Julius Caesar: The Tragic Hero

Admittedly, other people might say that Caesar is the tragic hero because he realized his fault before he died. However, when he died, Caesar still held onto his overly large ego. After Brutus stabbed him, Caesar said “Et tu, Brute?—Then fall, Caesar,” (III.i.85). Without a doubt, Caesar was definitely emotionally hurt because his best friend was going to kill him, but his last three words were referring to himself in third person, showing that he still thought of himself as godlike. Brutus, on the other hand, died aware of what he had done wrong and felt horrible for murdering his friend (“Aristotle’s”). His last words were “Caesar, now be still. I killed not thee with half so good a will,” (V.v.50-51) which means he realized that he was too …show more content…
In the Act II Scene I, Brutus was contemplating whether or not he should kill Caesar. He was his best friend and Brutus really didn’t want to have to murder him, but he also considered the good of Rome. He believed that if Caesar became the ruler, he would become corrupt with his power, so he must “think of him as a serpent’s egg,/ Which, hatched, would as his kind grow mischievous,/ And kill him in the shell.”(II.i.32-34). Brutus compared Caesar to a snake because a snake could become quite dangerous when hatched, and in Caesar’s case, when he became king. He explained this in his speech after Caesar’s death “Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved/ Rome more. Had you rather Caesar were living, and/ die all slaves, than Caesar were dead, to live all/ freemen?”(III.ii.22-25). He told them that they all would have lived like slaves under Caesar’s rule, further justifying his reason for murder. Brutus is a tragic hero because he wasn’t completely good or bad. He had good intentions and truly believed that he was doing the right thing for Rome, but came about fixing the problem in an immoral