Julius Caesar Tragic Hero Essay

In the play Julius Caesar, the character Brutus is known as the tragic hero. A tragic hero is someone who is born of a noble birth. This person has heroic or may have potential heroic qualities. They’re also fated by the Gods or someone higher up to doom and destruction. In Julius Caesar, Brutus stabs Caesar in the back, literally.

Cassius' argument that he presents to Brutus in order to get him to join the conspiracy is effective in appealing to Brutus' love of democracy because he uses pathos and develops ethos. Cassius establishes his credibility to his friend Brutus by flattering him, so that Brutus does not suspect that he is being manipulated. As he prepares to use careful language to tip Brutus to his side, Cassius takes a moment to sing Brutus' praises, so Brutus will believe that all Cassius has to say is in his best interest. He begins by telling his friend, "...since you know you cannot see yourself / So well as by reflection, I, your glass, / Will modestly discover to yourself / That of yourself which you know not of" (Shakespeare 1.2.67-70).

What— did one of us strike down the most powerful man in the world in order to support robbers? Should we now dirty our fingers with lowly bribes and sell the mighty offices that we hold for whatever gold we can get our hands on? I'd rather be a dog and howl at the moon that be that kind of Roman.” (Shakespeare 169) Brutus is painfully obvious (at least he is from Cassius’ point of view) when he confides to Cassius that he believes that Cassius wasnt as honest about what his intent and motives for killing Caesar were.

After Brutus and Cassius hear cheering and shouting Cassius begins to express his concerns to Brutus about his loyalties Despite Brutus' "love" for Caesar, he reaffirms his loyalties to Cassius by "set[ing] honor in one eye and death i[n] th[e] other" and looking on both with "indifferent[ce]" (I. ii. 89-96). Brutus believes that he can maintain his core principles and still come out unharmed, but Cassius knows that is not going to happen. Cassius is aware of the danger and begins to urge Brutus to take action before it's too late. Brutus displays his naivety by believing that he can remain impartial when making a crucial decision. When the conspirators are discussing what to do after the murder of Caesar, Brutus brings up the point, "Let's be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius.

Cassius does this because he knows that by doing this, Brutus will definitely agree to tagging along on their plan since he now knows how much the people of Rome respect him and because he strongly disagrees with Caesar becoming king and Rome becoming a tyranny . He also manipulated Brutus because he knew that Brutus would put the good of Rome above anything else. In act 1 scene 2, Brutus says, “If it’s for the general good of Rome, I’d do anything, even if it meant my death. May the gods grant me good favor only so long as I love honor more than I fear death.” This comes to show that he is willing to go far enough and do anything, like for example, kill his good friend Caesar, if it meant doing what is

With only a few words exchanged between the two, Cassius was able to use Brutus’ devotion towards the people of Rome and turn it into a weapon through the use of flattery. By telling Brutus that he is

In William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, Cassius is a foil to Marcus Brutus, for Brutus is consistently described as honorable and kind, contrasting the always clever and self-centered, Cassius. Cassius acts as a character who goes against the virtues and weaknesses of the main character. Brutus announces, “Why man, he doth bestride the narrow World like a Colossus, and we pretty men Walk under his huge legs and peep about To find ourselves dishonorable graves” (Shakespeare I. 2. 142-145). By appealing to Brutus' feeling of honor and loyalty to Rome, Cassius hopes to persuade him to join the conspiracy against Caesar.

/ Why should that name be sounded more than yours[, Brutus]” (I, ii, 142-143). From this conversation, Brutus is shown to let his naive and too trusting personality overcome him to the point he could be guided by his close friends as seen with Cassius in following whatever path they consider to be noble. Moreover, Brutus is shown to have a weak personality, a characteristic of a tragic hero, since he is easily persuaded in following Cassius’s idea that Caesar is indeed not fit to rule Rome as an emperor and should be taken down, and this naivety of his leads to his own downfall by trusting the wrong person. In addition, due to this tragic flaw, he is taken advantage of by his friends. For instance, when Brutus trusts the words of Mark Antony, a man who is very loyal to Caesar and hates the conspirators who killed Caesar, as Brutus asks him to promise that he “shall not in [his] funeral speech blame [the conspirators]” (III, i, 245) to which Antony, taking advantage of Brutus’s flaw, says “[b]e it so, I do desire no more” (III, i, 253), but as Antony does his speech, he describes

Proving a Tragic Hero A character who makes a judgement or error that inevitably leads to his or her own destruction, defines a tragic hero, according to Aristotle. In William Shakespeare’s writings, one character generally identifies as a tragic hero. Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, comes from the true events that took place in Rome during the time that Caesar rose and gained power as dictator. After Pompey’s death in Egypt; caused by each of their power-hungry desires, Caesar declared himself dictator of Rome.

In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, many people think Caesar is the tragic hero of the story because it is named after Caesar. A tragic hero is a character who is noble and honorable but has a tragic flaw that leads to their downfall. The tragic hero in Julius Caesar is actually Marcus Brutus who has the qualities of a tragic hero as he is a noble and respected character with the flaw of idealism and heroism that leads to the fall from greatness and turn of events from Antony’s speech. Brutus’ nobility and honor as a character proves that he is the tragic hero.

First, Cassius uses ethos, pathos and logos to manipulate Brutus into joining the conspirators. When Cassius first mentions joining the conspirators Brutus is sceptical and asks him “into what

“No, Cassius, no. Think not, thou noble Roman, That ever Brutus will go bound to Rome. He bears too great a mind” (5.1.121-123). This quote discusses what Brutus is saying to Cassius before they go to war. He is saying that he would rather kill himself than go back to Rome as a failure. Brutus is a follower, who is easily manipulated into doing something everyone else is doing, this shows he is weak mentally and indecisive proving he is the tragic hero.

One can clearly understand that Cassius is trying to manipulate Brutus to help him sabotage

As Brutus overtime discovered a letter that discusses that Brutus should get the justice Rome deserves and that he truly deserves as well. (II, i, 50-60). This letter which was later found out to be forged by Cassius truly makes Brutus think about his hardships and moral values and but Brutus putting himself first and his values he starts to consider joining forces with Cassius which involves killing his close friend Caesar which brings some hardship his way overtime. (II, iii, 160-162). (II, i, 50-60).

However, in real life, Brutus hated Caesar. He was never supportive of Caesar, and truthfully never loved him.(Musaj and Prezi Inc.) In Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, he uses Brutus’s strong love of Rome, his honor, and his willing to do anything for the good of Rome to show that Brutus is the tragic hero. Everyone loves their homeland-some more than others. Brutus had an extremely strong love