Since the Elizabethan era, society has been familiar with William Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. Throughout the play, Brutus struggles to confront his internal conflict, which later leads him to join the conspiracy to assassin Caesar. After the assassination of Caesar, Brutus does not realize the fact that the Romans despise him for his actions taken. When he finally realizes his tragic flaw of gullibility, he tells Strato to kill him, so he would not have to witness him getting defeated in the war against Marc Antony in front of the Romans. Shakespeare wrote the play so that the audience visualizes that Caesar along with Brutus are the tragic heroes of the play, but he does not recognize Portia as a tragic hero; therefore, the audience fails to realize that Portia has the characteristics of a tragic hero as well. In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Shakespeare uses Portia to present to the audience the tragic flaw of the struggle to become manlier. In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Shakespeare uses Portia to demonstrate that manliness is the highest virtue in society.
Someone manly is a person who uses their nobility by flattering their power to one another to achieve their goals. Blits believes that the characters in The Tragedy of Julius Caesar use this nobility and try to gain something from it, he states, “The men we see in the play have the strongest desire for worldly glory and, regarding honor as the highest good, relentlessly strive to win it” (Blits 31). In her speech Portia mentions, “I grant I am a woman; but withal/ A woman well reputed, Cato’s daughter” (2.1.294-295). Portia presumes that by using obsequious methods of her nobility, Brutus will tell her about the conspiracy. She mentions her father b...
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... suffer the exact pain as men do when they are in combat and Blits tells us “manliness is displayed primarily in battle, so the combat between warriors does not stop at the city’s wall. Portia does not show any emotion to Brutus when she cuts herself because she knows that a manly person cannot shows any emotion when in pain. Once the audience visualizes that Portia does not get what she deserves after cutting herself, the audience truly identifies that she struggles to become manlier in the play but never reaches it.
Works Cited
Blitz, Jan H. “Manliness and Friendship in Julius Caesar” Bloom’s Modern Critical Interpretations: Julius Caesar. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2010.
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. Prentice Hall Literature: Grade ten. Ed. Kate Kinsella, et.al. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2007. 824-923.
Shakespeare, William. “The Tragedy of Julius Caesar.” Elements of Literature: Kylene Beers. Austin: Holt, 2009. 842-963. Print.
McManus, Barbara F. "Julius Caesar: Historical Background." Vroma. N.p., Mar. 2011. Web. 21 Feb. 2014.
In conclusion, William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar is the quintessence of a tragic hero. He is highly respected in society and holds a position of authority, yet is corrupted by his pride and arrogance. He ignores warnings of assassination, but once he is attacked by his confidant Brutus he realizes his flaws. Unfortunately, he can never repent of his prideful ways, as his life is extinguished. Because he is murdered by one of his greatest friends and did so much to aid the destitute, he is a sympathetic character. Julius Caesar is a complex and multi-faceted man, but the tragedy of his life strikes a chord of sympathy that resonates throughout not only his subjects, but the readers of his downfall for centuries past, present, and future.
Throughout the play many characters are not who they turn out to be. Julius Caesar is a very good judge of character, he does not ruts Cassius, he says “ He thinks too much man, such men are dangerous”( shakespeare,1.2.195). Caesar foreshadows now dangerous Cassius is, Cassius is one person who stabs Caesar. Unlike Caesar, Brutus trusts people too much to see who they are. After Caesar 's death, Brutus trusts Marc Antony to give his speech, but Cassius says “ You know not what you do. Do not consent./ that Antony speak in his funeral. I know you how much the people may be moved/ by that which he will utter.” (shakespeare,3.2.333-335). Caesar was an amazing military leader, Brutus was not. Before Caesar becomes king, he gained land back to Rome “ Julius Caesar has just returned to Rome after a long civil war in which he defeated the forces of pompey” (applebee) Caesar led his military to victory and has the chance to take full control of Rome. brutus is a humble military leader company to Caesar. After Brutus won his battle over Octavius’ army, he left his men begin looting. Instead of helping Cassius’ army “ O Cassius, Brutus gave the word too early,/ who, having some advantages on Octavius/ took it too eagerly. His soldiers fell to spoil/ whilst we by Antony are all enclosed .(Shakespeare,5.3.5-8) Brutus had a bad call when he did not send his army to help Cassius. With Caesars flaw being
Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, is the story of a man trying his best to
Shakespeare’s complex play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar contains several tragic heroes; a tragic hero holds high political or social esteem yet possesses an obvious character flaw. This discernible hubris undoubtedly causes the character’s demise or a severe forfeiture, which forces the character to undergo an unfeigned moment of enlightenment and shear reconciliation. Brutus, one of these tragic heroes, is a devout friend of the great Julius Caesar, that is, until he makes many execrable decisions he will soon regret; he becomes involved in a plot to kill the omniscient ruler of Rome during 44 B.C. After committing the crime, Mark Antony, an avid, passionate follower of Caesar, is left alive under Brutus’s orders to take his revenge on the villains who killed his beloved Caesar. After Antony turns a rioting Rome on him and wages war against him and the conspirators, Brutus falls by his own hand, turning the very sword he slaughtered Caesar with against himself. Brutus is unquestionably the tragic hero in this play because he has an innumerable amount of character flaws, he falls because of these flaws, and then comes to grips with them as he bleeds on the planes of Philippi.
McManus, Barbara F. "Julius Caesar: Historical Background." Vroma. N.p., Mar. 2011. Web. 21 Feb. 2014.
Throughout the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, the audience constantly sees Brutus, an honorable man, go against his own beliefs because of men filled with hatred and jealousy. Brutus
The main reason that Marcus Brutus deserves the title of tragic hero is his noble personality. First of all, throughout the play, he never deceives anyone. Although he did murder Julius Caesar, it was for the good of Rome, not to deceive Caesar. Everything that he did was for the benefit of someone else. Even though he killed Antony's best friend, Antony still recognized Brutus as "the noblest Roman of them all." He does this in Act 5, Scene 5, after Brutus' death because Brutus the only conspirator that actually killed Caesar because he was not envious and he actually did care about the good of Rome. He cared more about others than he did himself. For instance, in the process of killing Caesar, he could have easily backed out because he knew he might have been punished, but he knew in the long run, that it would help the plebeians most. Another example of his selflessness is in Act 2, Scene 1. Brutus decides not to tell Portia his plans for the murder of Caesar. He feels she already has enough stress in her life and does not need to worry or deal with his plans.
Bloom, Harold. William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Chelsea House Publisher; Connecticut, New York, & Pennsylvania. 1988, Pg. #33 - 36
Shakespeare, William. “The Tragedy of Julius Caesar”. Elements of Literature. Ed. Deborah Appleman. 4th ed. Texas: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 2009. 843-963.
The definition of a tragic hero is perceived as on who is neither wicked nor purely innocent, one who “is brave and noble but guilty of the tragic flaw of assuming that honorable ends justify dishonorable means”. In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Brutus takes the role of the tragic hero. Brutus’s honor, nobility, and self-righteousness makes him “a tragic figure, if not the hero” (Catherine C. Dominic).
Allen, Janet. "Julius Caesar." Holt McDougal Literature. Orlando, FL: Holt McDougal/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. N. pag. Print.
Shakespeare, William. Julius Caesar. Elements of Literature. Ed. Edwina McMahon et al. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1997.
Throughout Shakespeare’s various works, it has been observed that he rarely uses females in his literature, but when he does, he uses them for a distinct purpose, as is evident in Julius Caesar. By defying the societal standards of her gender and showing genuine interest in her husband’s thoughts and feelings, Portia, the wife of Brutus, reveals key aspects of his character while adding depth to the story. For her time, Portia was a woman who both respected herself and took pride in herself, without allowing society to make a mark on her. This is evident when she states, “Think you I am no stronger than my sex/ Being so father'd and so husbanded?" (Port...