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The tragedy of brutus in julius caesar
Brutus as a villain in Julius Caesar
The role of brutus in julius caesar
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In the famous writings of William Shakespeare there is the story of Julius Caesar. In the story there is a plot by the Roman leaders to end the life and reign of the great Caesar, Julius. The main characters are Marcus Brutus, Mark Antony, Cassius and Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar’s ambition for power drove his most honorable Brutus to think negatively of him. Brutus had serious doubts about Julius Caesar’s ambition to become king of Rome. A plot to kill Caesar is hatched by Cassius and members of the Senate. For Cassius’s plan to be affective, he must sway the honor of Brutus and have him join in on the plot to join Caesar’s life. To be or not to be—Is the question. Was the death of Julius Caesar a justifiable homicide for the greater good of all of Rome. …show more content…
His two most faithful followers were Mark Antony and Marcus Brutus. Mark Antony would stay loyal to Caesar to the end, but Cassius would catch the ear of Brutus and sway his honor to participate in the assassination plot. Brutus is torn between his love for Rome, and his love for Caesar. Cassius capitalizes on his doubts and can sway him to the assassination plot. Brutus is essential to the assassination scheme because the conspirators feel that his involvement will turn the Roman people in their favor. Brutus is a stoic character in the play, his character is one of Justice and he has to decide, without emotion, whether or not Julius Caesar’s rule is good or bad for Rome. Cassius is able to capitalize on his confusion by appealing to his ego and comparing him to Caesar as an equal. Brutus will fall into the trap and join in on the assassination plot. Ultimately, it will be Brutus who would plunge the final blow and take the life of his
In the beginning of the Book Cassius uses anecdotes of Caesar’s weakness and faults, argumentum ad antiquatum, and ethos on Brutus to persuade him to join the conspiracy to kill Caesar, this works on Brutus and shows that anyone, even people as stoic as Brutus, can be persuaded by appealing to their motivations. Cassius, a very suspicious character thru ought the play tells Brutus to “be not jealous on me” (827), in the quote he tells Brutus to not be suspicious of him because he is just a friend who genuinely cares. Cassius does this to put himself on Brutus’ side and not seem like a distant person, this allows him to criticize Caesar and suggest that he is a bad influence on Rome which appeals to Brutus’ desire to keeping Rome safe. After setting himself up as a friend to Brutus, Cassius uses harsh anecdotes on the weakness of Caesar to show that he isn’t fit to rule Rome. Cassius recollects on a time when he and Caesar went swimming in the river Tiber and Caesar screamed “Help me, Cassius or I sink” (828) to de...
The book Julius Caesar is full of happiness, conspiracy, power, and betrayal. The people of Rome deeply loved julius Caesar and wished to make him their king. A group of senators however were not so fond of this idea and formed a conspiracy. The leader of this group was a man by the name of Cassius. In order to make sure that his scheme of killing Caesar would work and would look honorable he had to convince a senator by the name of Brutus to help. After being convinced that they had to kill Caesar to protect Rome from a tyrant Brutus joined the conspiracy and soon became the principal conspirator.On the day in which Caesar was to be crowned king he was on the way to the senate when he was stabbed by all the conspirators panic ensued and to convince Rome of their honorable intentions Brutus gave a funeral speech. Mark Antony, a very close friend of Caesar, gave his speech after Brutus had given his. Mark Antony’s speech is more persuasive to the Roman people because of his outstanding use of pathos, sarcasm, and logos.
As the play opens, Brutus is known as a Roman nobleman and a member of one of the most illustrious families in Rome. He is first seen in Act I, scene ii, as one of Caesar’s “close friends” who is part of his entourage. But while alone with Cassius he is persuaded into taking a part in the assassination of Caesar. He is weary at first, and it seems as though it took Cassius some time to talk him into agreeing, yet Brutus looked at Caesar as some type of threat as well.
Brutus’ leadership and compassion for others make him a popular figure amongst the Roman people, and it is his reputation that establishes him as an influential individual. For example, despite the fact that Brutus loves Caesar like a brother, he warily joins the conspiracy to assassinate him. He does this because he believes that Caesar’s ambition would become tyranny and that Caesar’s death is a necessary evil in order to preserve the liberties of the Roman people. In his own words Brutus claims, “It must be by his death; and for my part, I know no personal cause to spurn at him, but for the general.”(Act 2, Scene 1, Page 1116). In addition, Brutus takes the reins of authority from Cassius and becomes the leader of the conspiracy. He gains this prerogative because of his convincing tongue and powerful influence. His leadership is evidenced when he begins to challenge Cassius’ ideas. When Cassius asks the conspirators to “swear our resolution”(Act 2...
At the beginning, Brutus is tricked by Cassius into believing that killing Julius Caesar would be for the better of Rome (1, 2, ll. 32-321). Cassius is able to deviously influence Brutus into thinking that Caesar is no different from Brutus. He says, “Brutus and Caesar: what should be in that Caesar?/ Why should that name be sounded more than yours?” (1, 2, ll. 142-143) Cassius also uses many other examples to manipulate Brutus.
If then that friend demands why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer: not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more." (3.2.19-24). His concentration on honor and nobility ends up being used against him by Cassius, who instigates him to kill his best friend. Cassius knows how naive and how moral Brutus is and he uses this information into making him help kill Caesar. Being naive and over trusting causes his first mistake and helps with his downfall when he refuses to listen to Cassius, who wants Antony to be also killed because he knows that he will seek revenge for Caesar. However, Brutus code of honor won 't let him approve the killing of Antony "Our plan will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius. We cut off the head and then hack the limbs, seem to kill Caesar in anger and then vent malice on his friends, for Antony is only a branch of Caesar."(2.1.169-172), he doesn 't want to be seen by the Roman people as a killer, but someone who 's doing what 's right for the people of
The conspirators, Brutus and Cassius being the most important, assassinate Julius Caesar and Marcus Antonius, better known as Antony, and Octavius Caesar, Caesar's heir to the throne, revenge Caesar's death. Antony convinces the Roman populous to destroy the conspirators and eventually begins a war with Cassius and Brutus' armies. Both Cassius and Brutus commit suicide to save their honor, and Antony and Octavius win the war. The characterizations of Brutus and Cassius show a distinct contrast in their character traits and motives for the assassination of Julius Caesar. The play Julius Caesar depicts Brutus to be an extremely noble being who is well respected and honored by all Romans, even his enemies.
He is so motivated by ambition that he decides to kill Caesar, the leader of Rome. Although dedication can be a good quality, in Cassius, it blinds him to all other things and makes him ruthless in his quest to rule Rome. Cassius’s desire for power is evident when he states, "Men at some time are masters of their fates. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings" (1.2.146-148). Cassius’ ambition leads him to go as far as to convince a dear friend with manipulation and false notes to help him plot to kill Caesar. His ambition makes him power hungry and he lacks the honor to back up his overzealous behavior. Cassius envies Caesar and because of this he resorts to bribery, assassinations, and imposing taxes for personal
On March 15, 44 B.C I attended the forum as a plebian. When I witnessed the assassination of Caesar I couldn’t help but think that was what was best for everyone. I believe that Brutus had justifiable motives to kill Caesar. He was just trying to stop a tyrant from gaining more power. If Brutus would have let him live he would have become a dictator and all hell would have broken loose.
Brutus’ tragic flaw was his perception that all men were identical to him in their motives. This factored allowed his decisions to be easily influenced by others whose motives were devious. Cassius was able to convince Brutus to join the conspiracy because Brutus thought the only reason behind the conspiracy was to prevent one man from becoming “Rex.” He allowed Antony’s speech to occur because he was sure that Antony was motivated by the same “honor” which motivated himself.
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
Both Cassius and Brutus play major roles in the play Julius Caesar. Cassius and Brutus both plan Caesar’s death. Although they are working towards a common goal, Cassius and Brutus have very different motivations for doing this. On the one hand, Cassius sees it as a way to gain more power for himself while destroying the king and all his power. On the other hand, Brutus believes that in killing Caesar he is preserving peace for the Romans’ future years. Throughout the play, Shakespeare uses different techniques to create biased characterizations of the two men so that readers and viewers develop identical attitudes towards each of them. In Julius Caesar, Cassius is portrayed as a greedy villain while Brutus is depicted as an honorable hero.
Brutus was one of many Romans with noble bloodlines. Although Brutus was noble, he never used it to get ahead. There are many times when Brutus could have used the fact that he is truly noble but he didn’t. Many people argue that a noble man wouldn’t have killed Caesar. In some ways that is true, but Brutus’ case was different. A noble man would only for the good of others and that is what Brutus did. He killed Caesar because 7he was afraid of how powerful he could become. Even then he had a hard time doing it, and that is what separates Brutus from the other conspirators. Every other conspirator had little or no reason to kill Caesar. Brutus was willing to do anything for Rome. During his speech about Caesar’s murder Brutus stated “I have the same dagger for myself when it shall please my country to need my death” (III.ii.45-46). This shows how Caesar, this is my answer: not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more” (III.ii.20-22). He was too passionate about his country to let Caesar turn it into a dictatorship. Mark Antony and Octavius recognized that Brutus was the one noble roman. In his final speech mark Antony said “This was the noblest roman of them all. / All the conspirators save only he/ Did that they did i...
When Brutus ponders what he would say if questioned about why he assisted in killing Caesar he says, “…[it is] not I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more,” (III.ii. ?). Brutus openly admits that while Caesar is a dear friend of his, the fate of Rome is more important to him. This shows that Brutus is an honorable man who believes that the downfall of one can be justified when it benefits the rest. However, Cassius wishes to eliminate Caesar because he envies Caesar and his power (I.i.5-6). While Cassius pretends that he wants to remove Caesar from power because he is getting too tyrannical, in reality Cassius is motivated by greed and jealousy.
In Julius Caesar, Cassius represents the epicurean philosophy as he delights on pleasure—or rather the pleasure of position and power. Cassius believes that the nobility of Rome is responsible for the government of Rome. As Cassius resents the fact that the Roman Republic has come to revere Caesar almost as a god, Cassius acts out of envy to stop Caesar’s growing power among the common man. Since the Roman Republic have allowed a man to gain excessive power; Cassius believes that the nobility have the responsibility to stop him from obtaining dictatorship. With Caesar's ambition, Cassius leads the conspiracy plot to assassinate Caesar.