The Role of the Hero in Julius Cesar

“It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No—it’s Superman!” A flying figure in a blue and red body suit, the chest marked with the trademark “S”, is what most people usually have in mind when the word ‘hero’ comes up. A person with super strength, invulnerability, X-ray vision, and super breath seems to be the poster child of a hero. But not all heroes come in that package, wrapped up in blue tights and a red cape. Heroes come in all different shapes and sizes, and a person doesn’t necessarily need superpowers to make them a hero. Throughout the play of Julius Caesar, Marcus Brutus is considered the hero. From the beginning, of where he is introduced as a very noble Roman, to the assassination of Julius Caesar, right up to the end, when he kills himself, Brutus possesses three key characteristics of being a hero. In his novel, Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare illustrates that Brutus is a hero by using his honorable character’s internal struggles, good intentions, and acceptations of his actions.

In order to be a hero, one must have strengths, and in order to have strengths one must have weaknesses. Brutus has his strengths, such as honor and nobility, and one of his weaknesses is that he continues to have internal struggles throughout the play. The first one that Shakespeare writes about is when Brutus is alone with Cassius, when Cassius brings up the fact that Brutus hasn’t been himself lately. Brutus even admits it, stating, “But let not therefore my good friends be grieved— / Among which number, Cassius, be you one— / Nor construe any further my neglect / Than that poor Brutus, with himself at war, / Forgets the shows of love to other men” (I.ii.48-52). Brutus knows he isn’t being himself, and he realizes that. He is struggling with hi...

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...death” (III.ii.45-47). Brutus promises to Rome that he will kill himself with the same dagger he killed Caesar with if Rome needs him to die. By sacrificing himself for the same reason he killed Caesar.

In his novel, Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare illustrates that Brutus is a hero by using his honorable character’s internal struggles, good intentions, and acceptations of his actions. Some people have a set image for when the term ‘hero’ comes up. For some people, there’s Superman. For others, it might be a firefighter, a parent, or a good friend. But in life, it doesn’t really matter who the person is or what they do. It’s all about if they possess the qualities of a hero or not; if a person has and can recognize their internal struggles, has good intentions, and if they can accept the outcome of their actions. Not all heroes have to come in tights and a cape.