Essay about Analysis of Caesar

Submitted By philipfentress
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Development of Brutus In the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, there were several complex characters. A complex character is a type of character that has more than one dimension. He or she's attitude and behaviors shift to adapt to a situation. Among the characters in the play, Brutus emerges as the most complex character in Julius Caesar. During the course of the play, Brutus's over-idealistic tendencies shift to reckless behaviors and ultimately result in his demise. To start off, Brutus was not only the most complex character, but also the tragic hero of the play. In his soliloquies, the audience gains insight into the complexities of his motives. He is an influential public figure, a husband, an honorable military leader, and a close friend of Julius Caesar (I.ii.160-75). One of his qualities that make him such an exemplary Roman is his Roman idealism. He is bound so tightly to his values that he decides to kill his closest friend, Caesar, for the greater good of Rome. This choice, however, does not come without conflict. The conflicting value systems that clash with each other in the play as a whole are enacted on a microcosmic level in Brutus’s mind. Brutus develops from being a careful, over-idealistic Roman to someone who begins taking unnecessary risks as he attempts to deal with the disastrous after-effects of killing Caesar. Early in the play we see the philosophical, methodical side to his personality as he argues at length with himself over whether he should join in with the conspiracy against Caesar or not (II.i.5-30). However, in the final stages when forced to join battle with Antony and Octavius after the assassination, he starts to become a bit more reckless. This is seen most obviously when Cassius considers staying where they are rather than advancing to attack the enemy at Philippi. Brutus at this point completely throws out all caution, insisting that they be proactive rather than waiting passively for battle. Brutus now is insisting to capture the moment, to take action immediately rather than fall back out of fear and later regret losing their chance(III.ii.15-30). He therefore appears quite different from the hesitant man of the play’s opening scenes. There is more than a hint of anxiety in Brutus at this point too. We
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