Julius Caesar Guilt

The Selfishness and jealousy of Brutus and Cassius identified as the reasoning behind the killing of Caesar. Prior to the killing Brutus notably honors Caesar in a special way. He comes to realization that the ghost of Caesar payed him a visit as a sign and it did not take long for Brutus to understand the message given to him. Brutus determines that the way to prove how much regret he carried towards his actions, he would need to plunge into his sword and end his life. Before Brutus does so, he shows his sorrow for Caesar by saying, “Caesar, you can rest now.

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

But Brutus got a lot of anxiety about the situation and felt bad about it in the end. He almost didn't think at first it would affect him and his well being but it did in the end. (add quote where he says he's been sick all night) .

The beginning to Brutus’s inner thoughts reveal that he is questionable of his ambitions, meaning that he believes that Caesar’s plan for Rome and its people is wrong, but never knowing for sure. In the beginning of Brutus’s soliloquy (Act II, Scene i, Lines 10-15), Brutus states to the audience that he has no real reason to oppose Caesar, and that he is questioning what being crowned king will do to his ambition as a leader. Brutus fears that Caesar will become a rambunctious tyrant, doing only what is best for him and ignoring the needs of the people of Rome. At this point, Caesar had not even been crowned king of Rome by the Senate, and the conspiracy group is going off of pure speculation.

When Brutus is alone he ponders about joining the conspiracy and says, "Between the acting of a dreadful thing / And the first motion, all the interim is / Like a phantasma or a hideous dream" (II. i. 66-8). Brutus' accepting the consequences of joining the conspiracy demonstrates that his internal loyalty to Rome outweighs his external love for Caesar. This causes mental turmoil as he weighs the pros and cons of taking action against Caesar. His experience of undergoing this kind of struggle is compared to a nightmare, something that is unreal and terrifying.

Brutus’ emotional wound ultimately deals with his internal conflict of the decision to kill Caesar in order to better Rome. In addition, he deals with such difficulty over the decision since his reasoning to kill Caesar does not come out of hatred or jealousy, but due to his fear of life under Caesar’s rule. In Act I, scene ii, lines 39-40, Brutus says, “Merely upon myself. Vexéd I am / Of late passions of some difference” (Shakespeare 848).

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?”

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.

And while Brutus did work in part with other conspirators, which eventually led to him killing Caesar, he did it for a more morally sound reason which was that Caesar was going to cause the downfall of Rome because he was too ambitious, which is ironic because Caesar's death led to a string of unfit leaders, and civil unrest that eventually led to the downfall of the roman empire. Brutus was also focused on preventing corruption. “The name of Cassius honors this corruption,/ And chastisement doth therefore hide his head (IV.iii.15-6)... Remember March, the ides of March remember./ Did not great Julius bleed for justice' sake” (IV.iii.18-9).

Some will say yes, and others will say no. Brutus has trusted his instincts and chose to side with the conspiracy. All of his reasons are all valid, for he wants to prevent tyranny. Secondly, he wants to do it with pride and for the civilians of Rome as he places himself lower than the lowest tier class out of respect.

Brutus was a noble Roman, and the conspirators knew this, and they knew they could manipulate Brutus into joining their cause. A quote that expresses this is when Cassius stated, “I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus, As well as I do know your outward favor… O, you and I have heard our fathers say There was a Brutus once that would have brooked the eternal devil to keep his state in Rome As easily as a king” (1207-1209). Brutus also had believed what he had done was noble up until his death when he said, “Caesar, now be still. I killed not thee with half so good a will”(1285). The quote proves how he still thought he killed Caesar

Brutus’s tragic flaw was that he was naive. He trusted people to easily, especially the conspirators. They used him to make their actions seem honorable and just. When reality they just wanted Caesar dead for their own personal gain. Caesar was Brutus’s friend so it took him some convincing for him to be able to justify his actions.

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.

(I, ii, 40-45). Brutus is going through these hardships because his emotions and thoughts are focusing and getting drawn towards Caesar and if he should truly be ruler of Rome. Brutus later on is known to stress over this situation so much that he is not able to properly love and communicate well with Portia his wife and has been having trouble sleepings and many more according to (II, i, 63-72), (II, i, 245-264), (II, i, 313-318). All these signs show Brutus becoming stressed over the matter of trying to honor Rome and considering if his close friend Caesar is truly right even though he loves him very much. (I, ii, 58-64).