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Julius Caesar Tragic Hero Essay

522 Words3 Pages

In Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caesar, everyone was celebrating the return of Julius Caesar and their holiday, Lupercal, making Caesar the new ruler of Rome. There were conspirators against Caesar that did not want him to be the new ruler, so they made a plan and assassinated him. The conspirator that started this was Cassius. Cassius instigated Marcus Brutus, one of Caesar’s closest friends as well as the main conspirator, that was the tragic hero in the play. At the end, there was a war that caused two tragic deaths, Cassius and Brutus. A tragedy is when an event has occurred causing a great amount of destruction. A tragedy includes a tragic hero. A tragic hero is the main character of a tragedy. According to Aristotle, there is a few characteristics that can be identified as a tragic hero. Such as Hamartia, Peripeteia , Anagnorisis, Hubris, and Nemesis. Marcus Brutus is a fantastic example of Aristotle 's definition of a tragic hero according to Aristotle’s definition of characteristics. Throughout the play, Brutus bases all his decisions on honor. He believes that being honorable is more important than his own life, or the lives of his closest friends and family. Brutus stated, “For let the gods so speed me as I love, the name of honor more than I …show more content…

Shakespeare wrote, “Caesar, now be still. I killed thee not with half so good a will (Shakespeare V.v.50-51). Brutus has finally began to notice that the decisions he made created bad outcomes. Brutus accepts his own death because he made this his punishment for the bad destruction that he caused to occur in Rome. Brutus said, “I know my hour hath come” (Shakespeare V.v.20). This proves that Brutus is naive and weak. He lost his strength and courage because he realized that things got even more worse than better. Moreover, Brutus was so blinded by his reputation and honor that he ended up wanting to commit suicide; more in fact, a tragic

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