Marcus Caesar Brutus Character Analysis

No one is without flaws, a fact that many authors emphasize in their writings. It can play an important role in shaping the personality of a character and the events and conflicts of a story. The well-known play Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare focuses on the hamartias of multiple historical characters, primarily that of Marcus Brutus. The concept of being an honorable person pervaded the plot and Brutus’s mind, and this idealistic view was the flaw that, ironically, led to his moral demise as he killed his friend, Caesar.

It was Marcus Brutus’s sense of honor that ultimately led to his figurative death in the involvement in a murder. His pride in his nobleness played a crucial role from the moment of his introduction in the play, in which

his friend Caius Cassius persuaded him to join the conspiracy against Julius Caesar. When Cassius first pulled Brutus over privately, he instantly questioned:
What is it that you would impart to me?
If it aught toward the general good,
Set honor in one eye and death i’ th’ other
And I will look on both indifferently;
For let the gods so speed me as I love
The name of honor more than I fear death.” (I. ii.92-96).
Being one of the first lines he spoke, it immediately characterized Brutus as someone who was proud of his morals and ethics, so much so that he would die for his integrity. The burst of passion and emotion he exhibited in the lines revealed how much he truly cared about getting credit for being a man of justice. It quickly became clear that his obsession with being acknowledged as a noble person was his most prominent personality trait and his tragic flaw.
Brutus’s idealistic view of honor was very conspicuous and well known to those close to him.

Cassius, already aware of Brutus’s vanity, employed subtle techniques of flattery to manipulate him against Caesar, first by hinting that he was more honorable and respected than he believed himself to be, and offering to be a “human mirror” to show Brutus his own worthiness (I.ii.60-65). By saying this, he boosted Brutus’s ego by mentioning that he was not only righteous and well-liked, but also humble. He then reminded Brutus of his ancestor who “would have brooked/ Th’ eternal devil to keep his state in Rome/ As easily as a king.” (I.ii.168-170), thus enforcing the idea that joining him against Caesar is the right thing to do. Consistently throughout his monologues, Cassius talked about the justice and virtue of killing Caesar, appealing to Brutus’s hamartia. Brutus was so caught up with the idea of saving Rome from a tyrant that he overlooked the fact that he would be murdering his friend who was not even a king

yet.
Brutus’s pride and idealistic views led him to convince himself that killing his close friend and popular public figure was the right thing to do.

He began justifying his actions to himself, soliloquizing that he was not jealous of Caesar’s power, but afraid for the Roman Republic of what Caesar may become, saying “I know no personal cause to spurn at him, / but for the general. He would be crowned:/ How that might change his nature, there’s the question.” (II.i.10-14). He passionately stated that although Caesar showed no signs of being corrupt, ambition and power morphed people into condescending, cruel rulers – thus killing him would be the heroic thing to do, saving the people from tyranny and oppression. (II.i.20-28). By predicting that Caesar would be a harsh king, and that he would become a king at all, Brutus made excuses for agreeing to kill Caesar and satisfied his own needs to be validated as an honorable person and a

“good-guy”.
Brutus continued to justify the conspiracy by warping the situations he found himself in. When Cassius decided to push Brutus into total support of his plans by forging an ambiguous letter from the people of Rome and sent it to him, Brutus immediately interpreted it to suit his needs:
“Brutus, thou sleep’st. Awake.”
Such instigations have been often dropped
Where I have took them up.
“Shall Rome, etc.” Thus must I piece it out:
Shall Rome stand under one man’s awe? What, Rome?
My ancestors did from the streets of Rome
The Tarquin drive when he was called a king.
“Speak, strike redress!” Am I entreated
To speak and strike? O Rome, I make thee promise,
If the redress will follow, thou receivest
Thy full petition at the hand of Brutus. (II.i.50-61)
As Brutus read the letter, he created meaning behind the vague words, allowing his pride to take hold of his sense of logic and convincing himself that the people wanted him, specifically, to be their hero. The more justifications he made, the more he was sure killing Caesar was the noble and right thing to do, and he quickly took leadership of the plot. Brutus and the other conspirators requested to see Caesar under the pretense of repealing the banishment of Publius Cimber, then stabbed him to death when his guard was down, an immoral and despicable thing to do. Thus by killing Caesar, Brutus met his figurative demise as he killed his own honor.
Brutus’s desire to be respected as an honorable man clouded his morality to the extent that he behaved in the very manner he so despised; he plotted against a friend, and killed him when his back was turned. Although such drastic events are unlikely to happen in today’s society, Julius Caesar remains relatable through the years because human nature stayed flawed; being proud and over-idealistic is something people still do today. Perhaps this trait is why story-telling, particularly through the form of Shakespearean plays, endures to this day.