Julius Caesar is a Tragic Hero

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Julius Caesar is a Tragic Hero

The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare is a tale not completely focused on Julius Caesar himself. But is instead focused more on the conspirators that surrounded him. Julius Caesar is unwilling to believe several warnings that could have saved his life, Julius Caesar ends up being murdered after ignoring all of the warnings, everyone has a different view of Julius Caesar. A tragic hero is a character of high standing in society that has a flaw that leads to their downfall and must feel enlightened in the end. Julius Caesar is a tragic hero.

Julius Caesar is unwilling to believe several warnings that could have saved his life. Julius Caesar was warned many times by many different people and yet he took none of them to heart. The soothsayer calls out from the crowd to Caesar “Beware the ides of March” (890). Caesar then dismisses the soothsayer by saying “He is a dreamer, let us leave him. Pass (890). Another instance of Caesars unwillingness to listen is when his wife is awoken from a horrible nightmare of her husband’s demise. Calphurnia says to Caesar “Caesar, I never stood on ceremonies, Yet now they fight me. There is one within, Besides the things that we have heard and seen, Recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch. A lioness hath whelpèd in the streets, And graves have yawned, and yielded up their dead; Fierce fiery warriors fought upon the clouds In ranks and squadrons and right form of war, Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol” (924).

Then comes in a servant to tell Caesar of what the augurers have to say and he tells Caesar “They would not have you go forth today. Plucking the entrails of an offering forth, They could not find a heart within the beast” (926). Then a...

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...s wife had this awful dream he tells Decius about it “She dreamt tonight she saw my statue, Which, like a fountain with a hundred spouts, Did run pure blood, and many lusty Romans Came smiling and did bathe their hands in it” (927). He did not want to listen to anything that would make him seem weak. So while I find Caesar honorable I cannot sympathize for him.

Julius Caesar is unwilling to believe several warnings that could have saved his life, Julius Caesar ends up being murdered after ignoring all of the warnings, everyone has a different view of Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar is a tragic hero. He falls from great social standing by his own mistakes and realizes it was his fault in the end. The only sad thing to say is that Julius Caesar is a tragic hero who had to die for his mistakes.

Works Cited

Elements of Literature Orlando: Holt, Winston, Rinehart, 2007

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