Julius Caesar Tragic Hero Essay

In the widely regarded play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar written by William Shakespeare, explains the leading up to the death of the Roman ruler, Julius Caesar. His murder, which was performed by a group of conspirators, which consisted of Brutus, Cassius, Casca, Decius, Cinna, Metellus, Ligarius, and Trebonius. Then the after effects of his death on how it impacted Rome, the Roman people, the conspirators, and Caesar's close friends and family, Mark Antony and Octavius Caesar. In this tragedy there are two characters that could be considered a tragic hero, either Brutus or Caesar. A tragic hero is a noble character who experiences a fatal fall that eventually leads to their downfall. Caesar would be considered the most like a tragic hero because

In Antony’s speech after Caesar’s death, he stated how Caesar cared for the Romans, “When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept;” (3.2. 100). As Caesar noticed and watched how the poor plebeians were suffering he felt bad for them. He didn’t like that their lives were rough and that they were on the edge of death, barely making ends meet in the process. Caesar felt so bad at times, he would cry for them. Another thing that Antony confessed in his speech was something Caesar wrote in his will, “To every Roman citizen he gives,/To every several man, seventy-five drachmas” (3.2. 255-256). To keep the audience engaged in Antony’s speech, he would mention Caesar’s will throughout, and when he finally read it, it stated that every person in Rome would receive seventy-five silver coins. In this way, it showed how generous Caesar was, with that even after his death he was still giving everyone money to help them. This also links back to how he wept for the poor people, he cared for the Romans to the point where he gave them money to make it so some of them would not be struggling and might have been able to stabilize their lives. Caesar was noble in ways that showed how he cared for Rome and gave away his money after

Right before Caesar was about to head to the Capitol, Calpurnia, his wife, tried to convince him not to go because of a nightmare she had about him. He still ended up going because he believed that nothing bad would happen to him, “Danger knows full well/That Caesar is more dangerous than he./We are two lions littered in one day,/And I the elder and more terrible./ And Caesar shall go forth” (2.2. 47-51). When Calpurnia tried to convince him not to go by explaining her nightmare and the omens she saw, he tried to explain to her that he’ll be fine. He expressed that he is more dangerous than danger itself. This overconfidence is what ended up getting him killed, because with his arrogance he believed that nothing bad would happen to him. The dramatic irony is that something terrible would end up happening. As Caesar was heading to the capitol two people tried to stop and save him from getting killed, the Soothsayer and Artemidorus, instead of listening to them he brushed them off and didn't listen to them (3.1. 1-10). As the two were trying to convince him that the conspirators were planning to kill him in the Capitol, Caesar didn’t believe them and thought they were insane. He believed that because Caesar was too cocky and thought he was an untouchable being, just like a God. This fatal flaw of arrogance led Caesar right to the spot of his