Brutus, a True Hero

“It must be by his death; and for my part, I know no personal cause to spurn at him, but for the general.” (p.62) This quote from Julius Caesar shows Brutus’s main conflict with himself, because it portrays how he wants to do the right thing and stay true to himself, as well as be honorable and loyal to Rome. Brutus, a very honorable man believes that Caesar’s ambition and growing power is turning him into a tyrant, and he could be a serious threat to Rome. This conflict is what drives Brutus to act as he did and assassinate Brutus. In Julius Caesar Brutus is portrayed as a very noble man, and his honor and patriotism is what drove him to assassinate Caesar.

Brutus’s great nobility and honor, lead him into believing that Caesar was ambitious and resulting in him assassinating Caesar. Brutus has always strongly believed in honor and he was willing to do anything for his honor. He believed that trusting your honor was more important that doing the smartest act or choosing the act that best appealed to him. Brutus, was willing to sacrifice what he wanted to do, in order to be an honorable man and e looked upon everything and every one indifferently. His honor influenced him greatly in assassinating Caesar because he saw Caesar as a dear friend and although he did not what to take part in assassinating Caesar he, acted upon his honor and the good of Rome. His inner conflict about killing Caesar is evident in the quote, where Brutus is talking to Cassius about how he fears that Caesar is getting to powerful: “ If it augh toward the general good, set honor in one eye, and death i’ th’ other, and I will look on both indifferently; For let the gods so speed me as I love the name of honor more that I fear death.”(p.32, lines 84-88) The quote means that if Brutus had to choose between honor and death he would look at both indifferently because he loves honor more than he fears death This n shows how Brutus values honor, and that he is willing to die in the name of his honor, and because of this he is motivated to do what he thinks is the honorable act, killing Caesar, not what he personally wants to do. Also Brutus believes that what he is doing is an honorable act because it is for the welfare of Rome. In act 2 scene 1, when Brutus as the conspirators are gathered he shows how he believes there cause is honorable and noble in the quote: “To think that our cause is or our performance did need and oath; when every drop of blood that every roman bears, and nobly bears, is guilty of bastardy,”(p.72, lines 135-138) This quote shows that Brutus believes how there cause is so honorable that they don’t need any oath or promise to seal it. This shows how again Brutus’s honor is motivating him to do what is the best for Rome and the people no matter if it is against his personal will. Because of his great honor, Brutus if motivated to do what he believes is the most honorable act no matter how much it is against his personal will.

Brutus’s patriotism and love for Rome is what motivated him into assassinating Caesar, in order to free the people of Rome. Because Brutus has an honorable trait he loves his country Rome and all of the people so he is willing to do anything for the general good of Rome. Because of the letters Brutus got supposedly from the people of Rome telling him to act and that the had had enough of Caesars tyranny, he acted upon his patriotism and assassinated Caesar. His love for Rome and patriotism is illustrated in this quote which is after Brutus assassinated Caesar and is trying to explain to Anthony that what they did what out of there patriotism. “Our hearts you see not; they are pitiful; and pity to the general wrong of Rome- as fire drives our fire, so pity pity –“(p.118 lines 169- 171). The meaning of this quote is that Brutus and the conspirators did not kill Caesar for there own personal gain, but because they saw how Caesars ambition and tyranny was effecting the people of Rome and that they did if for the general good of Rome. Brutus’s patriotism is shown through this quote because he believes that what they did was for the good of Rome, and he had no personal grudge against Caesar. Later on in the play Brutus went farther on to explain his actions to the people of Rome, his motivators, and to justify what he did. When Brutus went into the capital after he assassinated Caesar he stood up in front of the angry people of Rome and justified his actions. “If then that friend demanded why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer: Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.” (p.128, lines 19-21) Here, Brutus is saying that killing Caesar was not because he did not love Caesar, but because he loved Rome more. This quote proves Brutus’s patriotism and love for Rome because he is admitting it to the people of Rome, and that what he did was because he loved Rome. Brutus’s love for Rome and patriotism is evident through out the play, by his actions and thoughts.

In Julius Caesar Brutus a very noble man showed his inner conflict because he wanted to be honorable and a patriot of Rome and do the honorable thing, which he believed was killing Caesar, which was against his personal feelings towards him. His two main motivator, honor and patriotism, drove him to assassinating Caesar. Brutus believed strongly in his honor and he tried to do the noble act, instead of what he personally believed. And his love for Rome and patriotism drove him to believe that Caesars ambition was affecting Rome negatively, so he acted and assassinated Caesar. However he did not achieve his goal, because his goal was to bring freedom and peace to the Rome, but by killing Caesar he broke havoc and mayhem between Rome because all the people dearly loved Caesar. However, without judging the outcome Brutus’s goal was worthy and noble because he truly did believe that he was doing the right act, and he did act upon his honor, and patriotism.