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Critically analyse the role of Brutus in Julius Caesar
Tragedy of character Brutus
Character analysis of brutus
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Undoubtedly, joining the conspiracy and believing in a fallacy initiated Brutus’s fall. As it can be seen, when Caesar left to go to the games, Cassius, who Caesar did not trust, pounced on the discernible opportunity to convince Brutus to join the conspiracy to kill Caesar. Cassius articulates his words carefully as he says, “I have heard where many of the best respect in Rome, except immortal Caesar, speaking of Brutus” (1.2.60-62). Knowing how to convince Brutus, Cassius uses flattery making it seem that Brutus held great importance to Rome. Throughout their conversation, Brutus started to believe what Cassius said and joined the conspiracy. When Brutus leaves Cassius states “For who so firm that cannot be seduced?” (1.2.308). The audience
In the beginning of the Book Cassius uses anecdotes of Caesar’s weakness and faults, argumentum ad antiquatum, and ethos on Brutus to persuade him to join the conspiracy to kill Caesar, this works on Brutus and shows that anyone, even people as stoic as Brutus, can be persuaded by appealing to their motivations. Cassius, a very suspicious character thru ought the play tells Brutus to “be not jealous on me” (827), in the quote he tells Brutus to not be suspicious of him because he is just a friend who genuinely cares. Cassius does this to put himself on Brutus’ side and not seem like a distant person, this allows him to criticize Caesar and suggest that he is a bad influence on Rome which appeals to Brutus’ desire to keeping Rome safe. After setting himself up as a friend to Brutus, Cassius uses harsh anecdotes on the weakness of Caesar to show that he isn’t fit to rule Rome. Cassius recollects on a time when he and Caesar went swimming in the river Tiber and Caesar screamed “Help me, Cassius or I sink” (828) to de...
A character from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Cassius, exhibits Machiavellian attributes by manipulation and a drive to accomplish his goal of assassinating Julius Caesar by any means. Cassius was able to successfully manipulate both Brutus and the fellow conspirators. Cassius was able to influence Brutus enough to make Brutus believe that killing Julius Caesar, Brutus’ best friend, was the right action. Initially, Brutus was wary of Cassius when Brutus said, “Into what dangers would you lead me, Cassius?” (1.2.69) Subsequently, Brutus is persuaded as he states, “...what you have said / I will consider” (1.2.176-177). Cassius is willing to control any person who stands in his way. Cassius successfully turned Brutus against his best friend in order to achieve what Cassius believes to be best for Rome. When Brutus says, “Let me not hinder, Cassius, your desires” (1.2.35) it is clear that Cassius has swayed Brutus to believe in his cause. In Julius Caesar, we do not see Cassius as the main leader of the cons...
Cassius needed a reason to motivate Brutus to join the conspiracy so that the plan would develop. “Brutus, I do observe you now of late: I have not from your eyes that gentleness…” (1.2.34) Cassius is saying that Brutus hasn’t been as affectionate toward him as he typically is. Maybe he suspects something is wrong with Brutus and he thinks it has something to do with Caesar. But I think he didn’t really care about how Brutus was treating him, he was just “buttering him up” so to say. Brutus thinks that Cassius is just being his friend and trying to help, when in reality Cassius is manipulating him. This manipulation of friendship is what drives the rest of the play. Brutus has a hard time seeing through this manipulation of Cassius and it ends up driving him to assassinating his friend, Caesar. Cassius fabricated letters to make them seen like they were from the people of Rome saying that they wanted Brutus as their leader. These letters were really the controlling factor of the assassination because they gave Brutus another reason to assassinate Caesar. Cassius then realized how easy it was to manipulate Brutus. “Well, Brutus, thou art noble. Yet I see thy honorable mettle may be wrought from that it is disposed. Therefore it is meet that noble minds keep ever with their likes; for who so firm that cannot be seduced?” (1.2.320-324) Cassius is saying that even
In Act one of Julius Caesar, Cassius complains to Brutus about how Caesar is acting modest, but he is really scheming to become a high power in Rome. While listening to Cassius’ rant, it is seen that Brutus is slowly buying Cassius’ point of view of Caesar urges him to go forward with his complains. Cassius later mentioned, “If I were/Brutus now and he were Cassius, /He should not humor me” (1.2 310-311). In lament’s terms, Cassius means that if he is Brutus and Brutus is him, he would not be as naïve nor will he be influence by Brutus. This displays that Cassius notices Brutus’ great naivety; therefore, he will try to use Brutus’ naivety for his motives. Soon afterwards, Brutus thinks, “It must be by his death, and for my part/ I know no personal cause to spurn at him/ But for the general” (2.1. 10-12). This shows that Brutus is gullible enough to buy Cassius’ and Casca’s point-of-view on Caesar. He truly believes that he and the conspirators are murdering Caesar purel...
Throughout most of the play Brutus is constantly internally conflicted. Does he do what he believes is best for Rome or stay loyal to his friend and leader? Should he assist in the murder of one person to benefit many? Although killing Caesar was in the end a bad choice, Brutus always tries to do what is best for Rome and for the people. However even though all of Brutus’ motives are good he still has the tragic flaw of pride, which ultimately leads to his downfall. The reason that Brutus gets caught up in the conspiracy is because Cassias appeals to his pride and flatters him with forged letters from the Roman people saying he is a greater leader then Caesar.
At the beginning, Brutus is tricked by Cassius into believing that killing Julius Caesar would be for the better of Rome (1, 2, ll. 32-321). Cassius is able to deviously influence Brutus into thinking that Caesar is no different from Brutus. He says, “Brutus and Caesar: what should be in that Caesar?/ Why should that name be sounded more than yours?” (1, 2, ll. 142-143) Cassius also uses many other examples to manipulate Brutus.
The moment Brutus started to question if he should be in the conspiracy it was no good but when he decided to actually join it to kill Caesar it was a bad choice and a choice that in the end lead to his death. “And therefore think him as a serpent's egg/ Which hatched, which as his kind grow mischievous,/ And kill him in the shell.” (2.1.32-34). Brutus is saying that Caesar would be a dangerous man once he gets power and once he gets the crown and hatches from his shell he will be poison, so they need to kill him before he gains power. That moment is when Brutus decides to join the conspiracy. Does he say those things thinking they are actually true? Or does he say those things because it is being fed to him and the people feeding it to him he trusts so he starts believing it himself? He trusts those men in the conspiracy and wants to best for Rome so he joins and helps kill Caesar. When Brutus decides to join the conspiracy it is leading to his death because he starts to make all the decisions for the men in the conspiracy and does not listen to anyone else's ideas. He is trusting his own ideas so much that when someone else comes up with something he does not let them get there way and he gets his way. For example the men all believed that when they kill Caesar they should also kill Antony. They think that Antony will get the power after Caesar is dead so they also want him dead so
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.
Brutus joining the conspiracy will help everyone overall because Brutus is so highly respected by everyone in Rome. “Oh, he sits high in all the people’s hearts, and that which would appear offensive in us, His countenance” (Pg.46) This is especially good because he could persuade them about things and convince them the Caesar was getting too powerful and ambitious. Brutus saw how the people weren’t liking Caesar becoming too powerful so he wanted to put a stop to that as soon as he could. Now that Brutus had overlooked everything and joined the conspirators it only provided the conspiracy legitimacy because they now had Brutus, the powerful and highly respected citizen of Rome as the figurehead of it all. This could also negatively affect
The plan, that Casca describes, that includes Brutus causes an abundance of pros and cons in the conspiracy. Casca comes up with the idea to add Brutus into the plot to take down Caesar because he knows Brutus is loved by many and is very popular. The conspiracy was that Caesar was not fit to be dictator of Rome. This, overall, lead to many advantages and disadvantages.
Brutus's fatal flaw is his trustworthy nature. He joins the conspiracy not because he "loved Caesar less but loved Rome more." ( ) Brutus joins the conspiracy under the impression that he is preventing Caesar's tyranny and saving the people of Rome. He also trusts the motives of the other conspirators. In entering the conspiracy he is also responsible for the death of Caesar and the movement of the plot. The civil war is a direct result of Caesar's assassination and eventually Brutus's own death. Brutus's fall is definitely caused by his trustworthy nature.
Brutus’ tragic flaw was his perception that all men were identical to him in their motives. This factored allowed his decisions to be easily influenced by others whose motives were devious. Cassius was able to convince Brutus to join the conspiracy because Brutus thought the only reason behind the conspiracy was to prevent one man from becoming “Rex.” He allowed Antony’s speech to occur because he was sure that Antony was motivated by the same “honor” which motivated himself.
The play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, has two main tragic heroes. Set in Rome and spanning from forty- four to forty-two B.C., the play tells of Brutus and Caesar whom both fall from the highest positions to the lowest of misfortune and then are enlightened on their mistakes. Brutus is the stronger example of a tragic hero in this story. Throughout this play, Brutus commits many faults, falls more drastically than all other characters, and regrets his previous actions by the end of the play.
This makes it hard for Brutus to make a decision when Cassius tries to get him to join the conspiracy, but when he gets the letter from the concerned citizen, he decides to join. Brutus states, “ To speak and strike? O Rome, I make thee promise,/If the redress will follow, thou receivest/ Thy full petition at the hand of Brutus”(II.i.56-58).
If brutus really fully believed that killing his best friend, Julius Caesar, was the only option, then why did he had to literally talk himself into joining the conspiracy? It was not the only option considering the people of Rome began to love Caesar even after he defeated Pompey. They did not need to kill him in order to stop him from becoming a leader. Whether or not he joined the conspiracy, the conspirators wanted Caesar dead. He did not need to go behind his best friends back and kill him when there was many other