Argument In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, the conspirator Brutus seems like a sympathetic character to both the readers, the other characters in the play, and even himself. But his actions throughout the play show that he is in fact arrogant, disloyal, and downright dishonorable, despite the fact that he is called the “noblest” of the conspirators, or even any roman (5.5.68). In an article by Mildred E. Hartsock, entitled The Complexity of “Julius Caesar” she states that “Brutus, mistaken and doomed, never forfeits our sympathy, we are told. Are we, then, to admire cold-blooded murder with no clear-cut evidence for its necessity? Surely we cannot admire the cold pride of [Brutus]” (Hartsock 60). Throughout Shakespeare’s play, Brutus …show more content…
Brutus betrays his leader and friend, to whom he owes his loyalty to, one the grounds of the possibility of him becoming a tyrant, viewing him as a “serpent’s egg, which, hatch’d, would as his kind grow mischievous” (2.1.32). This shows the lack of trust that he has in his “friend” and how he evidently only regards him as a possible threat. The minuscule amount of convincing that it takes to persuade Brutus to betray Julius Caesar is almost laughable, when considering that Caesar is his friend, and continues to show just how disloyal Brutus is. Just a few forged letters from Cassius and some whispered talk is all it takes. But what shows his disloyalty still more than his betrayal of Julius Caesar is his treatment of his “Beloved” wife Portia. While he is having his so-called crisis over his decision, she notices and understands that something is troubling him, and tries to comfort him (2.1.237). She repeatedly asks what is wrong, and he continues to ignore her questions and tell her nothing (2.1.257-290). Eventually to prove her strength and trustworthiness, Portia stabs herself in her leg (2.1.300). Would someone who drove their wife to self-harm to secure their attention be called an honorable or loyal spouse? Once more regarding Portia, near the end of the play, Brutus speaks of her death in an emotionless, stone-cold way (4.3.150). He also uses …show more content…
A summary of what Brutus is saying here is that He is too noble to extort money from the poor, but considering that Cassius is not so noble, he should have done it for him (Bowden 57). This yet again shows to total dishonorable nature of Brutus, and just how undeserving of sympathy he is. There may be arguments made against this, saying that how can he be called dishonorable if every character in the play believes hat he is a virtuous person, and an honorable man? But the few times that this is actually said by any of the supporting characters when they are not trying to appeal to his ego is after he is dead. People almost always think of and describe a person to be better than they were after their death, due to a certain layer of guilt that is often
The tragic flaw in Marcus Brutus was his pride. Brutus was lulled into the conspiracy to assassinate Caesar with Cassius’ flattery and also flattery in the form of letters forged by Cassius to appear that various Romans had lauded Brutus. Brutus would best fit Aristotle’s description of the tragic hero because of his pride—that is, pride in his integrity and pride in his reputation. Brutus’ pride in his integrity is demonstrated when Cassius approaches him because Brutus has “wronged” Cassius (p. 103-105) In a time of battle, Brutus attacked Cassius for defending a man who took bribes from the Sardians (p. 103).
After reviewing the trial points, I have to say that Brutus is innocent. He only think for the good of rome. He would have never killed Caesar had it not been for the good of the people. Caesar, although a good leader, had started to take power, it was only the job of Brutus to kill Caesar. In fact, it was all Cassius to blame.
Because of his assumptions that everything honorable is either related to or caused by himself, Brutus possesses a lack of self-awareness and is never able to achieve it until he kills himself. Because he is obsessed with being honorable and performing honorable deeds, Brutus fails to recognize that he does not have self-awareness. When Cassius, Metellus, Trebonius, and Brutus are discussing how to murder Caesar, he asks them “be sacrificers, but not butchers, … [and] kill him boldly, but not wrathfully” (II. i. 166, 172). Brutus is really trying to make one of the worst actions in the world and something that results in a permanent exile in Rome be honorable.
Portia senses that Brutus is not acting the same and feels she is not telling him anything. Brutus, his stubborn self, continues saying nothing is wrong for only he if feeling ill. Portia knows it must be a secret he is holding back so she stabs herself in the thigh to show Brutus that she loves him a lot. “Giving myself a voluntary wound here, on my
Brutus was a good friend to Caesar in the beginning, but ended up being neither dependable nor honest. Brutus never said he had anything to hold against Caesar. His intentions for killing Caesar seemed good to himself and the conspirators at the time. Even though Brutus was Caesar’s friend, he only agreed to kill him for the good of Rome. As he says so in the play, “It must be by his death, and for my part I know no personal cause to spurn at him but for the general.”
“For let the gods so speed me as I love The name of honor more than I fear death.” (Act 1 Scene 2 Lines 90-91) In this quote he is explaining he is willing to die for the benefit of Rome. “Where many of the best respect in Rome, Except immortal Caesar, speaking of Brutus” (Act l. Scene 2. Lines 61-62) This shows that Brutus is an honorable man , and even Caesar friends thinks
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 second major characteristic of a tragic hero is they must have a hamartia or tragic flaw, Brutus’s tragic flaw is having a noble personality and being extremely trusting because of it. Throughout the play, Brutus makes it a point to not deceive anyone. Everything he does, he does for the benefit of someone else. Caesar was murdered by him with only the best intentions of Rome in his mind, he lied to Portia because he knew she was already stressed out, and he was reluctant to join the conspirators because he cared for Caesar. In his funeral speech to Caesar, he says “Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more” Brutus loves Rome enough to commit murder on a man that saved his life (III.ii.21-22).
In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Brutus’ involvement with the conspiracy has made him impatient and secretive towards Portia, in which is weakening their marriage. In Act 2, scene 1, Portia has noticed Brutus’ odd behavior and attitude, so she claims that “I should not know you, Brutus”(255). Brutus is slowly becoming unrecognizable to Portia, for he is now short-tempered and disrespectful to her by angrily waving his hand to make her leave the room. Their marriage is based love and respect for each other; however as Brutus continue to be involved with the scheme, their marriage slowly crumbles. Brutus is alienating and not taking care of himself because of his association with the conspiracy; which leads Portia to become more concerned
In the play Julius Caesar, Brutus is steadfast and stubborn in his ideals and beliefs to the point where he cannot see through the veil that he has set upon the world around him. He dreams of a Rome that is too perfect and not quite possible. His ideals open him up to manipulation and trickery from others. He is blind to what the people, whom he claims to know and love, actually want for their lives and the city in which they live. Brutus’s ideals are a strength in a world without greed, but the real world is not as abstemious as he would wish.
However, Brutus is a more respected character in the play and all Brutus wanted was for the good of Rome. Brutus was the more deserving character because he was honorable, his tragic flaw was sympathy and his downfall caused far more pity with the audience than Caesars did. Brutus’s honor and nobility was far greater than Caesar 's. Caesar had some very good moments of honor in the play. One of them being when he said “what touches us ourself must be served last”(3.1.8).
Portia feels very hurt by this and “Brutus learns that Portia has died; a little later, he learns that Portia's death was a
Shakespeare acknowledges Brutus’ character as a noble man. When Caesar is offered a crown by Antony, Brutus becomes conflicted in such a way that he isolates himself
There are two characters in the play who killed Caesar for different purposes: one for the good of himself, one for the good of others. Shakespeare criticized selfish people in society by comparing Brutus with Cassius. Cassius murdered Caesar for his own personal benefit; he didn’t consider the happiness of the citizens and brought a destructive civil war. On the other hand, Brutus is a noble man; he considered the happiness of others and tried to save Rome from being ruled by a dictator. According to the play, we should have more concern on others and consider the group
While Portia holds a strong place to Brutus, it is displayed differently and not as royalty. She is consistently brushed aside from Brutus as he takes care of things. Eventually, this leads to her committing suicide to prove the love that she has for Brutus, specifically with the desire to show her courage.