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Essays on Julius Caesar and his character
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The tragedy of julius caesar character traits
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Das Brütus: A Tragic Hero
In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, Brutus is the quintessence of a tragic hero. Webster’s Dictionary defines tragic hero as “Any person, especially a man, admired for courage, nobility etc. … in a serious play with an unhappy ending” (277-626). This verbatim definition, however, is useless in an analytical essay. The idea of a tragic hero comes from Aristotle, who thought a tragic hero involved a character of high standing suffering a downfall caused by one or two character flaws. In this story Brutus is a trusted friend of Caesar, but from a series of poor choices he betrays that trust by assisting in Caesar’s assassination, even delivering the death blow. Brutus realizes the error of his ways in his last moments, and the audience feels sympathy for this renegade protagonist. The specific sets of attributes that define a tragic hero (character flaw, downfall, moment of clarity etc.) culminate in Brutus, who Shakespeare used to send a clear message about people.
A tragic hero’s characterization should not be a disastrous assortment of social ailments; he or she should be a good person with a single imperfection. In Julius Caesar Brutus has poor reasoning skills. When asked if he would want Caesar to be king, he replies, “I would not, yet I love him well” (Shakespeare 892). Caesar is a demanding character, even around his friends, so it can be assumed that Brutus is regularly influenced by Caesar. Contrarily, Brutus does not wish the people to be victim of Caesar’s will. Brutus justifies murder of his friend by claiming, “Therefore think of him as a serpent’s egg/ Which hatched, would grow as his kind grow mischievous/ And kill him in the shell” (Shakespeare 911). Bru...
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... not only make him appear kind and noble; he would seem to be such an ideal citizen that most men would not meet those standards. Brutus’ ultimate downfall by one or two negative traits would have shocked the intended audience and perhaps affected how they viewed themselves, making Brutus a very effective character.
Shakespeare created a slightly flawed character have a moment of clarity followed by a violent death, and he did this to notify the public of a major problem with his day’s ethics. The noble Brutus was destroyed by a handful of minute details in his own character. This alarming message is the reason this play is still studied.
Works Cited
"Hero." Def. 5b. Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989.
Shakespeare, William. Julius Caesar. Austin: Holt, 2007.
"Tragedy." Def. 5b. Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989.
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
Minor characteristics involved in virtue are honorability, respectability, dignity, integrity, nobility, purity, and rectitude. Brutus clearly shows all of these characteristics throughout the play. For example, he killed his friend Caesar, but only to protect Rome from Caesar. He clearly did this out of love and respect for Rome and out of dignity and nobility. But this action was slightly unconsciously hypocritical. Brutus believed that in spite of Caesar being his friend, assassinating him was the right thing to do for his country. But only because Cassius put it in his mind that is was. All of the other conspirators stabbed Caesar before Brutus. But when Brutus stabbed him, it was literally like getting stabbed in the back by your best friend. “Et tu, Bruté?—Then fall, Caesar.” (3.1.84) Caesar asks “You too Brutus?”, as if he didn’t expect Brutus to be the one to kill him. But even though this affected Brutus, he had to do this for his country. Unconscious hypocrisy is also an important characteristic of Brutus. There are many instances in which Brutus said that something was cowardly but he had the same thing or something similar. The reason he did those things is because Cassius manipulated him to do them. So he was expressing his beliefs but acting out Cassius’ manipulations on
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
In the play the Life and Death of Julius Caesar (just as in all of Shakespeare’s tragedies) there is much death, much tragedy, and of course, a tragic hero. However unlike most of Shakespeare’s plays this time the tragic hero is not particularly obvious. Throughout the play a few main characters present themselves as possibilities for being the tragic hero. But as being a tragic hero is not only having a tragic flaw but also entails much more, there really is only one person to fit the mold. The character Brutus is born into power and is higher/better then we are. He has a tragic flaw that causes his downfall and at the end he realizes his mistake (a trait none of the other characters can really claim).
In William Shakespeare’s play “The Tragedy of Julius Caesar,” the character Marcus Brutus fits the role of Shakespeare’s tragic hero. In this play, Brutus is a perfect example of a tragic hero. He fits all of Shakespeare’s characteristics of a tragic hero entirely. Brutus could easily be used as an example of a tragic hero in a lesson or a written work.
The second reason why Brutus should not be a tragic hero is because he has a tragic flaw and this flaw leads to his ultimate downfall. The tragic Flaw for Brutus is his idealistic view of the world. He contracts this view about Caesar after Cassius persuades him by saying that Caesar will be a tyrant. Because of this, Brutus joins the conspirators and kills Caesar. This shows that Brutus, like other tragic heroes uses his tragic flaw and thus will cause his eventual defeat. Later in the play Brutus directs, as any ideological man would, to charge rather than wait for the enemy to attack. This is an excellent exemplar of the Brutus’s tragic flaw since Brutus did this so that he would not lose support in Rome.
Marcus Brutus was born from the blood of a long line of valiant and noble men. Many noble men at the time of Brutus merely did what they had to do to be the mediocre senator, rich man, or another various profession to keep the flow of everyday life going unobstructed. They were nails holding a sinking ship together but ignored the fact because they would rather protect their reputation than raise their heads. Brutus rose above the rest and d...
The tragic hero is one of literatures most used (and sometimes abused) characters. The classical definition of a tragic hero is, “a person with heroic or potentially heroic qualities. The person is doomed by the Gods or some other supernatural force to destruction or suffering. The hero struggles against the fate, but due to a personal flaw, ultimately fails in the battle against fate. It is my personal opinion that Brutus,as he is portrayed in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, is a tragic hero by this definition. I came to this conclusion due to the fact that Brutus shares many similarities with other tragic heroes in literature such as Oedipus, Hamlet, and Ralph from Lord of the Flies. All four characters share the two critical traits that are needed to be tragic heroes: a tragic flaw that eventually leads to a tragic downfall. The tragic hero was defined by Aristotle, yet the “invention” of the tragic hero goes to Sophocles.
First of all, Marcus Brutus has the character flaw of poor judge of character. He cannot discern a person’s character or true motivation. He, however, acts on his judgments, regardless of whether they are true or not. Brutus feels that Caesar is too ambitious for power, and that he, along with the other eight men plotting the demise of Caesar, must prevent it, “And therefore think him as a serpent’s egg— / Which, hatched, would as his kind grow mischievous— / And kill him in the shell” (911). Brutus decides that Caesar must die because he ambitious. Ambition is not necessarily an evil and virulent thing. Ambition causes men and women to strive towards reaching an attainment. Brutus assumes that Caesar will turn his back on his supporters due to this ambition. One of the most famous lines in Julius Caesar is the dying words of Caesar: “Et tu, Bruté?—Then fall, Caesar” (938). If Caesar had truly turned h...
Brutus’ final flaw is his idealism. His idealism leads him to believe everything that everybody tells him. His idealism causes him to believe in Antony and Cassius. Cassius uses Brutus’ idealism by getting him to believe that they are killing Caesar for the betterment of Rome. Antony uses the idealism to get to talk to the com Brutus’ tragic flaws are part of what makes him a tragic hero. In Julius Caesar, Brutus is a great example of a tragic hero. His tragic flaws are honor, poor judgement, and idealism (Bedell). In Shakespeare’s plays, the tragic hero and his flaws cause the downfall of the play (Tragic Flaws).
When writing The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare sought to define his characters by their overarching traits. Brutus was defined by his honor, Caesar his desire for power. Yet these characters all shared one fatal flaw. Their willingness to accept information that concurred with their predispositions. It is the confirmation bias of many characters that Shakespeare critiques.
...tus truly defined the definition of being a tragic hero. He took a drastic fall from being high standing Roman senator to committing suicide on the battle field. He also had several fundamental character flaws that defined not only his future but it also defined history as we know it today. His illogical thinking allowed him to justify the killing of Caesar; and his kindness allows Mark Antony to live and become a mighty ruler of Rome. Brutus’ finally has a revelation and his eyes are opened once he is defeated on the battle field during The Battle Philippi. Brutus’ participation in the assassination of Caesar defined his life and the lives of those around him; it also affected the way we look at history today. Without his involvement in the conspiracy the Roman Empire would not have been the same. Brutus’ name will forever be affiliated with the death of Caesar.
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.
There is no such thing as the perfect person. We may dream of such a person, but sadly, everyone has flaws. These flaws are what make us human. Something else that makes us human is our need for heroes. We attribute 'perfect' qualities to our heroes. In reality even our heroes are flawed. The closest thing to the idealized person, or hero, is the Shakespearean tragic hero. The tragic hero is someone of high standing, good character, and a flaw. While it may be only one flaw, it is often fatal. An example of a tragic hero can be best seen in William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar. Marcus Brutus is a prominent leader and noble citizen of Rome who leads in the assassination of Julius Caesar. We see that Brutus plays the role of the tragic hero through his noble standing, fatal flaw, and legacy.
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.