Julius Caesar’s desire to become the greatest ruler of Rome causes the Roman people to want him dead- including his best friend. In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, a group of men devise a scheme to kill the treacherous leader of their country. Conspirators believe Julius Caesar’s ambition will inevitably lead to the downfall of Rome. Each man with their own specific reason unite as conspirators to get rid of Caesar. Through his role in the conspiracy, Brutus’ actions depict Brutus as honorable and gullible.
Keep Power or Kill If you believed that the only way to save your state was to kill one of your friends, would you? The character Brutus killed one of his friends in The Tragedy of Julius Caesar(JC) by William Shakespeare. Some people believe that he is a villain and only killed Caesar to keep his own power in the government. However many people think that he killed Julius Caesar to help prevent Rome from becoming dictatorship.
While the reader has been led to believe in Brutus' strength of nobility, there is a touch of weakness in the self-delusion he must create before he can join the conspirators: Brutus feels that murder is wrong and so must find a way to justify his actions. It's not for personal reasons that he will do it, but for the general; that is, for the good of the people of Rome. He generalizes about the effects of power and ambition and anticipates the damage that Caesar will do when he gains the crown. He has to admit, however, that Caesar has not yet committed any of these wrongs.
A sea of Romans roar as their soon to be King parades through the street. Julius Caesar was loved and cherished by all who knew him. Next to him stood Marcus Brutus, the second most loved in all of Rome. Unfortunately, there are those who worshiped Caesar, and there are those who would rather see him dead. The Conspirators, led by Gaius Cassius Longinus, would stop at nothing to get Brutus on their side and most of all, kill Caesar. The intent of Cassius may have seemed optimistic to the Romans, but he in fact thrived off of jealousy. It was the well thought out plan by the Conspirators that resulted in the death of the most beloved leader in all of Rome. But, without Brutus, the plan would have failed. Brutus is a hero, because of
Every action Brutus took was for the good of Rome. When Brutus agrees to take part in the assassination of Caesar, he does it “not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.” Brutus also refused to kill Marc Antony, as, in their cause, the conspirators were to be “sacrificers but not butchers.” In the end, even Marc Antony and Octavius ultimately come to the realization that “[Brutus] was the noblest Roman of them all. / All the conspirators save only he/ Did that they did in envy of Great Caesar.”
Has Brutus truly justified the need to kill Caesar or has he simply rationalized it for himself? Brutus has multiple reasons that support him in joining the conspiracy to kill Julius Caesar. He did the right thing by joining the conspiracy because he’s loyal to the people of Rome. Brutus believes that Caesar will become full of himself once he’s in power and forget about the people. Lastly he thinks that Caesar is rude and arrogant towards others.
Brutus is without a doubt the most noble character in this play. Nonetheless, his impeccable sense of morality also blindfolds him to other people’s sordid motives and makes him easy to be manipulated. Indeed, Brutus is easily manipulated by Cassius in Act 1, Scene 2. In hope to convince Brutus to join the conspirators, Cassius says “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” (1.2.150-152). As a result, Brutus starts to believes that it is his job to murder Caesar, as he says in Act 2, Scene 1: “It must be by his death: and for my part, I know no personal cause to spurn at him, but for the general” (2.1.14-16).
(II, i, 53-55) which allows to say that he wants Rome to be just and do whatever it takes to maintain it away from any threat. Indeed, Brutus states this very clearly when he says, “If it’s for the good of all Romans, I’d do it even if it meant my death. Let the gods give me good luck only as long as I love honor more than I fear death.” (I, ii, 86-88), he explicitly says that the good of the majority is over any feeling or personal benefit which in this case is the love of Caesar for him and viceversa, and the throne. To conclude, Brutus is a complex character that is characterized by three recurrent traits: his well-intention, his hypocrisy, and his naivet.
Brutus realized the great harm Caesar could bring to Rome if the was crowned king. Although Brutus was easily persuaded by Cassius to go as far as committing a murder, Brutus did it because he thought that it was the best for Rome. Brutus does what he thinks is the absolute best for Rome which really shows his great honor and
Brutus has negatively affected the outlook of Rome and created more harm than good for the situation. Not only did it harm Rome, but it brought his own demise and hallucinations of Caesar’s ghost. Brutus’s speech to the plebeians after Caesar’s death, about his dilemma and his viewpoint towards Caesar, influenced the viewpoints of the plebeians and causes them to believe he is the best roman until Antony speaks to them. Brutus’s idealism led to his own death later on and brought him more misery than his idealism could
And while Brutus did work in part with other conspirators, which eventually led to him killing Caesar, he did it for a more morally sound reason which was that Caesar was going to cause the downfall of Rome because he was too ambitious, which is ironic because Caesar's death led to a string of unfit leaders, and civil unrest that eventually led to the downfall of the roman empire. Brutus was also focused on preventing corruption. “The name of Cassius honors this corruption,/ And chastisement doth therefore hide his head (IV.iii.15-6)... Remember March, the ides of March remember./ Did not great Julius bleed for justice' sake” (IV.iii.18-9).
Initially, after reading the story, I was confused on whether or not Brutus counted as a betrayer or a patriot and it seemed almost impossible to find out, but as I thought more on it, I discovered he had limited time before Caesar was officially crowned so he had limited options. However, I believe Brutus was a patriot because instead of joining the conspiracy right away when he is offered the chance by Cassius, he refuses because he does not think Caesar deserves something so harsh. Once Cassius plants the fake notes from Rome Brutus decides to kill Caesar because he doesn’t want the people becoming Caesars slaves. So instead of wanting to kill Caesar out of jealousy like Cassius, he just wanted to kill him in order for him not to turn the people of Rome into slaves. Brutus may also seem like a traitor because he chooses to die rather than be captured and
Brutus was a lifetime friend of Caesar 's that was deceived by a man that feared tyranny to betray Caesars trust and become an accomplice to his murder. “Not that I loved Caesar less, but I loved Rome more.” (III, II, 21-22). Brutus loved Rome more than Caesar and he
During the meeting with the Conspirators at his home, Brutus says to them, “No, not an oath” (II.i.125) because “what other oath” is better “than honesty to honesty engaged” (II.i.137-138). Brutus believes they do not need to pledge an oath because he already thinks they are loyal to Rome and that none of them will “palter”. Even before getting to know the rest of the conspirators, he already assumes that they are all there to plan the assassination of Caesar in order to make Rome a better place. All the conspirators, excluding Brutus, have a personal reason on why they want to kill Caesar, whether it is out of envy or pure hatred, but Brutus does not see that they harbor strong resentment towards Caesar. When the conspirators were talking about killing Caesar, Cassius brings up that they should kill Antony too, but Brutus dismisses that notion by claiming that “Antony is but a limb of Caesar” (II.i.179).
Lucius Junius Brutus was an ancestor to Brutus and Brutus doesn't want to let down his ancestor by letting Caesar destroy the Republic. Everybody knows people don't want to let down their ancestors even if they're dead. Brutus is a very loyal person and knows he has to be loyal to his family's name by joining the conspiracy to kill Caesar. The letters that Cassius forged convince Brutus to join the conspiracy.