Julius Caesar verses Brutus

What is a tragic hero? Is he just a noble man with tons of cash? Is he a man who is too proud to acknowledge his faults until it is too late? Is he a man who is too ambitious that he is completely blinded by the warning signs telling him to control himself before he meets his doom? Is it all of the above? In Greek tragedy, the hero must be someone of noble birth; the lives of ordinary people were just too uninteresting. This hero must have some kind of fatal flaw that does him in, such as pride or stubbornness or ignorance, and by fatal I mean deadly in the literal sense. It is considered a form of hamartia or tragic flaw that stems from overbearing pride and lack of piety, hence being called a tragic hero. What if we apply these qualities on the characters of the play Julius Caesar for example? Who is the tragic hero in that play? Is it Caesar? Or is it Brutus? Does the play have more than one tragic hero? Let's find out. "Not that I lov'd Caesar less, but that I lov'd Rome more." says Brutus. We see his ultimate devotion to Rome throughout the play; his undying love to his country overshadows his love for his family and his friends. It's very obvious how he suffers. He is torn between his country's wellbeing and his best friend's life. He truly believes that Caesar has a negative impact on Rome, and since Brutus puts his country before his friends and even his family, he joins the conspiracy to assassinate Caesar. How does Brutus fit in the tragic hero persona again? Well, even though Caesar was his friend, Brutus' loyalty to his country comes first. Brutus' tragic flaw is that he is not a very good judge of character, and, therefore, he trusts Cassius. "Let's be sacrificers, but not butchers/and, gentle friends/let's kill him boldly, but not wrathfully/let's carve him as a dish fit for the gods" this abundantly shows how nave Brutus really is. He sees himself as a sacrificer, as a man who is sacrificing his friend for the sake of Rome, while the other conspirators, like Cassius, only want Caesar dead because they are jealous of his power. "A dish fit for the gods" recites the legend of Tantalus, who offered up to the gods an unusual mealhis son Pelops. The gods, however, were not pleased; Tantalus was condemned to suffer eternal hunger and thirst, and his house was cursed. Brutus neglects to pursue the lesson of this famous tale and does so without considering the consequences at his own accord. He also underestimates Marc Antony and allows him to speak to the crowd after Caesar's death. Brutus believes that the only way Rome can be saved is by taking Caesar's life. He says "As Caesar lov'd me, I weep for him; as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was valiant, I honor him, but, as he was ambitious, I slew him." As

you can understand from his words, he truly believes that Rome's safety will be accomplished only if Caesar perishes, and that is the only reason why he kills Caesar. When he realizes his terrible mistake, throughout the falling action of act four, Brutus continues to lose power, and, of course, he is resolved in act five through his own suicide, which entitles him "the noblest Roman of them all." So to sum it all up, Brutus is a tragic hero; he is noble, his hamartia is political naivety and lack of insight which ultimately leads to his downfall. What about Caesar, though? I personally think that Shakespeare focused more on Brutus and his conflict than he did on Caesar and his pride. Caesar's pride is masked by false humility. He surely wants to be king of Rome, but he keeps turning down the crown because he wants to win the people over. He does so with wit and craftiness. Despite the constant warnings thrown into his face throughout the play, he shrugs them off without second thought. Like when the soothsayer shouts "Beware the ides of March" or when his wife, Calpurnia, begs him to stay after having a terrible dream about a statue of Julius Caesar being transformed into a fountain from which blood spouted and the Roman citizens smilingly washing their hands in his blood, he stupidly does not pay attention and ignores them. Finally, He experiences a tragic realization before he dies; he recognizes that Brutus, whom he thought of as his best friend and his right arm, has taken part in the conspiracy to kill him. All in all, Caesar is a noble figure who experiences a downfall. A respected military leader who never lost a battle is outsmarted and assassinated by politicians. He possesses a tragic flaw, at least according to Brutus, which is ambition. So he is also a tragic hero. However, in my opinion, Brutus is more tragic because he loses everything. He lost his best friend, his wife, he found out the killing his friend was in vain, in fact it produced the opposite effect of what he wanted and ultimately he lost his life. Caesar, on the other hand, gains much from being assassinated. His appointed heir eventually takes the title of Emperor. His people respected him even more after they hear the demands in his will; he left his money to the people of Rome. He also wanted his private gardens to be open to the public. Finally, reality wise, Caesar's battle strategies are still studied in military academies, and his name has inspired several words around the world such as czar. His death ushered in the dictatorial rule that Brutus was trying to prevent. Made by: Nesma Mohamed Saied Code: 111