How Is Brutus A Tragic Hero

The Tragedy of Julius Caesar was written by William Shakespeare in 1599. Throughout the play, it was all about the death of Julius Caesar and what he had caused for Rome. Caesar was not the only one in the play to change Rome, it was the decisions of others and the events those characters had gone through. Decius Brutus was one of the characters that had helped change the future of Rome. He had to make decisions such as if he should join the conspiracy, kill Caesar, and what was best for Rome. Brutus is considered to be one of Shakespeare’s tragic heroes. A tragic hero is a person, usually of noble birth, that suffers a catastrophe. Shakespeare’s heroes have certain aspects to them, the character has traditional elements, complexity, internal

Normally, a tragic hero is of noble birth and Brutus is a descendant of Junius Brutus. Why is Junius Brutus so important? Junius along with Lucius Collatinus overthrew the Tyrannical Tarquin Kings. A quote made my Brutus about his ancestor was “My ancestors did from the streets of Rome the Tarquin drive, when he was call’d king” (Shakespeare 2.1.53-55). This resulted in Junius creating a democratic republic, which the people loved this system and was held until the death of Caesar. During the duration of the play, Brutus suffers a catastrophe and that catastrophe is him deciding to join the conspiracy. This decision resulted in the course of Brutus’s life to change completely. Before Brutus kills himself, he regretted doing everything wrong such as killing Caesar due to him joining. He states before his death, “Caesar, now be still: I kill’d not thee with half so good a will” (Shakespeare 5.5.50-51). What he was trying to say is that he feel better about killing himself then killing Caesar and that Caesar could have accomplished a lot for Rome. That was not the only reason why he decided to kill himself, it was the build up of many different things. Some of the things that led him to do this action was the death of his wife Portia, knowledge of defeat, did not want to captured, and he was visited by Caesar’s ghost. Another key part of traditional elements is the tragic flaws. Brutus

Brutus is debating if he should or should not go along with killing Caesar. While he is in his orchard after everyone has left, he starting thinking about it since the next day will be the Ides of March. Brutus must think through about what is better for right now and in the future. Simmons states in his article that “Plutarch offers other hints that there is a moral and psychological dichotomy in Brutus’s nature” (Simmons 63). He starts to contemplate on whether he should join the conspiracy and assassinate Caesar. While in his orchard by himself, he states “Since Cassius first did whet me against Caesar, I have not slept. Between the acting of a dreadful thing” (Shakespeare 2.1.61-63). On the other hand, Brutus believes he should go along with it because Caesar has the potential of doing worse for Rome. The power could go all to Caesar’s head and he could make the wrong decisions that could affect Rome forever. Brutus then compares Caesar to a serpent's egg which is symbolism for the possibilities Caesar will do that will affect the future greatly. “So Caesar may; Then lest he may, prevent...would as his kind grow mischievous and kill him in the shell” (Shakespeare