The Tragedy Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

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The Tragedy Julius Caesar is a play written by Shakespeare in 1599 that contains betrayal, deception, and exaggeration. The story revolves around the days before and after Caesar’s death. As you keep reading you see the various sides of the characters, who is truly murdering Caesar for Rome, and who is doing it for themselves. Brutus is doing it for Rome and its citizens because he feels Caesar isn’t fit for being king. While reading, it was thought to keep in mind: does the end justify the means?

Brutus’s action had caused his own downfall in the end of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar and has proven that the end doesn’t justify the means. Brutus murdering Caesar had been looked upon as a bad and negative thing in the eyes of the Roman citizens. Although Brutus had thought killing Caesar was good for the Roman citizens and their rulings; it ended up not being a justified act in the end.

Caesar had been betrayed by Brutus when he murdered him; while Caesar had trusted him and thought him as his right hand man. “It must be by his death, and for my part, I know no personal cause to spurn at him, But for the general. He would be crowned. How that might change his nature, there’s the question” (Shakespeare 847). Brutus feels he needed to kill Caesar because he believes that Caesar wouldn’t be a rightful ruler for Rome. He had thought of killing him not for his own good, but for the good of the people. Even though Brutus had thought that doing this act would turn out better in the end; it did the opposite. It had caused the Roman citizens to go against Brutus and he had killed himself in the end.

Deception, a scheme used against someone so they can get what they want, had been use against Brutus in this Shakespeare p...

... middle of paper ...

...He had betrayed Caesar by backstabbing him, yet got deceived by Cassius getting tricked into the act of murdering Caesar. Brutus had exaggerated to the Roman citizens at Caesar’s burial of his death and the reasons for it. The ends don’t justify the means. By killing himself, Brutus realized that the decisions and actions he made had been wrong ones. He had realized that it was wrong for them to kill Caesar, even though he had believed from the start it had been for the right reasons.

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. "Julius Caesar ." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 13 May 2014. .

Shmoop Editorial Team. "Julius Caesar." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 12 May 2014. .

Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. London: First Follo, 1599.

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