Examples Of Mistakes In Julius Caesar

Every hero is bound to make a mistake. In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Marcus Brutus joins a group of conspirators in an effort to murder their headstrong Roman leader, Julius Caesar. Although his plan is successful, the mistakes he made in achieving his goal brought him to his own death. His major misstep was his joining of the conspirators, who tricked him into leading their murderous plot. Brutus also made the tragic mistake of trusting Mark Antony to deliver a speech at Caesar’s funeral. Throughout the play, Brutus shows readers that he is far too naïve and trusting of others and their nobility to Rome. After realizing he had been taken advantage of, Brutus saw that his only way out was death. Although Brutus makes many critical

mistakes that built the plot of the play, his choice to trust both Cassius and Antony are the main causes of his downfall. In the play, Shakespeare toys around with the idea that good and evil are not always black and white concepts, but rather, they can intertwine when it comes to one’s motives.
Brutus made the fateful mistake of entrusting Cassius in his plot to take down Rome’s power-hungry leader, Julius Caesar.

Cassius uses clever tactics to fool a naïve Brutus, and he even says himself that “if I were Brutus now, and he were Cassius, He should not humour me.” (Shakespeare Act 1, Scene 2, Lines 312-313). By proving that Cassius knows his motives are to hurt Brutus, Shakespeare is giving the audience information that Brutus himself is unaware of, which is an instance of dramatic irony. By choosing to confide in Cassius, Brutus mistakenly wraps himself up in a murderous plot that is supported by false claims and so-called “supporters” of the cause that were conjured up by the deceitful mind of Cassius. Brutus simply wanted to do what was best for Rome, and in the days leading up to the planned assassination, Cassius compiles an assortment of forged letters in support of Caesar’s slaying, which further convinced Brutus to carry out the plan. If not for his gullibility, Brutus would have trusted his best friend, Caesar, in leading Rome, and his demise brought on by the assassination would not have

occurred.
Brutus makes the deadly misstep of not only allowing Mark Antony to live, but also letting Antony speak at the funeral of Julius Caesar.

When plotting the assassination of Caesar, the idea is brought up of murdering Antony as well, as he posed a potential threat when working with Caesar. Brutus chooses not to kill Antony, for he believed “Antony [was] but a limb of Caesar” and would probably kill himself if Caesar was not by his side (Shakespeare Act 2, Scene 1, Line 165). This grave choice fueled Antony to fight back against the conspirators, which eventually caught up to Brutus and turned him to his own death. Even after the assassination, Brutus once again was far too trusting in allowing Antony to speak at Caesar’s funeral, against the orders of Cassius. After delivering his own speech to the crowd, Brutus leaves the ceremony, allowing Antony to speak his mind on the situation, and his speech greatly affects the views of the Roman citizens. By doing this, Brutus unknowingly turns the general public against him and the conspirators, which drives him to lose his will to

live.
At the end of the play, Brutus realizes he made a variety of tragic mistakes concerning the leadership of Rome at the time, and he runs into his own sword, ending his suffering. By working alongside Cassius and trusting Antony, Brutus shows the audience of his need to please others without fully thinking his decisions through. Not only did Brutus lose his best friend in a nationalist plot, but he lost the trust of Roman citizens, and most likely the trust of himself. Although his actions in the play were violent and devilish on paper, Brutus simply made these mistakes out of naivety and misguided loyalty to Rome.