Not Noble? Preposterous!

Not Noble? Preposterous!

In Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, the character Brutus, was portrayed as a malevolent and hateful person. Although he is forced to betray his best friend and suffer through the bitter passing of his wife, he never lets that distort the goal that he has set, which is to better his country. Throughout the play, Brutus shows very knowledgeable, perceptive, and noble qualities toward the Roman Democracy.

At first glance, Brutus is condemned for murdering his best friend, which is a hard concept to comprehend as being noble, but all that he did, he did for the good of Rome. Furthermore, Antony’s opinion of Brutus changes from pure despite and detestation, to honor, and respect, after he realizes the reasoning that Brutus had “‘Not that I loved Caesar less, but I loved Rome more./ Had you rather Caesar were living and die all slaves,/ Than that Caesar were dead and live all free men?’” (III.ii.21-22). This statement is spoken to the crowd, in regards to the assassination of Caesar. Here, Brutus is explaining to the people that he did not kill Caesar for his own personal gain, but for the good of Rome. If he had not slain Caesar, he would have taken absolute power over all of Rome and its armies, turning the Democracy into a dictatorship.

…Did not great Julius bleed for justice’ sake?

What villain touched his body that did stab?

And not for justice? What, shall one of us,

That struck the foremost man of all this world

But for supporting robbers, shall we now

Contaminate our finger with base bribes… (IV.iii.19-24).

Here, Brutus argues with Cassius for accepting bribes. He claims that by accepting bribes, Cassius is tainting their reputation, of taking down such a tyrant as Caesar. He truly bel...

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...s statement was made by Antony, in reference to Caesar, after the conspirators murdered him. The interesting idea behind this statement is that Antony’s opinion is later altered into believing that Brutus is the noblest Roman, instead of Caesar. It took the valiant sacrifice of Brutus’ life, which was made in attempt to save Rome, to persuade Antony, but it was then that he understood why Brutus murdered Caesar. Antony’s revulsion toward Brutus was simply blinded by anger and remorse for his dead friend, Caesar, for him to realize that what Brutus was doing was actually best for Rome.

Brutus was a noble man, who did nothing but show love and devotion to Rome. He did all that was necessary in order to aid Rome in evolution and progression. He proved his pride and dedication by performing the one of the sacrifices, which was to murder his best friend.