Brutus as Hero in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Essay Example

In William Shakespeare’s play “Julius Caesar” one of the main characters, Brutus, can be easily conceived of as a hero. It is through Brutus that the audience gains a sense of right and wrong when thinking of Rome’s future: a dichotomy that presents itself through either being a free city-state or a dictatorship. It is Brutus’s intention through the play to maintain an ideal of Rome through his expectations that the city can maintain independence from autocracy as represented by Caesar. It is this hope that begets Brutus’s downfall. Brutus may envision himself as a champion of Rome but through his actions and his lack of self-reflection Brutus fails at seeing his city-state maintain its independence. This essay will explore Brutus’s character through his patriotism, anagnorisis, morality, and his redemption. Brutus may have hoped for Rome’s independence but ultimately it was this hope that destroys him and terms him not only a hero, but a tragic one.

Patriotism

Brutus sees Rome as a symbol for freedom. Although Caesar represents Rome as its leader, Cassius proves to Brutus that Caesar’s intent is to become a dictator (and indeed this may come to pass since the citizenry of Rome so fully support and love Caesar), “He would be crowned/How that might change his nature, there’s the question.” (II.i.12-13). If Caesar becomes dictator then the Rome that Brutus loves will no longer be symbolic of freedom. In fact, when the conspirators do murder Caesar, Brutus justifies their actions by saying, “Remember March; the ides of March remember./ Did not great Julius bleed for justice’ sake?/ What villain touched his body that did stab,/ And not for justice?” (IV.iii.19-22).?Brutus tells Cassius that they killed Caesar for justice; this is one of Brutus’s flaws, his idealism: justice for Brutus means justice in Rome for all; a place free of autocratic rule. Later on, Brutus reiterates to Cassius that they did not kill Caesar so that they could support robbers and bribes in order to receive money when Cassius suggests as much to Brutus.

The bardologist Harold Bloom describes Brutus as a “shallow idealist” (15-16) meaning that Brutus cannot think past the trouble of Caesar claiming the crown and ignoring a senate rule in favor of a dictatorship even before Caesar has a chance to prove Brutus right, Caesar is killed for this potential threat, “Brutus uniformly speaks of Caesar with respect, almost indeed of admiration. It is his ambition, not his greatness, that Brutus resents…” (Bloom 16). Brutus strikes down Caesar based on what he fears Caesar may become, not what he actually is, “and therefore think him as a serpent’s egg/which, comma, hatched, would as his kind grow/mischevious/and kill him in the shell” (II.i.32-35); this revelation gives the reader an insight into Brutus’s psyche, which states that he fears the potential of a man, and not the fact of him. This fear finds grounding in the latter half of the play when Brutus fights against Caesar’s spirit (Bloom 17).

Brutus may be considered a hero in “Julius Caesar” because of his character’s disposition and the seeming goodness of his intentions. Brutus’s patriotism is well founded in wanting the best for Rome, but his actions in achieving this ideal become twisted throughout the course of the play. Bloom defines Brutus’s character as

“…full of beauty and sweetness…upright, gentle, and pure…a man adorned with all the virtues which, in public and private, at home and in the circle of friends, win respect and charm the heart” (Bloom 23-24). Bloom goes on to say that Brutus commits murder because of a delusion (Bloom 24); thus, patriotism is Brutus’s downfall, “…his duty to be meddling with things that he does not understand” (Bloom 24), and it is this quality that defines him as a tragic hero. Under this guise Brutus terms he and his fellow conspirators as “sacrificers, but not butchers” (II.i.173). This reveals to the reader that Brutus is dependent upon other’s definition of his conclusion-that is, that Caesar will usurp control and rule autocratically instead of justly. Brutus’s dependence on this begets his downfall, as Soellner states, “Brutus’s lack of flexibility and his idealistic rigidity are fundamental flaws of his character and motivating themes of the action” (170). This in turn leads the readers to believe in Brutus’s lack of self-discovery, or accepting his actions as leading to a potential downfall, a downfall (of Rome) that Brutus sought to circumvent. Brutus is unable to see the lack of unity in his country, or the lack of similar thought that he and his “transgressors” will be deemed “purgers not murderers” (II.i.180) by Rome. Rome in turn does see Brutus and his conspirators as just that, conspirators against Caesar who was deemed Imperator for life. In spite of Brutus’s patriotism his actions begin another civil war; a thing which he had hoped his actions would have prevented. Brutus’s naivety hastens his downfall. Brutus believes that Romans will see very clearly that Caesar’s tragic flaw, his ego, will frustrate and ultimately end senate rule and underneath such autocratic government, Rome will rise up in another civil war. Shakespeare’s inclusion of dramatic irony here fits very well because it highlights Brutus as a tragic hero. Brutus is a hero because of his patriotism, and his belief for a better country, but he is a tragic hero because that belief ends him, “He confides in the goodness of his cause, not considering that the better the cause, the worse its chance with bad men” (Bloom 26). Brutus trusts his moral compass instead of the facts of his actions, “Thus Brutus seeks to find in an evil act an element of noble sacrifice which is not in it” (Ribner 62). This is a moral choice that points to self-deception. Thus, although Brutus’s tragedy in trust through his patriotism and expectation that his views are shared by all, the reader is forced to recognize the dramatic irony in which Brutus does not recognize his flaws. Brutus never truly gets his anagnorisis. That is, Brutus doesn’t come to that pivotal moment in the dramatis wherein recognition of self is apparent. Brutus traipses through the drama ignorant of his actions, the consequences of those actions, and his actions begetting his own undoing.

Anagnorisis

This lack of anagnorisis adds to Brutus’s tragic hero status, “…the hero, Brutus, does not permit a look into himself that shows us that his fortune has engendered a human reaction deep enough to experience vicariously (Soellner 328). Brutus’s ideals of liberty are not in practice in Rome’s acceptance of a dictator. Although Brutus does see himself as a “virtuous Roman” (146), he errs in thinking proleptically, that is seeing Rome as a free independent state before it has happened. Brutus’s moral ambiguity of his actions (killing Caeser) allow the reader a look into his psyche; a look that reveals Brutus will sacrifice love, fidelity, and honor for something that he holds higher than all three: Rome, at least, a Rome that is a free city state, a Republic and not a dictatorship. It is interesting to note, however, that Shakespeare does not intend Brutus’s flaw as his fear in Caesar as a potential dictator and thereby a threat to Rome, but rather Brutus agreeing to murder as well as conspiracy with Cassius, as the flaws that make Brutus a tragic hero (Ribner 62). Again, it is these ideals that Brutus is proven to be a hero, albeit a tragic one because his ideals go unsatisfied. In this vein, Brutus’s choices become moral issues. It is something that Shakespeare has all of his heroes face: the choice to continue the quest or not, and in not doing so face the question of morality in self which in turn drastically changes the characters. If Brutus had not killed Caesar, Brutus would have been compromising his morals, and in so doing would have ceased to be a hero. Despite the tragic end of Brutus’s actions, he maintains his hero status simply by choosing to believe in a free Rome instead of one ruled by a dictator. When Brutus kills Caeser, it is the closest the reader comes to seeing that Brutus recognizes himself (although, admittedly, he ultimately does not bring this self-recognition to fruition) in the sense that he stuck to his virtues and did not compromise (it could be argued that Cassius had a devious hand in playing to Brutus’s virtues in a nefarious way). It could then be said that even though Brutus stuck to his morals, and maintained his hero status (albeit a tragic hero status as his one flaw-patriotism-got the better of him) he allowed himself to be influenced by a less than moral character—Cassius, “Cassius plays the symbolic role of the seducer who makes clear for the audience those very qualities that lead Brutus to make his fatal error” (Ribner 62). When Brutus kills Caesar, he is seeking a purging of evil from Rome, but ultimately, such high expectations from the city-state by the hero Brutus, are all for not, “You have done what you should be sorry for” (IV.iii.65). This act solidifies Cassius’s plotting and ultimately underline comprises Brutus has made. Even though Brutus does not have a moment of anagnorisis he comes close to recognizing his errors during Antony’s funeral speech.

Here, the reader finally witnesses Brutus taking responsibility for his actions, at least he’s becoming somewhat aware of the company he keeps (Cassius). Brutus does not question “the political principles which have lead him to join with Cassius” (Ribner 63) so it is difficult to term Brutus as a self-aware hero, but he is however a hero in the sense that he tries to accomplish a goodness beyond the selfish nature of man (Agarwalla 49). That is, he kills Caesar not because of revenge, gain, or any other sense of avarice, but rather for an ultimate good, at least in his mind (Stewart 9). Brutus kills Caesar through reason of his virtue, and patriotism which are lofty but by no means evil reasons, “Brutus represents the most satisfactory type of tragic hero, the one who finds himself isolated against the universe and who yet maintains his dignity as a man” (Heitner 220). Brutus did not compromise his character (those traits that deem him a hero-patriotism, virtue, loyalty to Rome) and therefore although he faces a moral issue in having murdered Caesar he does not also have to face an internal conflict of morals (his reasoning in killing Caesar). Brutus finds redemption in the fact that his reasons for killing Caesar follow with his own moral compass. Brutus feared Caesar would become a dictator and therefore destroy Brutus’s symbolic freedom (Rome) and thus his actions are justified. Brutus regret later in the play are due to his rash actions and trust in Cassius and not in point of fact because of Brutus getting rid of a thing that stood in the way of his ideal.

Brutus is a hero in Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar,” albeit a tragic hero. Brutus’s patriotism, anagnorisis, and morality define him as such. Through Brutus’s actions he maintains the gift of trying to do what’s right according to standards that were set in place by the city he loves. Rome represents freedom, choice, independence, and individuality, all things that Brutus believed he was protecting when he killed Caesar. Brutus’s regret later in the play only reemphasizes Brutus’s virtuous nature. Brutus is a man, a hero, who tries to save his home from what he believed to be an impending disaster.

Works Cited

Agarwalla, S.S. Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers & Distributers, 1995. Print.

Bloom, Harold. Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. New York City: Riverhead Books, 2005. Print.

Heitner, Robert. German Tragedy in the Age of Enlightenment. Los Angeles: University Of California Press, 1963. Print.

Ribner, Irving. Patterns in Shakespearian Tragedy. London: Methuen & Co., 2013. Web.

Soellner, Rolf. Shakespeare’s Patterns of Self-Knowledge. Columbus: Ohio State University Press. Print.

Stewart, Stanley. Shakespeare and Philosophy. New York City: Routledge, 2010. Print.

Shakespeare, William. Julius Caesar. Prentice Hall Literature. Ed. Unknown. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc, 2012. 893-1000.