals his idea of throwing writings of different handwritings in Brutus’ windows “as if they came from several citizens” all of which “tending to the great opinion that Rome holds of his name, wherein obscurely Caesar’s ambition shall be glancéd at” (Shakespeare I. ii. 306-309). Since Brutus and Cassius have been friends for a long period of time, Cassius holds an abundance of knowledge pertaining to his values--in this case being his honor and desire to please Rome’s citizens. This undermining plot Cassius has devised is based on an informed opinion of the most effective way to subvert Caesar’s authority, and because of the valid observations made of Brutus by Cassius, the likelihood that this clever scheme will be carried out successfully should make Caesar concerned about the intentions of his judicial
What pushed them to the limit of leaving him. He spends a large amount of time he speaks upon " I started coming in late to work. Giving everybody even my boss the zombie stare. I got my first warning. Then my second." Wes is being consumed by the relive box as it keeping him from having a sense of time management. He spends so much time on the relive box, he gives those around him the zombie stare, in which means he is barely awake. He has stopped getting sleep over reliving the time he has spent with both his ex-wife and ex-girlfriend. The relive box is a priority to him and he puts it first over anyone, even his daughter Katie. He is not a good role model to her, as he spends a lot of time with the relive box more than he does with her. He grew an addiction to it, using it for a long time, as it has brought influence Katie to have the same addiction. Getting rid of the relive box may be of benefit as he recalls, " In the old days, before we got the box, my daughter and I had a friday afternoon ritual whereby I would stop in at the Italian place down the street from the house, have a drink and chat up whoever was there, then call Katie and have her come join me for a father-daughter dinner, so that I could have some face time with her, read into her, and suss out her thoughts and feelings as she grew into a young woman herself, but we didn’t do that anymore."
At the beginning, Brutus is tricked by Cassius into believing that killing Julius Caesar would be for the better of Rome (1, 2, ll. 32-321). Cassius is able to deviously influence Brutus into thinking that Caesar is no different from Brutus. He says, “Brutus and Caesar: what should be in that Caesar?/ Why should that name be sounded more than yours?” (1, 2, ll. 142-143) Cassius also uses many other examples to manipulate Brutus.
In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Kurtz and the Council demonstrates natural human needs in order to survive and achieve personal desires. His dissolution and corruption take place as he travels deep within the Congo. His behaviour that lacks moral ethics is accepted by everyone in the Congo due to the severity of the area. Kurtz’ imperialistic actions of obsession with power and wealth, and his view of colonialism lead to his ultimate dissolution. He believes that his way of darkness is good, although it is the sole reason to his corruption.
Brutus was a devious man, even though what he thought he was doing was right. Brutus told his fellow conspirators to kill Caesar “boldly, but not angerly.”(3.1.256-257) Brutus was one of Caesars right hand men, and yet Brutus kills his own friend. When Antony asks to speak at Caesars funeral, Cassius says no, but Brutus tell him that Antony will speak, but only what Brutus tells him to say. Brutus also embraces the fact that he just killed his friend, and also tells the senators who had just witnessed it to not be afraid, but to stay because ambition has paid its debt.
In the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, I saw two main characters as tragic heroes. First, I saw Julius Caesar as a tragic hero because his will to gain power was so strong that he ended up losing his life for it. The fact that he could have been such a strong leader was destroyed when he was killed by conspirators. I saw Marcus Brutus as a second tragic hero in this play. Brutus was such a noble character that did not deserve to die. The main reason why he did die, however, was because he had led a conspiracy against Caesar and eventually killed him. These two characters were the tragic heroes of the play in my opinion.
U.S. media history has been plagued with limited representations of Asians and Asian Americans. Specifically Asian American female roles have been limited to stereotypes such as the Lotus Blossom/Madame Butterfly and the dragon lady. The Lotus Blossom and the Madame Butterfly stereotypes are seen as being sexually attractive, alluring, passive and obedient. On the other hand the Dragon Lady is seen as sexualized, sinister and conniving. These stereotypical representations of Asian females are what Darrel Hamamoto refers to as “controlling images”. The repetition of these loaded representations within contemporary media has created a limited perspective of Asian American images. According to Hamamoto in “Monitored Peril: Asian Americans and the Politics of TV”, controlling images involve the process of objectification, subordination, and justification. These images are used to create a hierarchy of gender, race, and class; this hierarchy can also be understood as media racial hegemony. In their book “Asian Americans and the Media” Kent Ono and Vincent Pham articulate media racial hegemony as the way people think about how race is represented through media and how media representations help guide and regulate beliefs and actions of those within society in indirect ways.
In conclusion, Brutus is the real tragic hero because throughout the play he is battling himself over good vs. evil. Even though he has tragic flaws he is still seen as a noble and respected figure in Rome both by those who wanted Caesar dead and those who did not. His ability to be easily manipulated led to the death of Caesar, himself, and countless others. If he had made his own decisions, he would not have ended up causing the chaos and tragedy he did. But, on the other hand he did have his own personal reasons for killing Caesar.
In the beginning of the Book Cassius uses anecdotes of Caesar’s weakness and faults, argumentum ad antiquatum, and ethos on Brutus to persuade him to join the conspiracy to kill Caesar, this works on Brutus and shows that anyone, even people as stoic as Brutus, can be persuaded by appealing to their motivations. Cassius, a very suspicious character thru ought the play tells Brutus to “be not jealous on me” (827), in the quote he tells Brutus to not be suspicious of him because he is just a friend who genuinely cares. Cassius does this to put himself on Brutus’ side and not seem like a distant person, this allows him to criticize Caesar and suggest that he is a bad influence on Rome which appeals to Brutus’ desire to keeping Rome safe. After setting himself up as a friend to Brutus, Cassius uses harsh anecdotes on the weakness of Caesar to show that he isn’t fit to rule Rome. Cassius recollects on a time when he and Caesar went swimming in the river Tiber and Caesar screamed “Help me, Cassius or I sink” (828) to de...
Brutus’ ignorance creates an expectation that develops a path which leads him awry. When Brutus mentions,“ I would not Cassius; yet I love him well” (1.2.81-88 ), he portrays his internal conflict. Brutus depicts the rendering struggle between Cassius’ acquisitions and Caesar’s actions. His oblivion toward the truth and goodwill concerning the greater health of Rome prompt him astray. He acts with the innocence of a child, deceive and swindle by Cassius, Brutus is an
Initially, Brutus was wary of Cassius when Brutus said, “Into what dangers would you lead me, Cassius?” (1.2.69). Subsequently, Brutus is persuaded as he states, “.what you have said / I will consider” (1.2.176-177). Cassius is willing to control any person who stands in his way. Cassius successfully turned Brutus against his best friend in order to achieve what Cassius believes to be best for Rome.
Just like any other racial stereotypes, Asian Stereotypes have been and always will be around in our society. The fact that Asians are allowed to be portrayed stereotypically in Media shows the lack of voices of this minority group. Asian stereotypes are taken lightly by others, and yet heavily by the Asian population. Whether one likes it or not, Asian stereotype does not disappear eternally. As individuals of intellectual specie, we have to acknowledge the power of a racial stereotype and the possibilities of it remaining to be an eternal issue. To allocate such problem to another perspective, we must aim to become aware of them, by viewing these Asian Stereotypical films of what your average American watches on TV or at the movies. Although when Asian characters seem harmless (Jackie Chan in “Rush Hour” series) or humorous...
He is so motivated by ambition that he decides to kill Caesar, the leader of Rome. Although dedication can be a good quality, in Cassius, it blinds him to all other things and makes him ruthless in his quest to rule Rome. Cassius’s desire for power is evident when he states, "Men at some time are masters of their fates. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings" (1.2.146-148). Cassius’ ambition leads him to go as far as to convince a dear friend with manipulation and false notes to help him plot to kill Caesar. His ambition makes him power hungry and he lacks the honor to back up his overzealous behavior. Cassius envies Caesar and because of this he resorts to bribery, assassinations, and imposing taxes for personal