Julius Caesar Traitor

703 Words2 Pages

"Caesar, now be still: I kill'd not thee with half so good a will."(Act V, Scene 5) There is some debate around whether Brutus in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar was a patriot for his country, or just a traitor. Brutus is a morally gray character, and while he was hesitant to take any action at all and was influenced to do the wrong things he did, he did not show a lot of remorse until the very end of the play. Yet he was a patriot because he believed many of his actions were for the benefit of Rome since he was influenced by Cassius and the conspirators, and even today people can be influenced like this. One argument against Brutus is that he killed his friend on his own ignorance and acted rashly. In the beginning of the play, Brutus is shown to be already in turmoil. This turmoil is around Caesar, as shown in the dialogue between Brutus and Cassius, with lines like the following said by Brutus: "What means this shouting? I do fear, the people Choose Caesar for their king."(Act I, Scene 2) Brutus was desperate for action, and when he got the fake letters from Cassius saw an opportunity. He decided to take it, because he knew he needed to do something but wasn't given the time to make an educated choice. This thought process is shown when Brutus says "It must be by his death: and for my part, I know no …show more content…

In order to influence Brutus, Cassius used a lot of trickery, sending fake letters to Brutus and plotting with the other conspirators, as well as doing a lot of talking and convincing. On the other hand, Cassius wanted Caesar dead for his own reasons and used all of this deception to get Brutus to see the same. Brutus didn't completely make most of his decisions, and when he did it was heavily supported to increase his trust with the conspirators, such as his choice not to kill Antony or the suicide pact he made with

Open Document