Comparing Brutus And Caesar's Assassination

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Author Barry Strauss wrote the similarities between Brutus from William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and the assassin of Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth in “The Death of Caesar: The Story of History’s Most Famous Assassination”. Booth had an obsession for the character of Brutus, and his assassination of Lincoln was connected to this. Even though the two assassinations are immensely different, the reasons behind them are alike. Strauss states that Booth had a great obsession with Brutus. Booth had performed in Shakespeare’s plays, his father and brother had Brutus in their name, and specifically loved the play Julius Caesar. While Booth was knowledgeable of Shakespeare, he did not acknowledge the poor effects of the assassination of Caesar. Strauss states, “Everything that Booth thought about Brutus, Caesar and political assassination was wrong. Yet if Booth was a lousy historian, he was a faithful student of Shakespeare” (1). Booth forgot about the war Brutus put against himself and the evil of the conspirators in the play. Even though both murders were different, Lincoln and Caesar were alike as well. …show more content…

Lincoln thought of himself as a peacemaker though, while Caesar knew he was to be an emperor. Both their love for the people created jealousy and spite in people like the conspirators or Booth. Their loyalty and trust played in role in their deaths as well. Lincoln did not think heavily of safety and wanted to be with the people. Because of this, Lincoln went to the theater with little protection. Caesar put the business of Rome for the people in front of personal matters. Caesar was killed when he prioritized Rome over personal business. The reasons for their deaths