The Consequences of Honor Being an honorable person requires one to follow a code of ethics for the greater good, even at the cost of his own life. If one breaks his code of ethics, he believes that living with the shame of breaking it for the rest of his life would be a “fate worse than death”. These selfless individuals care more about the needs of others than their own personal desires. However, there are people who take advantage of one’s honorable nature and use it for their own gain. This concern of acting honorably is shown in Brutus, the main character in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Brutus is too trusting of others because he assumes others have the same honorable ideals as he does in trying to do what is best for Rome. People such …show more content…
Brutus blindly believes Antony’s loyalty towards Rome and the conspirators, which gives Antony the chance to foil their plans. After Caesar’s death, Antony immediately sends his servant to deliver a message to Brutus saying, “If Brutus will vouchsafe that Antony / May safely come to him” and give the reason why “Caesar hath deserved to lie in death” (Shakespeare III.i.145-147), then Antony “will follow / the fortunes and affairs of noble Brutus” (III.i.149-150). Knowing that Brutus is the least likely person to kill him out of the conspirators, as he is an honorable person, Antony takes advantage of Brutus’ overly trusting nature. In his message to Brutus, Antony acts sincere by pledging his loyalty to him in order to save himself and to be in an advantaged …show more content…
During the meeting with the Conspirators at his home, Brutus says to them, “No, not an oath” (II.i.125) because “what other oath” is better “than honesty to honesty engaged” (II.i.137-138). Brutus believes they do not need to pledge an oath because he already thinks they are loyal to Rome and that none of them will “palter”. Even before getting to know the rest of the conspirators, he already assumes that they are all there to plan the assassination of Caesar in order to make Rome a better place. All the conspirators, excluding Brutus, have a personal reason on why they want to kill Caesar, whether it is out of envy or pure hatred, but Brutus does not see that they harbor strong resentment towards Caesar. When the conspirators were talking about killing Caesar, Cassius brings up that they should kill Antony too, but Brutus dismisses that notion by claiming that “Antony is but a limb of Caesar” (II.i.179). He later describes his view of Antony, calling him a person of only “sports, to wildness, and much company” (II.i.203). Brutus greatly underestimates Antony by thinking he is just a reveler who cannot do anything for himself, and is only interested in pleasurable activities. He does not think Antony cares much about politics to be involved.. Later on in the story, after Brutus finishes his speech at the funeral, the plebeians
In Act 3 Scene 2 Brutus said during his speech, “If that friend then demands to know why Brutus turned against Caesar, this is my answer: Not because I cared for Caesar less, but because I cared for Rome more”. Brutus had courage to kill Caesar, not because he wanted to, but for the good of Rome and its people. During the entirety of the story, Brutus
Antony’s Speech Using Rhetorical Appeals In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, after Caesar’s death, the Romans are conflicted about what should be done. After Brutus’ speech the Romans are ready to crown Brutus king and be on the conspirators’ side. Though Brutus then leaves the crowd while Antony delivers his speech, the crowd realizes what should be done of Caesar’s murder and Antony prevents the conspirators from getting away with the murder of Caesar.
Brutus believed that Caesar was ambitious, when in reality he was well caring and understanding. In Brutus’s speech he mentions that Caesar is ambitious, “…as he was valiant, I honour him: but—as he was ambitious, I slew him” (3.2.2628). But Antony knows that Caesar is a victim for the fact that he shows sympathy for others than just himself, “When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept” (3.2.93). Therefore, there is more evidence in Antony’s speech, showing that Caesar is a
One example of why Brutus is not a villain is because he shows compassion towards others. This is portrayed when he spares Mark Antony after Caesar’s death even though the other conspirators wanted him to be killed right along side of Caesar. Another time Brutus showed compassion was when he aloud Mark Antony to speak at Caesar’s
The play, Julius Caesar, makes of honor as accepting self-responsibility and wrongdoing towards Brutus, Portia, and Antony’s actions, intentions, and values. Marcus Brutus was a close colleague of Julius Caesar, who had recently risen in power after killing Pompey. In Act 1, Scene 2, Brutus is
But in the end, Brutus felt he had not made an honorable use of Caesar’s death and realized he made a mistake so he took his own life, and unlike Cassius, he died an honorable death for honorable reasons. “This was the noblest Roman of them all./ All the conspirators save only he/ Did that they did in envy of great Caesar./ He only in a general honest thought/ And common good to all, made one of them”
Brutus believes that Caesar will do more harm than good to the people, and reap benefits for himself. Brutus has already said this, but had said it in his own words, (II, i, 12-14). He has no clue if Caesar will use his power for the good and betterment for the people, or use it for his own needs and other
The quotation demonstrates Antony's competitiveness on the battlefield as well as his respect for his adversaries. He could have slain all of Brutus's soldiers out of pure rage, but he was wise and concentrated on the issue at hand rather than seeking retribution. While showing mercy to the others, he thought Brutus should be executed for his crimes. This demonstrates why Antony would make a good and impartial
Honor in the world gives people a reason to fight for the things that they believe in. Throughout The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Brutus has had to make many tough decisions that display the great honor within him. In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare's, it is made very obvious that Brutus is an honorable man. Brutus preserves his honor by taking care of Rome’s issues with good intentions and without going too far.
In this scene Caesar has been murdered by the conspirators including Brutus. Brutus is one of Caesar's good friends who is driven by honor; who thought Caesar’s ambition was going to be the end of Rome. Antony is a very loyal friend of Caesar’s who does not agree with the conspirators. Brutus and Antony are both smart well thought out characters. They desire to persuade the commoners to their side of the situation.
In William Shakespeare's play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Mark Antony wants revenge on the conspirators who killed Caesar. Following Julius Caesar's death, Mark Antony uses many different rhetorical devices such as pathos and ethos in his speech that help convince the Plebeians to go against the conspirators. Attempting to draw the emotions out of the plebeians, Mark Antony uses pathos to persuade them. Mark Antony says, “ My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, and I must pause till it come back to me” (3.2. 106-107). This statement emphasizes how much Antony loved Caesar and the grief he is now feeling that his closest friend is dead.
Therefore the quote stated above only partially relates to Brutus because when Brutus dies, he doesn’t realize he was too trusting. He thinks that he lived the perfect life. In William Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Brutus was too trusting of the conspirators, in his own self, and during the events of the war, therefore making his tragic flaw trusting. To start off, the first downfall of being too trusting is that Brutus was tricked by the conspirators to join them . By trusting their ideas, Brutus obeyed and ended up making bad decisions in the end.
Brutus wants to make the crowd feel like he is in a way the victim. In order to do that he says "As Caesar loved me I weep for him" so in a way the people feel bad for him. This emotional appeal did not persuade the audience considering the fact that he was if he truly did love Caesar as much as he said he would, then he would have tried to find a different route in getting rid of Caesar as emperor. Antony goes with the approach of making the people of Rome feel guilty. He tells the citizens "You all love him once not without cause what cause withholds you then to mourn for him" so they could reflect on their attitude towards his death.
Brutus was a lifetime friend of Caesar 's that was deceived by a man that feared tyranny to betray Caesars trust and become an accomplice to his murder. “Not that I loved Caesar less, but I loved Rome more.” (III, II, 21-22). Brutus loved Rome more than Caesar and he
Brutus is without a doubt the most noble character in this play. Nonetheless, his impeccable sense of morality also blindfolds him to other people’s sordid motives and makes him easy to be manipulated. Indeed, Brutus is easily manipulated by Cassius in Act 1, Scene 2. In hope to convince Brutus to join the conspirators, Cassius says “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” (1.2.150-152). As a result, Brutus starts to believes that it is his job to murder Caesar, as he says in Act 2, Scene 1: “It must be by his death: and for my part, I know no personal cause to spurn at him, but for the general” (2.1.14-16).