Julius Caesar Hero Quotes

A hero is defined by their actions in the real world. One may be a hero to a whole population of people or just one. No matter what, each of these heroes earn their titles through their actions. In the play, Julius Caesar, by Shakespeare, the main characters embodies the question of who the tragic hero is. On one end, the story consists of the military leader Caesar, who is going to become ruler, but is assassinated through waging fear that he is going to rule as a tyrant. On the other end, the story consists of the character Brutus who backstabbed his best friend, Caesar, to preserve Rome as a republic. To decide who the tragic hero is, one must look at the traits that help identify what makes up one. The definition of a tragic hero, consists of the traits of reputation, prosperity, virtue, and a tragic flaw. Both characters embody these traits, but Brutus is the clearer choice for being tragic hero.

Reputation of Brutus and Caesar are exemplified greatly throughout the play. To begin,

Brutus had gained his reputation from his ancestors. In Rome’s history, Brutus’s ancestors fought to make Rome a republic, and they succeeded in their efforts (II.1.10-12). Because of this, Brutus has the gained the reputation of favoring Rome as a republic. Cassius was even able to manipulate Brutus through the fact that his family had developed Rome into a republic. Ultimately, Brutus had helped with the killing of Caesar in fear that during his reign, Caesar would maintain a Rome as a republic. Then, Caesar also has his own reputation, being that he was successful in the military. This known because the citizens of Rome were celebrating Caesar’s return, when he had just defeated Pompeii (I.1.30-31). As one may see, Caesar was returning victorious from battle, with the citizens of Rome celebrating his accomplishment. Caesar gained his reputation because of his military victories, as can be seen with the citizens. Overall, having a reputation demonstrates Brutus and Caesar’s qualification of being tragic hero.
Throughout the play, Brutus and Caesar establish their prosperity. From the beginning, Brutus was very conflicted in his decision to join the conspiracy. Brutus is prosperous because of how he always does what he thinks is best. For example, although Brutus was a conflicted character, he went with his gut feeling of joining the conspiracy against Caesar (II,1,10-12). As one can see, when faced with a controversial decision, Brutus decides the outcome he believes would be best. This is an important trait for a tragic hero, as it largely contributed to Brutus’s success in the play. Caesar had also shown prosperity throughout the play. For Caesar, his prosperity consisted of being a loyal and trustworthy friend. In Brutus’s speech at Caesar’s funeral, he stated that Caesar was a very dear friend for him, because he believed that their relationship consisted of love (III,2,21-22). Being dead, Caesar had the person who assassinated him say that their relationship was dear to him. Because of this confession, Cesar’s prosperity is shown as he was loyal and trustworthy to Brutus. Not only was Caesar prosperous to Brutus, but also Marc Antony, as he avenged Caesar after his death.
Virtue is a tragic hero trait that Brutus and Caesar display in Julius Caesar. The main virtue of Brutus is his loyalty to Rome because he puts the country first in his life. Brutus exemplifies this when he kills Caesar, as the thought of Caesar ruling Rome as a tyrant resulted in his commitment to the conspiracy (III,1,77). Brutus did not want to kill his dear friend Caesar, but felt that Rome would benefit greatly from Caesar's death. Even though the assassination of Caesar may not be virtuous, the reason why he had done it was greatly virtuous. Even though Brutus was virtuous, Caesar was also virtuous. Caesar’s virtue came from putting the citizens of Rome first in his decisions. An example of this, is when Marc Antony is reading Caesar’s will when he identifies that Caesar had left some of his wealth to give to the people of Rome (III,2,241-242). Caesar cared for his citizens, as after his death he was still helping his citizens. This act identifies Caesar as a virtuous person and how he felt towards the people of Rome. In the end, Brutus and Caesar both display their virtue in two varying ways.
The downfalls of Brutus and Caesar are because of their tragic flaws. Brutus’s tragic flaw was not listening to others, but only doing what he thinks is right. When the conspiracy meets to plan the assassination, Cassius mentions that they must kill Marc Antony to prevent trouble later on. As Brutus does not listen to Marc Antony’s advice, after the assassination of Caesar a civil war begins led by Marc Antony (II,1,162-165). In this conversation, instead of listening to Cassius, Brutus values his opinion more, and ultimately goes with his decision. Because of this, a war wages between the conspirators and Marc Antony which leads to Brutus’s downfall, his death. Although Brutus had a tragic flaw that resulted in his death, Caesar also consisted of a tragic flaw that led him to the same fate. Arrogance and being too full of one’s self was the tragic flaw that plagued Caesar. On the day of his assassination, there were many warnings of this day being dangerous. Caesar valued his reputation of being the man who is not afraid of danger higher than the warnings of his wife and close friends (II,2,66). If Caesar had listened to the warnings, he would have not died that day. Rather his arrogance took the best of him and had him walk into the Rome court room, on the ides of March to be assassinated by the conspiracy. The deaths of Brutus and Caesar had tragic flaw that ultimately led to their deaths.
Even though Brutus and Caesar both met the qualifications of being a tragic hero, Brutus is the better suited tragic hero of the play. To begin, Brutus was the most noble of the two. All throughout the play, every decision Brutus had made was for the city of Rome. The extent he went to protect the sovereignty of Rome, was to betray and backstab the power hungry best friend, Julius Caesar. Then, Brutus displays more noteworthy traits of a tragic hero than Caesar. His reputation was more noble, and his prosperity helped him decide what he was going to do that would benefit Rome. Furthermore, his tragic flaw was not listening to others, when comparing it to Caesar’s arrogance, Brutus’ tragic flaw was much less embarrassing. Then, his tragic flaw did not have die at the beginning of the play, but towards the end of the play. Overall, because of Brutus’s actions and nobleness, he is the more qualified hero.
In the play, Brutus embodies the role of a tragic hero, but many others argue that this role belongs to Caesar.

An example may be, Caesar was just as or even more noble to Rome. Because of his military victories and the his care for the citizens of Rome , Caesar was more noble. Although this is a valid point, Caesar was becoming a power hungry, tyrant that was going to run Rome into the ground. Another argument maybe that the play is named after Caesar , so logically he would be the tragic hero. The rebuttal to this point is that the story follows Brutus in his struggle to decide between friendship or country, and to deal with the consequences of his actions. Furthermore, the play does not focus on Julius Caesar but rather Brutus. Finally, some may argue that Caesar’s virtue outweighs Brutus’s. As stated before, these motives would have changed if he came into power, as he was going to an autocratic ruler. Marcus Brutus is the better tragic hero when comparing to Julius

Caesar.
A tragic hero is someone who has reputation, prosperity, virtue, and a tragic flaw. When comparing these traits between the two characters, Marcus Brutus comes out as the victor. Brutus is much more noble than Caesar with all of his decisions thought out from the perspective of Rome. To conclude, this decision came down to each character’s actions. Many believed that Caesar was going to rule as a tyrant because of his previous endeavors. Because of this reason, he was assassinated. Others respected Brutus’s actions as he was respected for being one of the most noble. The heroes in a story are defined by their actions.