Marcus Brutus Flaws

How would you feel if you helped a young man’s career, and brought him into fame, and then he turns around and leads a mob to kill you? Now what kind of person would that young man have to be in order to do such a horrible thing? Well, Marcus Junius Brutus was that young man, and

Julius Caesar helped him to become a man of power in the Roman Senate. What kind of person was Marcus Junius Brutus? He was a tragic Hero. In order to be considered a tragic hero a person has to be born into a prestigious family. Secondly, they must have a character flaw. And third, that flaw must cause their death before they can correct the flaw. In this essay, I will show how Marcus

Junius Brutus’ Stoicism and mean temper, especially against tyrants,

Marcus Junius Brutus was born about 86 BCE into the family of a Roman politician. He was named after his father. He was the oldest son. His father ‘never made it to the top’. (Lendering,

2017). After his father was killed, he went to live with his mother’s brother, Quintus Servilius Caepio.

He was surrounded with ambition on every side. He was very ambitious and arrogant. His stoicismistic approach to life made him have very little tolerance for anyone that was not on his level.

A real heavy influence on his way of thinking came from his ancestor, Lucius Junius Brutus, who had the last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus overthrown. This man is the founder of the

Roman Republic. The Republic was ruled by Senators, not a king. Marcus Junius Brutus grew up with the idea that tyrants, kings and people who had too much power over the people should be overthrown. So, he was born into a highly political family. That is the first thing that qualifies him to be a tragic hero.

His flaw was his arrogance and the fact that he felt he was always right, because he focused on his knowledge and the way he seemed to be able to rise quickly in power. His philosophy of

Caesar ordered him to be spared and for no one to kill him during the battle. Caesar later rose to greatness and used his influence and power to raise Marcus Brutus up to the level of Senator. Everything seemed to be fine between them until Caesar did a couple of things that threatened the power of the Senate. Caesar was loved by the common people. He passed laws to help the poor in spite of the fact that the Senate did not want him to do so. This made the people really love him. A rumor was started that Caesar was going to name himself King of Rome. This was the ‘straw that broke the camel’s back.’ Marcus Brutus and Cassius, another

Senator, led a revolt and plotted to assassinate Julius Caesar. Shakespeare’s story had only two leaders of the conspiracy. But, Strauss, a history professor from Cornell University, did more digging into the facts and in his book, “The Death of Caesar”, he added a third major conspirator, Decimus.

Anyway, the fact remains that even though Caesar’s wife, Capernia, had a dream which was like the soothsayer, Spurinna, had ‘read’ from the internal organs of a sacrificed bull, foretelling of Caesar’s death, he went to the meeting that the Senate had planned, not paying attention to the