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The characterization of brutus in julius caesar
The characterization of brutus in julius caesar
12 julius caesar essay
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In the play Tragedy of Julius Caesar, the protagonist, Brutus has conflict. In this conflict he has to persuade himself that killing Caesar is not bad. Brutus is a well liked and respected individual by the people of Rome. So if he joins the conspiracy the people of Rome might be not as upset and mad that Caesar was killed.
One of Cassius’s idiosyncrasies is devious. During Cassius’s soliloquy in Act one Scene two, Cassius starts talking about how he is going to convince Brutus to help him. He says “ I will this night, in several hands, in at his windows throw, as if they came from several citizens, writing, all tending to the great opinion that Rome holds of his name.”. What he is saying is that he will forge writings to make them look like other people’s writings and then give them to Brutus to make him notice that Rome thinks he is better than Caesar. He expects this will then lead to Brutus helping Cassius.
Brutus has noticed changes in Caesar's personality since he started to gain power. Brutus states “That at his will he may do danger with. Th’ abuse of greatness is when it disjoins remorse, from power”(II, i, 17-19). Brutus is starting to worry that Caesar is no longer just compassionate about his ideas for the republic, but that he is after more power and leadership. At this point in Brutus’ reasoning, he starts to sway to join the conspiracy.
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.
In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Brutus is portrayed as a noble Roman who joins the conspiracy to assassinate Caesar out of a sense of duty to his country. However, his motives are complex and multifaceted. One quote that sheds light on Brutus' motives is when he says, "Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more" (Act 3, Scene 2). This quote shows that Brutus believed he was acting in the best interest of Rome, even though it meant betraying someone he cared about. This conflict between personal loyalty and public duty is a theme that resonates in modern society as well.
I stand before Rome to grieve the death of a very ambitious man; a man whose ambition killed him. Caesar is not an enemy of mine, he is not a foe. I stand here on the battleground of a war that has already ended, the followers of Caesar all stand here in a battle that only ends with more death. I cannot be a follower of Caesar since I do not believe that the man could handle that much power; he is too ambitious. We are losing a war that is cannot be won in which both sides are avenging Caesar.
1. Introduction In William Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caesar, Gaius Julius Caesar is described by the character of Mark Antony as being, “…the noblest Roman of them all…” (Shakespeare Julius Caesar 5.5.67.231). Julius Caesar has been represented in history as a multi-faceted Roman leader, excelling in the military, social and political spheres of Roman life.
Marcus Junius Brutus Marcus Junius Brutus was born in or about 85 BCE, as the eldest son of a Roman politician with the same name, a man who never made it to the top. Father Brutus was killed in 78 by Gnaeus Pompey, a young general who was to become famous. The boy was educated by the half-brother of his mother Servilia, Marcus Porcius Cato, and was later adopted by a relative of his mother, Quintus Servilius Caepio. In 59, a man named Vettius declared that Brutus and several other men were part of a conspiracy to kill Pompey. In fact, there was no such conspiracy, and one of the consuls of that year, the popular politician Gaius Julius Caesar.
In Julius Caesar, Shakespeare makes it evident how Brutus planning Caesar’s death demonstrates how he is willing to do anything to get his way. Brutus starts off by thinking Caesar is not fit to be king. This can be shown in the play when he states, “What means this shouting?/ I do fear, the people choose Caesar/ For their king” (1.2.88). Brutus demonstrates the start of his hatred toward Caesar being crowned king.
In Brutus’s soliloquy, he explains that he does not want to kill Caesar just to kill him. This noble Roman wants what is best for his people. He is conflicted with himself due to the fact that Caesar is one of his best friends. Brutus would never kill or go against Caesar for no good reason. In the speech that is given, Brutus says that he is afraid that by making Caesar king, he will only become more dangerous(Act II,Scene i,Line 28-31).
A strong leader will put their responsibilities before themselves. Brutus is the perfect example of a Roman with strong leadership qualities. Sir Marcus Brutus possesses the strongest leadership qualities in comparison to Julius Caesar, these qualities can be proved by his betrayal of a friend for Rome, his detachment from his dear wife, and the fact that most of Rome could account for his noble character Marcus Brutus betrays Julius Caesar, who we know is a Roman general that was recently victorious against Pompey. Brutus agrees to join the conspiracy and remained faithful to his original purpose.
he simply wishes to state what he believes to be true and to share the grief he feels with the countrymen who once loved Caesar as well. This leads to the words “honorable" and "ambition" to mean nothing by the end of his first speech. He's made it confusing to decipher whether or not Caesar's acts were truly ambitious and if not it puts Brutus' honorability into question. In his long tangents to come he leaves many of his thoughts unfinished which leaves his
From the beginning of Act 4, Shakespeare had everyone convinced that Antony is going to kill all the conspirators. That was Antony’s motivation from the reader’s perspective. But in Act 5, not a single person was killed by Antony and his soldiers. Some killed themselves, turned themselves in, or somehow manage to escape. But no one can recall Antony killing them.
(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.
Sin’s Perpetrator and Victim Human desire knows no bounds; everyone thirsts for something. Some thirst for power, some for wealth, and others for truth. This thirst is a driving factor for most actions, but it is not always for the best. Nowhere else are the dangers of wanting more prevalent than in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. The underlying premise of the play is that one’s own ambition can end up destroying him/her and creating unintended chaos.
