Marcus Brutus Flaws

How would you feel if you helped a young man’s career, and brought him into fame, and then

he turns around and leads a mob to kill you? Now what kind of person would that young man have

to be in order to do such a horrible thing? Well, Marcus Junius Brutus was that young man, and

Julius Caesar helped him to become a man of power in the Roman Senate. What kind of person

was Marcus Junius Brutus? He was a tragic Hero. In order to be considered a tragic hero a person

has to be born into a prestigious family. Secondly, they must have a character flaw. And third, that

flaw must cause their death before they can correct the flaw. In this essay, I will show how Marcus

Junius Brutus’ Stoicism and mean temper, especially against tyrants,

caused him to eventually
commit suicide, after leading a mob that killed Julius Caesar.

Marcus Junius Brutus was born about 86 BCE into the family of a Roman politician. He was

named after his father. He was the oldest son. His father ‘never made it to the top’. (Lendering,

2017). After his father was killed, he went to live with his mother’s brother, Quintus Servilius Caepio.

He was surrounded with ambition on every side. He was very ambitious and arrogant. His

stoicismistic approach to life made him have very little tolerance for anyone that was not on his level.

A real heavy influence on his way of thinking came from his ancestor, Lucius Junius Brutus, who had

the last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus overthrown. This man is the founder of the

Roman Republic. The Republic was ruled by Senators, not a king. Marcus Junius Brutus grew up

with the idea that tyrants, kings and people who had too much power over the people should be

overthrown. So, he was born into a highly political family. That is the first thing that qualifies him to

be a tragic hero.

His flaw was his arrogance and the fact that he felt he was always right, because he focused

on his knowledge and the way he seemed to be able to rise quickly in power. His philosophy of

life,
Stoicism, was the root of this thinking. When he was a young man, he was in battle with Julius
Ceasar’s army. Julius Caesar had once been Marcus Brutus’ mother’s lover, and Caesar thought
that Marcus Brutus was his son.

Caesar ordered him to be spared and for no one to kill him during

the battle. Caesar later rose to greatness and used his influence and power to raise Marcus Brutus

up to the level of Senator. Everything seemed to be fine between them until Caesar did a couple of

things that threatened the power of the Senate. Caesar was loved by the common people. He

passed laws to help the poor in spite of the fact that the Senate did not want him to do so. This

made the people really love him. A rumor was started that Caesar was going to name himself King

of Rome. This was the ‘straw that broke the camel’s back.’ Marcus Brutus and Cassius, another

Senator, led a revolt and plotted to assassinate Julius Caesar. Shakespeare’s story had only two

leaders of the conspiracy. But, Strauss, a history professor from Cornell University, did more digging

into the facts and in his book, “The Death of Caesar”, he added a third major conspirator, Decimus.

Anyway, the fact remains that even though Caesar’s wife, Capernia, had a dream which was like the

soothsayer, Spurinna, had ‘read’ from the internal organs of a sacrificed bull, foretelling of Caesar’s

death, he went to the meeting that the Senate had planned, not paying attention to the

warnings.
Shakespeare says it was Marcus Brutus who convinced him to go to the meeting, in spite of his
wife’s begging him not to do so. Strauss says it was Decimus that did that. But, it doesn’t matter,
the fact is Marcus Brutus had a leading role in the assassination of Julius Caesar. His flaw that had
him firm in his hatred for Kings or tyrants caused him to kill the man who elevated him to power.
The third qualification of a tragic hero is that the flaw leads to his death. That is exactly what
happened to Marcus Junius Caesar. After Caesar was killed the place became like a three ring
circus. Senators were running through the streets with their daggers in their bloody hands declaring
that Caesar was a tyrant and they had taken away his abuse and ‘returned Rome to glory as a
Republic’. (Getlen, 2015) To their surprise Caesar supporters, led by Marc Antony and Octavian,

Leopoldo Martinez VT1700948
English II, Part 2
Assignment 2_9
Caesar’s great nephew, went after them. Antony order Decimus’ death. He defeated Cassius who
thought Marcus Brutus had been killed. He ordered one of his men to take off his head. When
Marcus Brutus realized that his co-conspirators were dead, he killed himself. If he had not had this
flaw of being so sure that his way of thinking was right and therefore Kings and tyrants were all to be
destroyed, he would not have been destroyed.
In conclusion, Marcus Junius Brutus had all three qualifications to be a tragic hero. When I
read the accounts of how this man was, it made me think about how my father can be sometimes.
He never ever admits to being wrong about anything. I hope that I will not inherit that kind of
thinking. I don’t think I will, especially after seeing what happened to Brutus. Maybe I will let my
father read about Brutus. He might get the message.

Leopoldo Martinez VT1700948
English II, Part 2
Assignment 2_9
Annotated Bibliography
Badian, E. (2018).
Marcus Junius Brutus.
Retrieved from
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marcus-Junius-Brutus
.
The author, E. Badian gave a brief overview of the life of Marcus Junius Brutus. In the article
the highlights of his life are mentioned, but not taken into depth. I was able to get a good
feel of how his life was influenced by his family and their political connections.
Getlen. L. (March 1, 2015).
The Real Story behind the Assassination of Julius Caesar.
Retrieved from
https://nypost.com/2015/03/01/the-real-story-behind-the-assassination-of-
julius-caesar/
.
The author, Larry Getlen gives an in-depth account of what led up to the assassination of
Julius Caesar. He believes that Barry Strauss, a history professor at Cornell University gave
a more accurate account in his new book,
“The Death of Caesar”
than William
Shakespeare’s version. This article did not go into the life of Marcus Junius Brutus as much
as I needed in order to complete my research paper.
The Biography.com website. (April 2, 2014).
Marcus Junius Brutus Biography.
Retrieved from
https://www.biography.com/people/marcus-junius-brutus-9229883
.
This article was a brief synopsis of the life of Marcus Junius Brutus. It highlighted all of the
key points of his life up until his suicide.
Lendering, J. (May 28, 2017).
Junius Brutus Caepio, Marcus.
Retrieved from
http://www.livius.org/articles/person/junius-brutus-caepio-marcus/
.
This article is very comprehensive in its details about the life of Junius Brutus Caepio. In it
we read about his Youth, Early Career, The Second Civil War, Caesar’s Dictatorship and
Assassination. It covers Marc Antony’s attack on the murderers of Caesar. It detailed in the
topic, To The East, how Brutus and Cassius tried to free Italy from Octavian, the great
nephew of Caesar who had taken over Caesar’s power in the minds of the people. Brutus
failed in his attempt to do so. Finally, in The End of the Republic, we see the final destination
of Brutus who committed suicide after realizing his defeat by Marc Antony.
Dryden, J. (n.d.).
Marcus Brutus.
Retrieved from
http://classics.mit.edu/Plutarch/m_brutus.html
.
This commentary is very extensive in details about Marcus Junius Brutus’ life. It goes into
even the thoughts of the characters. I found information in this article that was not included
in the briefer synopsis, viewed earlier. This, more than any other source, gave me more
intriguing facts. It was very helpful in my paper.