Julius Caesar versus Brutus

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Recommended: The analysis of Brutus as a tragic hero

The title of the historic tragedy Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare implies that Caesar is the tragic hero. Although Caesar is a universal character, William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar should have been titled Brutus because he is the real tragic hero. The classical definition of a tragic hero is a person who is neither completely virtuous nor utterly villainous and falls from great status caused by a tragic flaw or error in judgment (bisd303.org). As all heroes do, tragic heroes often fall in line with archetypes. Tragic heroes repeatedly enjoy free choice, endure a punishment that exceeds their crime, undergo a course of enlightenment, and harvest a catharsis or a purging of human emotions in readers (Crowther). Tragic heroes are never perfect and are either killed by the end of the story or have fallen so far from their previous high status that they have nothing left from their old life. More powerful than Brutus, Caesar is a tyrant that talks in third person, which shows his arrogant and egocentric personality. To be a tragic hero, a character must show traits of being...

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