Brutus As A Tragic Hero

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The actor who played Superman in the 1978 Superman movie, Christopher Reeve, once said “A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.” In William Shakespeare’s, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Marcus Brutus, one of the main characters, is considered to be the hero. He is considered as a tragic hero to be specific. Just as Christopher Reeve’s quote said, Brutus found strength to persevere in spite of the difficult choices he had to make. Brutus’s tough choices to betray his friend were all for the good of Rome and for the people. To begin, based on Shakespeare’s definition, a tragic hero is a person, usually of noble birth, who suffers a catastrophe. Firstly, Marcus Brutus …show more content…
Brutus makes some minor choices that end up having negative outcomes. The first bad choice Brutus made was when he let Antony live. Cassius says to Brutus, “Mark Antony, so well beloved of Caesar, should outlive Caesar: we shall find of him… let Antony and Caesar fall together.” (II.i.156-161) Cassius is saying that Antony should be killed along with Caesar because he is a threat. However, Brutus disagrees and says, “To cut the head off and then hack the limbs… For Antony is but a limb of Caesar… for Mark Antony, think not of him; for he can do no more than Caesar 's arm when Caesar 's head is off.” (II.i.163-183) At the time, Brutus did not think letting Antony live would have consequences later down the road. However, he would find out that it was not very smart to allow him to live. This leads to the second bad choice Brutus made. After sparing Antony’s life, Brutus made the decision to let Antony speak at the memorial. Once again Cassius did not think that this would be a good idea. Cassius pulls Brutus to the side and says, “You know not what you do: do not consent that Antony speak in his funeral: Know you how much the people may be moved by that which he will utter?” (III.i.233-236) In response to Cassius’ fear of Antony, Brutus replies, “It shall advantage more than do us wrong.” (III.i.243) This was a bad choice on Brutus’s part because he was able to persuade the people to get revenge for Caesar’s death. After Antony spoke, the citizens cried out, “We will be revenged. Revenge! About! Seek! Burn! Fire! Kill! Slay! Let not a traitor live!” (III.ii.2-4) He convinced them to go after the conspirators and revenge the death of Caesar. This leads to the third bad decision Brutus made. Because Antony riled up the people with his speech, a civil war broke out in Rome. During part of the war, Brutus started to advance on Octavius and sounded the victory call too

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