Was Brutus Justified In Julius Caesar Research Paper

He acted on greed, hatred, and jealousy instead of having the good of Rome in mind. Author, Donald Wasson, finds that several of the senators, including Cassius, who were involved in the conspiracy against Caesar were “friends and supporters of Pompey who sought both high office and profit” in his article The Murder of Julius Caesar (Wasson). Cassius did not care about what Caesar was doing or would do to Rome with his power, instead he only worried about having power over everyone else. He told Brutus about Julius Caesar’s disabilities and commented about his amazement that “a man of such a feeble temper should so get the start of the majestic world and bear the palm alone” (I.ii.131-133). Cassius never wanted to be below or feel less than anybody.

Unfortunately, instead of going to Caesar and discussing their concerns with him; they decide to end his life. Therefore, Brutus is a betrayer, for conspiring to kill his own friend. One of Brutus’s motivations for killing Caesar is that he believes it is what is best for Rome: “It must be by his death, and for my part I know no personal cause to spurn at him but for the general.” The group of conspirators all believes that Caesar’s ambition puts Rome in danger of becoming a monarchy. Therefore, they would become slaves to Julius Caesar. When Brutus is considering killing Caesar he says, “To be honest, I’ve never known Caesar to let his emotions get the better of his reason” and “our quarrel is with his future behavior, not what he does now.” In conclusion, Brutus’s concerns of Caesar becoming too powerful are invalid because he has not shown signs of becoming that type of ruler.

Cassius influenced Brutus to conspire against Caesar by stating, Caesar “is now become a god… and his name has been sounded more than [Brutus’s]” (Act 1, Scene 2, Line 118-145-6). Cassius’s arguments convinced Brutus in proving Caesar's murder would be just, but Caesar’s death is unjust because he is being murdered out of Brutus and Cassius’s jealousy. Both of the individuals are envious of the power that Caesar is being given by the people of Rome and want to end his life before they will lose their own power in the senate after Caesar becomes king. Brutus’ naive mind was easily convinced by Cassius that Caesar was not the best choice to assume the Roman throne because he would not listen to their political thoughts. Individuals, such as Cassius and Brutus, in the senate were afraid of having their power decreased because Caesar, as Brutus states, is an “unhatched serpent’s egg” (Act 2, Scene 1, Line 33).

The people of Rome along with the conspirators convinced him to kill his former friend, Caesar. His last words before killing Caesar were “not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.” (III.II.19-24) This shows that he cared more about the society and people of Rome, than his friend. It also shows how they could influence him to turn against his friend. He believed that what he was

He also used another rhetorical element called rhetorical questions. Rhetorical questions were important in this speech because it got the people to self-evaluate and really consider if they believe that Caesar 's actions justified for him to be murdered. Throughout Antony 's speech he is trying to discredit the conspirators who pose Ceasar as an ambitious man who will enslave everyone and lead Rome to ruin. Antony counters that by describing Ceasar as a person who will weep the loss of someone and asks the peoples if "this in Caesar seem[s] ambitious" (53). By Antony asking that question, the people are reevaluation everything they knew about Ceasar and are being swayed to believe that he was not ambitious.

Brutus 's speech: Brutus speaks to the people of rome why he killed caesar so they will not turn on him. He talked about how he didnt kill him because he didn 't love him but because it was for the better of rome. He also tells the people of rome that letting caesar become king would mean the government type would change and all the wars and hard work his family had put into the government would go away. He also states, for the welfare of rome that he would die for rome if rome demands his death Rhetorical devices: Brutus used questions, logos, parallelism, and pathos to stir the people of rhome. Question- “ who is so base, that would not be a roman”?- this makes his argument better because it get the people of rome to think.

Convinces brutus a friend of caesar’s to turn on him in fear of a republic. The conspirators killed caesar before the shocked senators and spectators. In brutus speech he claims that he didn 't love cesar any less by killing him he just loved rome more. Brutus begins building his credibility to the roman people by using rhetorical appeals that persuade the audience to believe that he did the right thing by killing caesar. His use of logical appeals weakened his credibility because it seemed like he was putting the blame on other people instead of taking responsibility for his own actions.

This quote, from Brutus, means that his own thoughts and conflicts overwhelm him. In addition, his thoughts and conflicts refer to his idea that if Caesar becomes king, that he will end up harming or endangering Rome. Brutus believes killing Caesar, results to the only solution to help and protect Rome, which relates back to his conflict. Overall, Brutus’ internal conflict involves deciding to kill Caesar, or not, because he does not necessarily want to kill Caesar, but sees it as the only way to protect Rome and its people. His love for Rome and the Roman people proves greater than his love for Caesar, who he somewhat looks to as a friend.

Brutus then says, “I would not, Cassius. Yet I love him well” (Page 7, line 87). This then inspires the new plan on killing Caesar. Despite Brutus’ confliction, he decides it is what is best for Rome. There are more disadvantages than advantages in this act, because the conspirators had gone against the minds and beliefs of all of Rome.

Antony is trying to find out whether they believe if Brutus had a valid reason to assassinate Caeser. He achieves his goal of making the murder seem unethical by using his convincing argument. Overall, Mark Antony’s speech was helpful in trying to convince the Plebeians. By the end of his speech, the Plebeians believed that the murder of Julius Caesar by the conspirators was an unrightful doing. The conspirators might’ve gotten away with the murder, but will never be seen the same by the