Marcus Brutus: The Tragic Hero Of Julius Ceasar

“A man cannot become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall.”(Aristotle). It should be noted that the Heroes downfall is his own fault as a result of his own free will, At times his death is seen as a waste of human potential. His death usually is not a pure loss, because it results in greater knowledge and awareness. In Julius Ceasar, William Shakespeare develops Marcus Brutus as the Tragic Hero whose ambition and naivety in his blind confidence in the nobility of man sparked guidance in a series of events which inevitably forced him to succumb to self destruction.

First and foremost Brutus is the Tragic Hero of the play as has been said. Now with the

title of Tragic hero comes a weakness, a tragic flaw in the characters personality. One of these tragic flaws includes Brutus’ ambition. Like for instance, when he joined the conspirators he

immediately took over. When they were considering asking Cicero to be one of the conspirators Brutus would not have it even though he was the only one who objected. “O, name him not! Let us not breake with him, for he will never follow anything that other men begin.”(Brutus

Act2.SC.1). In addition to this Brutus shows his ambition when news of Octavious and Mark. Brutus immediately wants to go to Philippi to meet their army there. Yet Cassius provides words of wisdom telling him, “Tis better that the enemy seek us; so shall he waste his means, and weary his soldiers… /whilst we, lying still are now full of rest, defense, and nimbleness.” (Cassius 4.3 229-232). Brutus chooses to ignore this and urges once again to march to Phillipi, Cassius gives in and they both decide to go. Brutus’ ambition will lead to his downfall for as we know his ambition will lead him to his death, for ...

... middle of paper ...

...he tragic hero come as followed, 1. He comes from nobility/power, 2. Has a Tragic Flaw or Flaws, 3. Has a downfall or reverse of power, 4.reaches a catharsis and at times the final stage is death .He had power in the beginning for he was a friend to Ceasar. He has Tragic Flaws, which are ambition and naivety. As well as he has a downfall for the tide is turned against him and he must abandon Rome and loses his power, respect, and honor. Then he has a catharsis were he realizes his mistakes when it was too late and finally succumbs to his emotions which tell him that Ceasar was not ambitious and knows that everything he thought he had done for justice and honor was wrong . This ultimately has him choose death for he believes that this is the most honorable solution and thus ends the life of the Tragic Hero.

Works Cited

Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare