Brutus Tragic Hero

The play Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, entails the rise and fall of Julius Caesar and Brutus, the man plotting against him. At the opening of the play Julius is being celebrated for his victory over Pompey. Later, he is offered kingship; but Caesar refuses the crown. On the ides of March Brutus and some other men come before Caesar to plead a case; except, their only motive is to kill Caesar. Antony, Caesar’s right hand man, pretends to side with the conspirators after Caesar is killed, while he gathers an army to defeat Brutus. Antony and Octavius’ army defeats Brutus’ troops; forcing Brutus and many others to commit suicide. The tragic character, Brutus, is usually the protagonist that has a tragic flaw and this causes his defeat. A tragic flaw is the cause of their downfall, usually an action or belief. Brutus’ tragic flaws are his nobility, trust and the inability to wrong people. Brutus is the tragic character in Julius Caesar because of his nobility and because he does all his deeds for the good of Rome.

Similarly, by not destroying Mark Antony along with Caesar, let alone allowing him to speak in Caesar’s funeral, Brutus engineers his future’s demise. “‘. . . Antony is but a limb of Caesar. Let’s be sacrificers, but not butchers . . . let’s kill him boldly, but not wrathfully . . . and for Mark Antony, think not of him; for he can do no more than Caesar’s arm when Caesar’s head is off’”(916). This is an even greater fallacy than the first. Antony’s rage and passion is enough force alone to drive him and the Roman army to kill every last conspirator, gossiper, and senator who was set against his great Caesar. The fiery drive behind Antony was an imminent threat to Brutus and the conspirators, yet because of Brutus’s flawed logic, Antony lived and they died. Another illustration of this is when Brutus makes the decision to allow the silver tongued Antony to speak in Caesar’s funeral. After a weak, unconvincing speech given by Brutus to the public, Antony takes center stage, capturing the hearts, minds, and attention of the people, essentially turning them on their former leader. “‘Oh most bloody sight!’ ‘We will be revenged.’ ‘Revenge! About! Seek! Burn! Fire! Kill! Slay! Let not a traitor live!’”(954). Brutus’s most prominent, fatal flaw is his lack of sound judgment.

As noble and great as Brutus might be, all tragic heroes have some tragic flaws and make some errors of judgment, which leads them to their downfall. In this case Brutus's great flaw is that he is too honorable, and he's too naïve when he is dealing with people. An example of an error of judgment is when Brutus underestimates Antony, and thinks him incapable of being dangerous after Caesar's death, "For Antony is but a limb of Caesar...he can do no more than Caesar's arm When Caesar's head is off."  This turns out not to be the case. One example of Brutus's excessive honor being damaging to him, is when he decides that only Caesar should die and no one else even if they seem to threaten his cause, as Cassius warns repeatedly that Antony does.

Brutus was an honorable man. He died for his honor, and as I mentioned before, he killed Julius Caesar whom he loved for Rome. I believe that is very honorable. Brutus killed Julius Caesar. It was a selfless deed. He had no personal issues with Caesar. Brutus killed Caesar purely for the wellbeing of others. He even states that he doesn’t have a problem with caesar, “I would not, Cassius. Yet I love him well.”(Act 1. Scene 2), here he is responding to Cassius’s question, “Ay, do you fear it? Then must I think you would not have it so.”(Act 1. Scene 2). Cassius is asking if Brutus wants Caesar to be king, brutus does not think he is a good king but likes him as a person. Brutus killed himself for his honor. In the beginning he states, “For let the gods so speed me as I love The name of honor more than I fear death.” (Act 1. Scene 2). Brutus is saying that he would rather die than to have no honor. In the end of the play Brutus does kill himself. He does this so no one else can say that they killed him. He wants to keep his honor even in death. He asked a few of his friends to help but they wouldn’t. When he finally got someone to help him he said, “Farewell, good Strato. (runs on his sword) Caesar, now be still. I killed not thee with half so good a will. (dies)”(Act 5. Scene 5). He is saying that it is easier to kill himself than it was to kill Caesar. He knows he is going to get caught and killed anyway so he decides to kill himself. No one else can take credit for

Caesar’s death divided the Roman Republic. Some citizens, like Brutus and Cassius, believed that Caesar’s death was for the good of the Republic. Other citizens, like Mark Antony, believed that Caesar had been murdered before he accomplished his greatest contributions to society. This difference in opinions, first expressed during the funeral orations for Caesar, spread throughout Roman society, leading to civil war and the end of the Republic. Hundreds of years later, Shakespeare dramatized the events around Caesar’s death.

Wadus Clark5/10/2018Marcus Junius BrutusMarcus Junius Brutus was born in 85 BCE and died in 42 BCE. He was also a Roman governor, and he fought the battle of Philippi. Brutus had several characteristics of a tragic hero. Brutus’ need for others to see him as honorable and noble allowed him to be manipulated by Anthony and Cassius.Characterizes: Flaw: He is only in a small portion of the play and does not possess a major tragic flawPersonality: While Brutus loves Caesar as a friend, he opposes the ascension of anysingle man to the position of dictator, and he fears that Caesar aspires to such power.1. Struggles with fate2. Has a tragic flaw 3. Suffers a reversal of fortune4. Suffers from hubris (excessive pride)5. suffers greater than what

The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, written by William Shakespeare, is set in Rome in the year 44 B.C. Julius Caesar is very popular among Romans, and is going to become dictator soon. Caesar’s best friend, Marcus Brutus, is very popular and everyone respects him. Brutus is a senator, and he comes from a long line of nobles in Rome. He is very naïve, and that often leads to him misreading human characters and critical situations. Brutus is later evicted from Rome, which is his most important ideal. Marcus Brutus is a tragic hero because he is prominent, has a fatal flaw, and experiences a downfall.

The play Julius Caesar, written by William Shakespeare, starts out with a celebration in 44 BC Rome exactly one month before the Ides of March, which is when a group of conspirators plan on murdering Caesar. Cassius, the leader of the conspiracy, tries to recruit Marcus Brutus into the group because he believes it will make them look less like murderers and more like heroes. He agrees and helps carry out the assassination. The story continues after Caesar’s death with a series of disagreements between characters and ultimately a civil war involving Brutus and Cassius and their armies, and Mark Antony’s army. Even though the play is called Julius Caesar, Marcus Brutus is the real tragic hero because he is very well respected, he assumes everyone thinks the same way as him, and he ends up killing himself.

“For let the gods so speed me, as I love / the name of honor more than I fear death” (Shakespeare 1.2.900). These are the wise words of Marcus Brutus. In the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar; written by William Shakespeare, Marcus Brutus is the main character, despite the title of the play. Shakespeare is known for incorporating tragic heroes into his writings. A traditional tragic hero is defined as a person; usually of noble birth, who suffers some type of catastrophe that leads to their downfall. However, Shakespeare adds additional elements to his tragic heroes. As you read through the play, it becomes obvious to the audience that Brutus clearly fits the description of a Shakespearean tragic hero.

The William Shakespeare play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar tells the story of the assassination of Julius Caesar and the eight conspirators behind it. The play takes place in 44 B.C. in Rome. Marcus Brutus is the protagonist and face-man of the insidious conspiracy. He is also the tragic hero in this classic work of literature. Aristotle’s definition of the tragic hero is a character that has a character flaw, also known as hubris, and experiences a downfall from a high position in society due to this flaw. After this downfall, a tragic hero experiences an enlightenment. Brutus fits Aristotle’s description perfectly. Brutus has a severe character flaw and experiences a downfall from a high position in society.

Although Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar is based on Plutarch's historical accounts, the play is categorized not as a history, but as a tragedy. Shakespeare focused rather on the drama of the story surrounding Caesar rather than making a historical play. Shakespeare instead turned to Aristotle’s definition of tragedy and consider how well the label fits his play. According to the Greek philosopher Aristotle, the definition of tragedy is when describing the central character as one who is neither wholly good nor wholly evil and whose fall results from an error in judgement. This suggests that the tragic hero eventually realizes his error and its consequences when it is too late to change. Brutus does fit Aristotle’s description of a tragic hero.

Sir William Drummond once said “He who will not reason is a bigot; he who cannot is a fool; and he who dares not is a slave” (Drummond). Everyone has the innate ability to reason through situations and come to a resolution by evaluating the consequences. Everyone, however, does not actively reason to come to an effective solution. Some choose not to reason, while others basically cannot due to their naivety. In any case the incapability to reason turns out to be a flaw, and in the instance of Marcus Brutus, a tragic flaw. Reasoning is not characteristically present in Marcus Brutus. Brutus cannot look past his philosophical view of the world and consequently his reasoning is meddled with. This flaw he exhibits will eventually lead to his death. According to Aristotle, a tragic hero must be of noble stature and embody nobility, they cannot be perfect, their downfall must partially be their own fault, their demise is not exclusively justified for their punishment, something is gained from the fall, and the audience must not leave in a state of depression; Brutus fits Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero because he embodies all of these characteristics.

Centuries after being originally drafted by Shakespeare,the play Julius Caesar continues to stir controversy as scholars debate over who better embodies the characteristics of a tragic hero, Julius Caesar or Marcus Brutus. As defined by Greek philosopher, Aristotle, a tragic hero is one who, through their hamartia, inflicts upon themselves their downfall, evoking a sense of pity and fear in the audience. Because the play clearly introduces his hamartia, peripeteia, anagnorisis, and catharsis, I believe Marcus Brutus better suits the role as the tragic hero and protagonist of Julius Caesar.

In the play Julius Caesar, written by Shakespeare, Brutus is considered the one conspirator to die heroically. Brutus was the only conspirator to kill Caesar because he thought it was best for Rome. Since he died at the end of the story, one can argue that he was a tragic hero because of his death at the end of the book and because of his caring personality to do what was best for everyone. Brutus can be considered a tragic hero due to his fall from grace, the author’s use of diction to express Brutus’s feelings about the death of Caesar, and the the use of rhetorical questions to to portray his opinions on the events that occur in the novel.

“This was the noblest Roman of them all.”-Antony(5.5.68). The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare is set after a war between Pompey and Julius Caesar. Caesar wins the war and becomes the king of Rome, almost. Before he is crowned a group of conspirators led by Brutus and Cassius killed Caesar on the 15th of March. Brutus was tricked into the conspiracy because Cassius wrote him fake notes from the people that said they didn’t want Caesar as king. Brutus did everything for the people so he helped kill Caesar. The death of Caesar made Antony, one of Caesar’s most loyal friends, very mad and started a battle against the conspirators. In the end Brutus and Cassius killed themselves and Antony wins the war and it is the end of Roman freedom. In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare Brutus is the tragic character because even though he is patriotic, he was blinded by the people’s wants and couldn’t make a decision for himself.