According to Aristotle's definition of a tragic hero, Brutus is the true tragic hero of Shakespeare's play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. A tragic hero is a literary character who makes a judgement error that inevitably leads to his/her own destruction. Throughout the book, Brutus shows a flaw of judgment, and reversal of fortune. Brutus had a flaw of judgment that was caused due to Brutus's fatal flaw, and he had a reversal of fortune when his error in judgement caused him to lose a lot of his noble status. Some people might say that Caesar is the true tragic hero of the story; they might even say that Brutus is not a tragic hero at all, that he could have avoided the whole ordeal if he had better judgement, that because of Brutus's actions, …show more content…
Cassius came up to Brutus slowly feeding ideas about Caesar into his mind, he kept pushing and pushing to get Brutus on his side until eventually Brutus caved in when he received an anonymous letter telling him he needed to take action and help take down Caesar, "... Shall Rome stand under one man's awe? What, Rome? My ancestors did from the streets of Rome The Tarquin drive when he was call'd king..." (2.1.24) The anonymous sender turns out to be Cassius trying to trick Brutus into joining him, and it worked, the note said that the fate of Rome should not be decided by one man; they should all get a say, so they have to kill Caesar to free Rome. Some might say that Caesar along with Brutus have a high noble status, and that they both have a lot to lose if they fail to give the people what they want. Caesar as king had a big responsibility that caused a lot of sacrifices, and not always did all the townspeople agree with him on his choices, but he had to do what he thought was right for the good of Rome, and that because of this, Brutus didn’t have that big of a responsibility compared to
Good Cinna, take this paper, And look you lay it in the praetor's chair, Where Brutus may but find it; and throw this In at his window; set this up with wax Upon old Brutus' statue.” (Act I Scene III pg. 15). This devious ruse pray’s on Marcus Brutus noble intentions by making him believe that the letters he finds came from desperate citizens. Without a doubt Caius Cassius is a fickle, manipulative man as described by Back Stage East; “Male, senator, conspirator and main instigator of the plan to assassinate Caesar, physically lean, volatile, crafty, ruthless” (27) was the primary source of corruption that led to the exploitation of his friends by targeting their Roman
/ Write them together, yours is as fair a name; / Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well; / Weigh them, it is as heavy" (1.2.142-146). Cassius continues in his adulation of his friend, in contrast to the mockery of Caesar. By showing loyalty and feigning agreement with Brutus' love of democratic government, Cassius develops ethos further and re-establishes his role as a dear friend. Though it is implied that Cassius is in the conspiracy because of his disdain for Caesar himself and not for a monarchy in
I think Brutus is a tragic hero because he is easily manipulated, he trusts the wrong people, and he became power hungry. With Brutus carrying these traits throughout the play; one could argue that he is a tragic hero because he rose to the top and with undeserving traits he fell from his
Brutus’ character, conflict about killing Caesar, and loyalty to Rome make him the tragic hero in The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. One of the main reasons Brutus is the tragic hero of the play is because of his character. Brutus is very popular among the people of Rome because of his nobility and honor. All of his views are guided by the sense of honor and dignity, but with this tunnel vision he becomes naive. “Which so appearing to the common eyes, / We shall be called purgers, not murderers.
The beginning to Brutus’s inner thoughts reveal that he is questionable of his ambitions, meaning that he believes that Caesar’s plan for Rome and its people is wrong, but never knowing for sure. In the beginning of Brutus’s soliloquy (Act II, Scene i, Lines 10-15), Brutus states to the audience that he has no real reason to oppose Caesar, and that he is questioning what being crowned king will do to his ambition as a leader. Brutus fears that Caesar will become a rambunctious tyrant, doing only what is best for him and ignoring the needs of the people of Rome. At this point, Caesar had not even been crowned king of Rome by the Senate, and the conspiracy group is going off of pure speculation.
Cassius put together a group of conspirators that agreed with his motives to take matters into their own hands and put a stop to the ambitious Caesar. Brutus led these conspirators to finally killing Julius Caesar. After Caesar was killed Brutus said, “If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer: not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. ”(Shakespeare 3.2.19-21) The good of his country meant more to Brutus than his own friend’s life.
The conspirators recognized how much the Roman citizens loved Brutus. So, because of this, they did everything they could to make Brutus feel like Caesar was controlling and too ambitious. At some point, the conspirators even write fake letters to Brutus pretending to be citizens. They even go as far as doing each letter in a different handwriting. “Shall Rome stand under one man’s awe?
Brutus is the tragic hero of the play Julius Caesar. Brutus, just like almost every other person ever born, had flaws about him, but that does not mean that he cannot be the tragic hero of Julius Caesar. Brutus was an honorable man. Brutus was the only conspirator that killed Caesar for the good of Rome. Brutus loved his country more than he loved his closest friend.
After Cassius presents the idea of murdering Caesar to Brutus, he begins to take his manipulation a step further by sending Brutus forged letters from other senators. The letters leave Brutus to believe other senators
In Julius Caesar written by, William Shakespeare, we can see the different ways that Brutus is the tragic hero. A tragic hero is someone, who is usually noble, that makes an error in their judgement which ultimately comes back to haunt them. We can see that this is the case from Brutus because he makes a bad judgment decision. Brutus was a noble man that was well-respected and spoke very well. His great friend Julius Caesar was getting too tyrannical and he had to do something about it.
Peyton Merchant Mr. Ioannidis English 10 B 1st Hr 1 March 2023 Brutus the Real Tragic Hero Tragic flaws are in everyone, some more than others. In the Tragedy of Julius Caesar, many people believe that Caesar is the tragic hero.
In many tragic stories throughout history there always seems to be a definitive answer on which character has the tragic ending, but in some instances, it's hard to decipher which character it is. ” Julius Caesar” by Shakespeare is one of the playwright's many tragedies in which two characters seem to have a tragic ending, yet only one really does. Brutus should be called the tragic hero of the tragedy because Caesar had the ability to prevent his downfall countless times. The character Brutus throughout “Julius Caesar” by Shakespeare had been tricked and manipulated into thinking that what he was doing was right for his country.
This does not necessarily mean he cannot be a tragic hero. Only having one characteristic just means a character with more tragic hero qualities would be a greater bet. Based on Aristotle’s characteristics of a tragic hero, some would believe Brutus is the tragic hero. Brutus possesses over half of the tragic hero qualities rather than Caesar. “The Tragedy of Julius Caesar” teaches people to never make judgements until they have experienced the same situations that other people have.
The letters said they were from the people and said they don't want Caesar to become king. They tossed the letters in Brutus's window on the Ides of March to trick him. Cassius knew Brutus is good to the people so if he could trick Brutus into thinking the people wrote it he could get him to join. Though there are many reasons for Brutus to join the conspiracy there are many reasons why not to.
Brutus and Cassius are two prominent conspirators in the play Julius Caesar; one of these two fits Aristotle's depiction of a tragic hero. The difference between a normal hero and a tragic hero is that the latter will have a tragic flaw that keeps them from succeeding. These characters are often sympathetic and will cleave to the reader's pity. Firstly, we shall discuss Cassius. He was a man of questionable character.