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Character of brutus in julius caesar
The character of brutus
Character of brutus in julius caesar
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In tragedy plays, there is a character who suffers from a tragic flaw in his or her personality may it be excessive pride, poor judgement, or both which eventually leads to the hero’s downfall and makes the character the tragic hero. In Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, Marcus Brutus is the tragic hero of the play due to his tragic flaw which is his naïve and over-trusting personality, which he eventually realizes too late but still aims to prevent his loss of dignity.
William Shakespeare illustrates Brutus to have outstanding morals, but also displays Brutus’s naive and over-trusting personality which becomes his tragic flaw. For example, when Brutus suffers from an internal conflict on deciding if Caesar should be emperor or not, Cassius
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As a result, Brutus follows his close allies on the path he considered to be the most noble. Moreover, this characteristic of Brutus makes him weak enough to eventually rely solely on the Cassius’ judgment to take down Caesar. Another instance where Brutus exhibits such a credulous personality was his encounter with the letters from what he believes to belong to the Roman citizens. He discovers the letters of the supposed fears of the Roman citizens on Caesar’s ascendance to power. Thus, Brutus feels that he is “entreated / To speak and strike,” and he promises Rome that “if the redress will follow [then] / thy full petition” will be at his “hand” (2.1.55-58). His reaction to those letters showcases his naïve and over-trusting personality due to his overwhelming belief that the letters originate from Roman citizens,however, they were in fact written by the conspirators themselves. Brutus’s credulous personality is a major factor to his future ruin as he is repeatedly manipulated by his closest allies for their …show more content…
Brutus recognizes that the “enemies have beat [Brutus and the conspirators].. to a pit” and believes it is honorable “to leap in” themselves “than tarry till” the enemies force them (5.5.23-25). Hence, Brutus requests his servant to assist him in committing suicide and finally utters “Caesar, now be still / I kill’d not thee with half so good a will” (5.5.50-51). Brutus’s action exhibits his understanding of the killing of Caesar, and now views it as irreparable. Furthermore, Brutus takes notice of the fights and unending deaths around him all due to his naivety and failure to judge people’s evil side. As a result, Brutus views suicide as the most appropriate “method” to retain his honor and dignity; otherwise, he would have to encounter the Roman citizens’ criticization and would be humiliated for his actions. In addition, Brutus requests Caesar to be done with his vengeance and to forgive him as he acts solely for the best of Rome, displaying Brutus to be a tragic hero who failed doing his best for good. Furthermore, the play ends with Antony’s summary of Brutus’s character leaving the audience to characterize Brutus to be the one who suffered the most and died in a tragic way. Antony describes Brutus to be “the noblest Roman of them all…/ [and have acted] only in a general
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.
The third and final act Brutus commited that left him with a dishonorable image, was that he ran and then killed himself just to avoid battle. In early Rome a man was thought to be noble and brave if he fell from an enemy’s sword, not if he ran and commited suicide. Any noble man would have found another way.
Shakespeare’s complex play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar contains several tragic heroes; a tragic hero holds high political or social esteem yet possesses an obvious character flaw. This discernible hubris undoubtedly causes the character’s demise or a severe forfeiture, which forces the character to undergo an unfeigned moment of enlightenment and shear reconciliation. Brutus, one of these tragic heroes, is a devout friend of the great Julius Caesar, that is, until he makes many execrable decisions he will soon regret; he becomes involved in a plot to kill the omniscient ruler of Rome during 44 B.C. After committing the crime, Mark Antony, an avid, passionate follower of Caesar, is left alive under Brutus’s orders to take his revenge on the villains who killed his beloved Caesar. After Antony turns a rioting Rome on him and wages war against him and the conspirators, Brutus falls by his own hand, turning the very sword he slaughtered Caesar with against himself. Brutus is unquestionably the tragic hero in this play because he has an innumerable amount of character flaws, he falls because of these flaws, and then comes to grips with them as he bleeds on the planes of Philippi.
The second reason why Brutus should not be a tragic hero is because he has a tragic flaw and this flaw leads to his ultimate downfall. The tragic Flaw for Brutus is his idealistic view of the world. He contracts this view about Caesar after Cassius persuades him by saying that Caesar will be a tyrant. Because of this, Brutus joins the conspirators and kills Caesar. This shows that Brutus, like other tragic heroes uses his tragic flaw and thus will cause his eventual defeat. Later in the play Brutus directs, as any ideological man would, to charge rather than wait for the enemy to attack. This is an excellent exemplar of the Brutus’s tragic flaw since Brutus did this so that he would not lose support in Rome.
The tragic hero is one of literatures most used (and sometimes abused) characters. The classical definition of a tragic hero is, “a person with heroic or potentially heroic qualities. The person is doomed by the Gods or some other supernatural force to destruction or suffering. The hero struggles against the fate, but due to a personal flaw, ultimately fails in the battle against fate. It is my personal opinion that Brutus,as he is portrayed in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, is a tragic hero by this definition. I came to this conclusion due to the fact that Brutus shares many similarities with other tragic heroes in literature such as Oedipus, Hamlet, and Ralph from Lord of the Flies. All four characters share the two critical traits that are needed to be tragic heroes: a tragic flaw that eventually leads to a tragic downfall. The tragic hero was defined by Aristotle, yet the “invention” of the tragic hero goes to Sophocles.
In William Shakespeare’s play “The Tragedy of Julius Caesar,” the character Marcus Brutus fits the role of Shakespeare’s tragic hero. In this play, Brutus is a perfect example of a tragic hero. He fits all of Shakespeare’s characteristics of a tragic hero entirely. Brutus could easily be used as an example of a tragic hero in a lesson or a written work.
William Shakespeare's play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, was mainly based on the assassination of Julius Caesar. The character who was the mastermind behind the assassination was, ironically, Marcus Brutus, a senator and close friend to Julius Caesar. But what would cause a person to kill a close friend? After I examined Brutus' relationship towards Caesar, his involvement in the conspiracy and his importance to the plot it all became clear. Brutus had one particular reason for killing Caesar and that was for the good of the people and the republic. Brutus had no personal reason for killing Caesar. Some of his most admirable traits were his morality and leadership skills.
In the play the Life and Death of Julius Caesar (just as in all of Shakespeare’s tragedies) there is much death, much tragedy, and of course, a tragic hero. However unlike most of Shakespeare’s plays this time the tragic hero is not particularly obvious. Throughout the play a few main characters present themselves as possibilities for being the tragic hero. But as being a tragic hero is not only having a tragic flaw but also entails much more, there really is only one person to fit the mold. The character Brutus is born into power and is higher/better then we are. He has a tragic flaw that causes his downfall and at the end he realizes his mistake (a trait none of the other characters can really claim).
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar is the famously known play written by William Shakespeare. Shakespeare is the creator of the concept of a tragic hero. He has five traditional elements as part of his basis and in this play, he created Marcus Brutus in the shoes of a tragic hero. According to the title of this play, one would assume that Julius Caesar is the main character of the play but in reality, Brutus is recognized as the main protagonist. Marcus Brutus lived to be forty-three years old during the era of ancient Rome. He was an honorable man who ultimately became the leader of the conspirators and led himself to his own downfall. Marcus Brutus is not only the main character of the play but he is also the ideal example
Brutus’ tragic flaws are part of what makes him a tragic hero. In Julius Caesar, Brutus is a great example of a tragic hero. His tragic flaws are honor, poor judgement, and idealism (Bedell). In Shakespeare’s plays, the tragic hero and his flaws cause the downfall of the play (Tragic Flaws).
In conclusion, Brutus is a true example of a tragic hero. He has a hubris that brings about a downfall from a high point in society; however, he also experiences an enlightenment of his mistakes after his downfall. Brutus is truly an honorable and sympathetic character that must studied on many levels to truly understand. He chose country over friend. He committed the only honorable betrayal possible. He killed his friend out of love; not love for himself or money, but out of love for his country and its people.
The play Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare is renowned throughout the world. This tragedy tell the story of the conspiracy to murder Julius Caesar and the results afterwards. Of all the characters in the play, I find Marcus Brutus to be the most interesting. Time and time again Brutus is convinced and persuaded into decisions. At the times when he actually does make a decision on his own, it ends badly. Throughout the whole play, he believes that what he is doing is the right things, he makes choices for only moral reasons. The character of Brutus in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar is easily deceived, tragically wrong, and falsely heroic.
Even though Brutus loves Caesar and knows that Caesar is a good man, he lets Cassius talk him into looking deeper and see that Rome can't have a tyrant as a leader. He tells Cassius "Into what dangers would you lead me, Cassius, That you would have me seek into myself, for that which is not in me?" 1.2.65-67. The 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary Brutus knows that killing his best friend is not something he wants to do, but he's ready to commit such crime because it's for the good of the Rome and the people of Rome.
The play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, has two main tragic heroes. Set in Rome and spanning from forty- four to forty-two B.C., the play tells of Brutus and Caesar whom both fall from the highest positions to the lowest of misfortune and then are enlightened on their mistakes. Brutus is the stronger example of a tragic hero in this story. Throughout this play, Brutus commits many faults, falls more drastically than all other characters, and regrets his previous actions by the end of the play.
Brutus is considered an honorable man by all those who live in Rome. He is a close friend of Caesar, husband of Portia, and is also a Senator. Brutus is drawn into killing Caesar by Cassius, who was jealous of Caesar's degree of power. Brutus was pulled into the scheme by letters brought to his house by Decius to make him think that the people of Rome wanted him to replace Caesar. Brutus also feels that Caesar is being given too much power and will destroy Rome's democracy. Brutus' reason for killing Caesar is to benefit Rome, he proves this when he states"If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer: not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more." After losing to Mark Antony and Octavious, Brutus runs onto his own sword. He sticks to his beliefs, not altering them for others.