Brutus doesn’t want the Romans to be slaves under Caesar’s leadership. The citizens cheer for Brutus and his apparent kindness saying that he should be the new Caesar. They believe Brutus’s words and that Caesar was a tyrant who needed to be assassinated. However, the citizens’ fickle attitude shows when Antony gives his funeral speech. Antony tears down Brutus’s defenses saying that Caesar wasn’t ambitious because he thrice refused the crown.
Why is it that after Brutus’ and Antony’s funeral speeches the countrymen wanted to start a riot and seek revenge? Caesar was brutally murdered for his ambition and his funeral was held for all of the countrymen to attend. Two convincing speeches were given, one a lot more persuasive than the other. Either way after the funeral the countrymen wanted blood to be shed for Caesar's death. While both Brutus and Antony both gave their speeches on the behalf of Caesar, Brutus focused on justifying his killing of Caesar formally while Antony focused on using logic and genuine emotion to win the countrymen's hearts.
He was, arguably, ell bent on a path of war, not the type to hesitate to take what he wanted by force. Caesar had crushed Pompey, another supposedly honorable man, as well as his army. He was also of the “falling sickness” or epilepsy, and this would have inhibited his abilities as a tactful and empowering ruler of Rome. Even Marc Antony and Octavius, Caesar’s closest friend and his nephew, had considered Brutus an honorable Roman in the end, to the point of housing his lifeless body within Octavius’ tent, a standard only for the bravest of
Reading first, Brutus enlightened the crowd of Rome’s oppressed fate under Caesar’s reign, and questioned, “…Who here is so vile that will not love his country?” (Julius Caesar Act III. sc iii. lines 23-24). Antony’s rhetorical question was better because he logically disproved Caesar’s kingly ambitions by stating a specific instance. Brutus evoked a feeling of patriotism in the crowd, which may have been more effective if he had spoken second.
Brutus' tragic flaw is that he is nationalistic, very gullible, and is too honest. These flaws allowed people to manipulate his trust, his honesty, and his patriotic beliefs. During Caesars rein, the public was mostly pleased with having Julius Caesar as their emperor but there were people who were outraged and were determined to stop this from happening. The conspirators, as they were called, were a group made up of senators and men of high status in Rome. The two most important men were Marcus Brutus and Cassius.
In the beginning, the two men break down into credibility first. Brutus breaks into ethos by talking about his honor, he tells the plebeians to keep his honor in mind. He also lets everyone know that Caesar was “ambitious” and he had to “slew” him because of it. He says this because he thought everyone in town thought Caesar was an honorable man. When Anthony came up, he knew that he had to work harder to gain the crowd’s attention, so he begins with saying, “I come to bury Caesar, not praise him.” (Act 3 Scene 2; 72) He says this because he knows people don’t want to hear a speech about how “amazing” Caesar was, so he says he’s not there to praise him.
For example, when Antigone asks Ismene to break the law Ismene replies in fear saying "Think of how terrible than these deaths, our own death would be if we were to go against Creon." (Line 42). The power that Creon has over his people plays an important part in the play. When Creon makes a decree saying that Polyneices will not have a proper burial, his life starts to spiral out of control. This action leads to him being considered a tragic hero.
Brutus questions the national pride and character of the Roman citizens when he asks who “is so base that would be a bondman…so rude that would not be a Roman… [and] so vile that will not love his country?” Brutus utilizes an anthypophora to confirm his nationalist feelings toward Rome and impose his reasoning behind Caesar’s death on the citizens, not allowing them to voice their own opinions. By expressing his love for Rome as his justification for killing Caesar and questioning the nationalist qualities of a Roman, Brutus utilizes a tactic that does not allow the Romans to challenge his opinion, but rather convinces the citizens to unite under their mutual love for Rome. Marc Antony, however, applies a different persuasion tactic as he repeatedly asks the commoners if “this
Brutus's tragic flaw was that he was too trusting. He frankly and honestly felt that he had had to kill Caesar in order to save Rome from tyranny. He trusted Antony not to blame the conspirators in his speech at Caesar's funeral. Antony broke that promise and got Brutus and the others into deep trouble. Brutus also trusted Cassius.
“Brutus' love to Caesar was no less than his. If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer: Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more,” was Brutus’ reasoning behind why he felt killing Caesar was the right thing to do. Brutus being the tragic hero, he had brought suffering and death to the leader of Rome, thinking that it would make everything better for the county and the people. He later realizes that this was not the best choice he could have made, which results in it being the major cause of his downfall. Another flaw Brutus