Although there were several involved in the assassination of Caesar, one individual stood out because of his relationship with Caesar and unusual position. This essay will display characteristics of Brutus that represent the makings of a trustworthy and respectable leader while also underlying his flaws. When analyzing Marcus Brutus and his ideals, the inevitable question becomes did Brutus truly believe that his actions were strictly for the good of Rome? And why was it necessary for Caesar to have to die for Rome to prosper? This essay will examine these questions and illustrate the justification of Marcus Brutus betraying and killing Julius Caesar.
The following dialogue seems to be set up in a way to manipulate Brutus so that he may join Cassius in his plot against Caesar. Cassius bespoke words against Brutus’ own honor, of which he was so inherently proud of it was likely a strike against his very person, in a sense to dress up Caesar to be an enemy of the state. “Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world / Like
Even throughout the plot of killing Caesar he tries to be noble about what he does. He does not want to kill Caesar because he does not like Caesar, he does it because he cares for the people of Rome and does not want them to be ruled under a tyranny. He says in Act 2, Scene 1 "O Rome, I make thee promise, if the redress will follow, thou receivest thy full petition at the hand of Brutus!" (Line 56-58). He says he does it for Rome, and not for himself.
Caesar was so ambitious that it wasn’t good for high power. Brutus said, “If then that a friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is the answer: not that I loved Caesar less, but I loved Rome more… as Caesar loved me, I weep for him” (3.2.21-26). This shows that Brutus did it for the people and not for himself. Brutus was saddened to see his friend fall dead, but there was no other choice; Caesar was the ambitious person. He would only try to win the crowd and use them for his own good.
Thus, telling him that he is low in status and dishonourable is quite striking to Brutus due to being a righteous soldier and Shakespeare is possibly using this as a way to get him to listen to what Cassius has to say in order to break these weak titles. Thus, this entire quote is hinting that if he doesn’t do anything about Caesar’s power, he will be a dishonourable man of Rome, the country will be controlled by ‘one man’ and he will remain helpless. This
“I shall make a proclamation, speaking as one who has no connection with this affair, nor with the murderer”(Sophocles 14). The perceived meaning of this is that to Oedipus, he has no relativity to the death of Laius or to his murderer, but the unperceived meaning is that Oedipus does have all the connection there is to have with both because he is the murderer of Laius. “Insult me, go on-but that, you will find, is what makes me great”(Sophocles 30). The intended meaning is that Oedipus doesn’t care if Tiresias insults him because he believe he has already saved Thebes and believes he will rid the city of Laius’ killer, but the unintended meaning is that the insults are actually the truth of Oedipus, that they are the answers which he is looking for which ultimately dooms Thebes because Oedipus doesn’t realize he is Laius’ murderer. “If it turns out that he tells the same story as you-then I, at least, will be cleared of responsibility”(Sophocles 58).
He starts out by adressing them as "friends" because he wants to come to them as a friend rather than a ruler trying to get power . He then uses a false disclaimer when he says " I come to bury Caesar , not to praise him " , as he will in fact praise Caesar . Later on , he counters what brutus says by providing that Caesar was not ambitious .He repeats 'honorable' so often inregards to brutus and the others , that to the crowd it starts to mean the opposite . The crowd are swayed to him by his dramatics , His underhanded way of making a point and his compelling proof for caesar's concern "the will" . They find it easily to accept him as an emotional and sincere speaker
He appeals to their emotions by saying that his love to Caesar was no less than that of any dear friend of Caesar’s and that he did this “not that I loved Caesar less but that I loved Rome more. Through this he wants to show that he did not kill Caesar out a jealous rage but rather he did it for the better of the Roman people. This is effective in bringing a solid reasoning to his seemingly crazed killing. Brutus now continues by suggesting that if Caesar were to live they would all become slaves. He questions if anybody there “is so base that would
Second, Creon abused his power by thinking that he can change or break the laws of the Gods and not allowing other people to break his laws. He did not want to burry Polyneices' body because he believe a traitor who fought against his home land doesn’t deserve the sane burial as a son who died defending his homeland , but one of the God's laws is that every
Compare and Contrast: Creon and Brutus Aristotle defines the tragic hero in three ways: not completely virtuous nor utterly villainous, has a downfall brought on by some error in judgment or frailty, and is either “highly renowned or prosperous” so that the fall from good fortune to disaster will arouse strong emotion in the audience. In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and Sophocles’ Antigone it’s easy to see that according to this definition both Creon and Brutus are definitely tragic heros. In these works, it is easy to see that both Creon and Brutus are neither completely virtuous nor utterly villainous. Creon states he wants what’s good for the state and no enemies. However, he becomes stubborn and unwilling to listen to Haemons plea for Antigone’s life.