Leni Wicht GATE English 10 Mrs. Reed 9 May 2023 A Tale of Betrayal and Power “Et tu, Brute?” The famous line from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar captures the heart of a play that explores the consequences of loyalty, betrayal and power. As he is the character who undergoes the most significant transformation throughout the play, Brutus is a more complex and dynamic figure than Caesar. Additionally, naming the play after Brutus would help to shift the focus to the themes of power, loyalty, and betrayal that are central to the play, and would help to center the perspective of the conspirator. While Julius Caesar is traditionally named after its titular character, a more fitting title for the play would be “Brutus”. Naming the play “Brutus” would …show more content…
“If Caesar hide himself, shall they not whisper ‘Lo, Caesar is afraid’” (II.ii.105-106). Caesar refuses to hide from Brutus and will go and face him so he does not seem weak against Brutus. The murder of Caesar only happens because Brutus leads the conspirators against Caesar. The murder would not have happened if it were not for Brutus. So, even though Caesar is the one who is killed, Brutus is the brains behind the operation. “Art thou some god, some angel, or some devil” (IIII.iii.322).The reappearance of Caesar's ghost supports the fact that Caesar is the main character of the play and supports that the play should be named after him. But because Brutus is the one who organized the plan, Brutus should get credit because he and the other conspirators were saving the country from a weak ruler. It also emphasizes that Brutus is not a good character and should not have the play named after him because he betrayed Caesar by killing him. At the beginning he was considered a friend by Caesar, but in the end, he had completely stabbed Caesar in the back side. By naming the play Julius Caesar, Shakespeare ensures that the audience remains focused on the pivotal event that sets the plot in motion and allows the characters to reveal their true …show more content…
If Brutus was not in the play, readers would not know as much about the reason for the death and can not get as much background they would get when they can see different opinions. “Stoop, Romans, stoop, and let us bathe our hands in Caesar’s blood up to the elbows and besmear our swords then walk we forth, even to the marketplace” (III.i.117-120). Brutus wanted everyone to know that they killed Caesar and was not ashamed to walk in front of the city with his blood on his hands. Not only did he kill Caesar, he was proud and not afraid to show the citizens what the conspirators had done. “How many times shall Caesar bleed in sport, that now on Pompey’s basis [lies] along no worthier than the dust!” (III.i.127-129). By the end of the play, Brutus seems to be the main character. The only time Caesar really comes into play again was when his ghost appears to Brutus, and even then, it seems that Brutus is the main character because he is warned about his death and seeing Caesar again at
20-22). Brutus admits to never seeing evidence of Caesar’s ambitiousness but he knows that as a person grows they often forget their roots. Before his death he also mentions that he is surer in killing himself than he ever was before killing Caesar. This shows that he could never convince himself that murdering his friend would be best for Rome. Throughout the play, Brutus has conflicted feelings about killing Caesar which lead him to become the tragic
In 1599, William Shakespeare wrote a play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar . The play was first performed on September 21, 1599. It consists of three main characters; Julius Caesar, Marcus Brutus and Mark Antony. In Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Julius Caesar , Brutus delivers a more persuasive funeral speech due to his extraordinary use of ethos, pathos and logos.
Brutus began the plan against Caesar because he thought Caesar was a threat to the Roman Republic. Brutus is a man of strong principles who values honor and civic duty above personal gain. He feared that if Caesar became emperor, the republic would go downhill, and the Romans would lose their freedom. Brutus played an important role in Caesar’s murder. “ The fault, dear Brutus is in our
Brutus did not have sufficient evidence in order to join the conspiracy and kill Julius Caesar. Brutus never knows for certain that Caesar is a threat to the Roman royalty and its people. He merely acts on suspicion and manipulative words from Cassius. Of course Brutus does not know this, but Cassius has been drafting a plan using forged letters of support in order to trick Brutus into turning his back on an old friend.
In William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”, the character of Brutus gets corrupted by the power he gets after joining the conspirators. As Caesar is starting to become the leader of Rome, Cassius starts a secret conspiracy group and recruits Brutus. Brutus is good friends with Caesar but he also thinks that it would be best for the good of Rome if Caesar wasn’t the leader. You really realize how corrupted Brutus is after he kills Caesar and the tragic words “Et tu Brute?” come out.
Brutus has a vision, and he intends it to work out in every way he plans. In a sense he achieves what he wants, and killing Caesar may have been crucial to his short-lived success.
Julius Caesar is the title character of this play, like Antigone, in which he is not present throughout the whole play, yet plays an important role in the outcome of this play. As the spirit of Julius Caesar never dies, leads to the downfall of his assassins, the death of Julius Caesar is avenged and he never truly falls from power, Julius Caesar is the title character of the play. The spirit of Julius Caesar never dies, and his material death is avenged. After Octavius has returned to Rome, he has found out that Julius Caesar has been murdered. Alongside Antony, Octavius desires to reinstate the power of the supporters of Caesar in Rome.
Near the beginning of act II, Brutus has a soliloquy in which he is trying to decide whether joining the conspiracy is the right thing to do. He discusses reasons for why killing Caesar may be appropriate for the current situation of him being crowned king. Brutus also reveals his thoughts about some of Caesar’s behavior and what could happen (based on human nature) if he is given power. In the end, he decides to join with the conspiracy and kill Caesar.
Although Brutus believed he was better fit for Rome than Caesar, he was not fully convinced as you can tell before he stabs Caesar. Brutus was hesitant to kill Caesar, Brutus must’ve became overwhelmed by the whole senate glaring at him and couldn’t think what to do for a while. This is relevant today in the world; kids all around the world try to stay away from drugs, negative, and etc. Their peers are the ones are who manipulate them by using peer pressuring them, just as Brutus was peer pressured by the majority of the Rome senate. Julius Caesar was astonished that Brutus was also involved in his assassination, as he said “Et tu Brutus?”
Although Caesar, as the upcoming ruler of Rome in Julius Caesar, should be portrayed as the ideal leader of the play, he actually has too arrogant of a character to be so. Therefore, Shakespeare places honor in Brutus and allows Brutus to have the role of the idealistic leader of the story. Although Shakespeare writes this play in a controversial time period during England’s political turmoil, he allows the audience to be able to choose the true ruler of loyalty to the crown or the honor of a noble man through the understanding of the two contrasting character
When Brutus was talking to the conspirators Brutus was going back and forth think if he should help the conspirators kill Julius Caesar. He was going back and forth because he was thinking of the power he could have and could rule Rome. The reason behind Brutus killing Caesar was for the better of Rome. If Brutus would not have killed Caesar, Rome would have turned into a dictatorship, and in turn it would have ruined Rome and all of its people. Brutus did not kill Julius just for the power to rule Rome, he killed Julius to save Rome from Caesar’s dictatorship.
Caesar is trying to manipulate the people of Rome. Caesar declines the crown 3 times in Act I, and is making it look like he is this genuinely good guy, but the people of Rome are to dumb to know good from bad so they all believe he will be a great leader, but Caesar in reality is going to destroy the republic and destroy Rome if he becomes king. Brutus now has this difficult task of picking between his dearest friend or the Republic. If someone is going to kill Caesar it needs to be Brutus because Caesar will never see it coming. Caesar thinks that Brutus is loyal to Caesar and also thinks that Brutus is just going to bow down to Caesar when and if he becomes king.
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.
Julius Caesar, is a play based on the true events that occurred in Roman history. The play follows the fictional lives of Caesar and his people leading up to, and after his assassination. Several characters can be labeled as both villainous and heroic at different points in the play due to their actions, however, this does not apply to the character of Marcus Junius Brutus, who remains a hero through the entire play. Brutus is a hero for several reasons, The first reason Brutus is considered to be a hero is because he continuously stands up for what he believes in. Secondly, it is clear that Brutus is a hero because he kills himself as a sacrifice to the roman public.
Julius Caesar Essay Betrayal can be defined as breaking the bond of trust in any type of relationship, and deceiving others. In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, betrayal can be seen throughout the play, done to and by many of the characters. Many of the reasons why betrayal is shown in the play are all for a similar reasons- Ambition / greed. The theme of Julius Caesar is that people betray others because of ambition and greed.