Portia And Brutus Struggle In Julius Caesar

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In Julius Caesar, Brutus’ main struggle is his conflict of whether or not to kill Caesar, while Caesar’s main struggle was his ego. In this way, some parallels in certain conflicts or conversations that include Brutus usually have Brutus making illogical arguments to benefit himself. Another commonality in some of these relational conflicts include one character showing devout trust for the other character. Brutus is in conflict with himself; he is deciding whether to look at Caesar as his friend or to look at Caesar as a terrible dictator of Rome. Brutus is confronted by Cassius, who slowly and carefully lures Brutus into thinking that Caesar is not the greatest leader in Rome. Cassius slowly persuades Brutus into joining the conspirators …show more content…

Their approach in showing that love was shown with their interactions with their husbands’ struggles. Portia’s conversation with Brutus shows her intense trust for her husband. When Portia first goes to speak with Brutus, she addresses him as “[her] lord”(2.1.33), showing that she gives the respect and submission to Brutus; in exchange, Brutus gives her the assurance that she is very important to him, saying “You are my true and honorable wife”(2.1.288). In their conversation, Portia tries to extract Brutus’s secret in many different ways, such as using logos, where she says she should know his secret due to the bonds of marriage, because man and woman are one flesh in the eyes of God, based on Christian theology. In this moment, however, Brutus cannot be one flesh with Portia because he himself is not one with himself due to his internal conflict. Portia also used pathos to make Brutus feel guilty in keeping his secret; she says she is only “Brutus’ harlot, [and] not funny his wife”(2.1.287). Portia also says that she has stabbed herself in the thigh to show her trust and honor to her husband. In the end, Brutus is compelled to tell Portia about his secret plot to kill Caesar, but the dialogue shows their relationship is equal and is unlike the “Roman” way of …show more content…

Caesar is ignorant in listening to his wife, but he eventually decides to stay home. Then Decius enters the scene and in a quick say of words, Caesar is converted back into going to the Senate House. This shows that his priorities are not in line with Brutus because Caesar puts his ego and pride above his wife, while Brutus would humbly love Portia. Caesar puts above the desires of his heart rather than the needs of his wife; listening to both Calpurnia and Decius, Caesar decides to follow the words he wants to hear from Decius rather than the words he needed to hear from Calpurnia. Also, Caesar chose to ignore Calpurnia because it was seen “un-RoMAN” to take advice from women, especially wives during the Roman Period; to become “RoMAN,” one, such as Caesar, should put pride and glory(wants) above his family(needs). By being “RoMAN,” Caesar’s relationship with Calpurnia was very male dominated, unlike Brutus’ equal relationship with

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