Tragic Hero Archetype
Brutus & Julius Caesar The tragic hero archetype has been played with for as long as literature has been created, but no one had quite a spin on it like William Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s tragic heroes were specifically designed to elicit pity and fear from the audience and to really feel their downfall. In Julius Caesar, the protagonist Brutus is a well-made example. But the character of which the play is named after is often not considered as one. Although the character of Julius Caesar does not follow all the requirements of the traditional Shakespearean tragic hero such as Brutus, the titular character still should be considered one. Brutus was a nobleman, in both senses of the phrase. He was a senator close to Caesar and had a well-known reputation for being honorable. His integrity is due in part to his ancestors who drove out the tyrant Tarquin to keep the democracy safe and his belief that all should act this way. Brutus was willing to make
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What the citizens of Rome saw was only the persona he cultivated to appear humble. But Brutus says of Caesar, “I have not known when his [Caesar’s] affections swayed/ More than his reason,” (II, i, l 19 - 21). Although Brutus is afraid of what Caesar may become if he were to gain more power, he knows that Caesar is not abusing it as of that point. His arrogance is plain to see, but Caesar still makes reasonable decisions based on what is best for the people of Rome and not himself and doesn’t hold any biases. This would suggest that Caesar does in fact follow a moral code and strives to actually be a good person, which is a characteristic of the Shakespearean tragic hero. Cassius and the other senators created the conspiracy mainly because of envy of him acting like he is not human like them because of his power and ambition instead of fear of what the citizens of Rome might suffer if he were to gain more
What the citizens of Rome saw was only the persona he cultivated to appear humble. But Brutus says of Caesar, “I have not known when his [Caesar’s] affections swayed/ More than his reason,” (II, i, l 19 - 21). Although Brutus is afraid of what Caesar may become if he were to gain more power, he knows that Caesar is not abusing it as of that point. His arrogance is plain to see, but Caesar still makes reasonable decisions based on what is best for the people of Rome and not himself and doesn’t hold any biases. This would suggest that Caesar does in fact follow a moral code and strives to actually be a good person, which is a characteristic of the Shakespearean tragic hero. Cassius and the other senators created the conspiracy mainly because of envy of him acting like he is not human like them because of his power and ambition instead of fear of what the citizens of Rome might suffer if he were to gain more