Who Was The Tragic Hero In Julius Caesar Research Paper

Brutus is Bestowed the Title of Tragic Hero Heroes are seen as strong individuals that fight for a cause. A different type of hero is a tragic hero. A tragic hero, according to Aristotle’s definition is a character of great reputation and prosperity whose misfortune is not due to depravity or vice for the hero is a virtuous man or woman, but to an error in judgement resulting from a tragic flaw. In the play, Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, both Julius Caesar and Marcus Brutus can be considered the tragic hero, but Marcus Brutus embodies the role more. Marcus Brutus is the tragic hero in the play, because he manifests all of the traits included in Aristotle’s definition. To begin with, Brutus had a great reputation. His reputation

Naturally, Caesar’s reputation is great due to his enormous success as a military figure. The common people in Rome even took the day off of work to witness Caesar returning from his victory (I.1.30-31). The Roman citizens taking the day off of work in order to watch Caesar return demonstrates the widespread knowledge of his battle skills. He was tremendously successful, which is the reason that he was well known. In addition to his great reputation, Julius Caesar was also prosperous. Caesar’s prosperity was derived from his kindness to the Roman people. The Romans completely adored everything that Caesar did, which is evident due to their applauding of his actions (I.2.133-134). Their constant adoration for him proves that he is kind to the commoners if he was an evil dictator, they would not adore his every move. Caesar possessed the tragic hero trait of virtue. His main virtue was that he cared for his people and put their needs before his own, which can be seen when he left seventy five drachmas to every man in his will (III.2.241-242). Caesar wanted his citizens to live a happy life, so he left them with money. If he did not care for the well being of the Romans, he would not have left them anything, but it is clear that he does. Lastly, Caesar’s tragic flaw was that he was too sure of himself. Due to this, he does not listen to his wife’s warnings, and he goes

Some may say that Caesar is the tragic hero, because he was the most successful person in the play. His success lead to the tragic betrayal of his friends. This is incorrect, because he was killed due to his ambition, which would also make him less virtuous. People could also argue that Caesar was the main character, and the play was named after him, so naturally he is the tragic hero. This is true, but the play mainly focused on Brutus and his struggles, because Caesar die at the beginning of the play. This did not allow the reader to connect with Caesar enough to consider him the tragic hero. Caesar may also be thought of as the tragic hero, because his death was so significant that it caused chaos to erupt through Rome. To contradict this, the chaos in Rome was mainly caused by the statements made after Caesar’s death. The words uttered by Brutus and Antony were the reason for the split of Rome. Finally, some may argue that Caesar was the tragic hero, because his death broke the hearts of the Romans and caused them to fight a war. In reality, the Roman citizens accepted Caesar’s death because they believed it was rightful, but they were persuaded to be upset after the speech of Marc Antony. The citizens were not attached enough to the so called hero, Caesar, to take action after his death until Marc