The Tragic Character Of Brutus In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar

“Julius Caesar” was a true story which had been dramatized. Shakespeare talked about Caesar, Brutus, Cassius and Mark Antony’s actions and real historical incidents. Julius Caesar had the ambition to become a king. Brutus, Cassius and their partners killed him because of that. After Antony’s speech, a civil war broke out between Brutus’s party and the country. With regard to the topic of who exactly was the protagonist of Julius Caesar, it was apparent that fierce debate existed. Brutus was the protagonist because he appeared in more scenes than Caesar, the actions of Brutus ran through the entire play. He was a tragic protagonist because he was an admirable person who concerned the public and citizens more than his own benefits, but did wrong …show more content…
His life was more miserableness than Caesar. Caesar died because of his ambition. “Murellus and Flavius have been punished for pulling scarves off statues of Caesar. There you go. There was even more foolishness, if I could only remember.” (Shakespeare 1.2. 81-83). As Casca mentioned during the communication with Brutus and Cassius, Caesar’s ambition has already effected citizens’ normal lives. It reduced the freedom of people. Brutus assassinated Julius Caesar who treated him well as a friend, and brought many benefits to Rome. However, the real intension of him was to desire Rome became well. In Brutus’ view, he just wanted to defeat Caesar’ spirit. However, he cannot defeat Caesar without killing him. In Brutus’s point of view, he always receive letter from citizens that authoritarianism would cover Rome. They were afraid of this and asked Brutus to spoke out from a sense of justice and save them. (Shakespeare 2.1. 45-55). Because of this, Brutus tried his best to do the things which were right in his mind. Brutus claimed that “I say to him that my love for Caesar was no less than his. If, then, that friend demands to know why I rose up against Caesar, this is my answer: it’s not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.” (Shakespeare 3.2. 17-21). He did nothing because of his personal benefits but for Rome. “The only way is to kill Caesar. I have no personal reason to strike at him—only the best interest of the people…If we …show more content…
Cassius said that most of the honorable men in Rome except Caesar felt dissatisfied because of restraint by Caesar, they hoped that Brutus could help them. He told Brutus that he did not know how generous he was because he could not see himself. As a spectator, he can show Brutus’s good characteristics for him as a mirror. (Shakespeare 1.2. 70-80) In Cassius’s evaluation, Brutus was as important as Cassius, they were in the same level. He said many sweet words to Brutus just because he was an upright and honorable man who was supported by citizens. While Cassius was communicating with Casca, Casca stated that “Oh, the people love him well. Things that would look bad if we did them, Brutus could do and look virtuous—just like an alchemist turns worthless to gold. Cassius replied “Yes, you‘re absolutely right about how worthy Brutus is and how much we need him.” (Shakespeare 1.3. 160-165).They have already knew that they were planning a bad thing. They still wanted to convince Brutus to join them because Brutus was important. They knew that people would still honor Brutus even if he did the wrong things. The reason was that Brutus has good purpose. Brutus brought many benefits to Cassius party because of his reputation. It was very clearly that Brutus was complex person. Though he did wrong things, he was still respected by others. This is another aspect of his importance in the whole