Brutus Change in Character - Essay Example

Brutus’ Change in Character William Shakespeare was a master storyteller, able to infuse many of his characters, not just the main or title character, with significant depth and personality. This is the case in his historic play “The Tragedy of Julius Caesar” in which the character Brutus emerges as the tragic hero. While the play is primarily focused upon the assassination of Julius Caesar, the action revolves mostly around Caesar’s close friend and advisor, Brutus. Brutus’ close relationship to Caesar is emphasized throughout the play by his close proximity to Caesar, but it is also repeatedly emphasized that Brutus’ first loyalty is to the noble idealism of the Roman republic. As the play progresses, it can be seen how less noble men are able to manipulate Brutus’ ideals to bring about their own agendas, but then Brutus’ character changes, making him less amenable to the suggestions of others and less able to consider their wisdom in matters affecting his own ability to survive. As his tragic flaw is examined, it can be seen that his often-quoted speech at the end of Act IV, scene iii in which he indicates “There is a tide in the affairs of men / Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune” (218-219) represents a change in his character that causes the viewer or reader to understand him as the true tragic figure of the play. At the beginning of the play, Brutus is often seen at the side of Caesar, but is not often heard. When he is heard at the side of Caesar, he is often heard as the voice or perhaps conscience of Caesar rather than as himself. This is particularly true with his first lines in the play, in which he tells Caesar, “A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March” (I, ii, 20). He quickly emerges as being slow of thought, freely admitting “I do lack some part / Of that quick spirit that is in Antony” (I, ii, 28-29), and idealistic regarding the his conceptions of nobility and honor, “For let the gods so speed me as I love / The name of honor more than I fear death” (I, ii, 88-89). As he says these things to Cassius, and as the crowd outside continues to cheer loudly for Caesar, Brutus himself gives Cassius the tools he needs to manipulate Brutus into committing the assassination of his friend and leader, Caesar. Upon hearing the cheering outside, Brutus tells Cassius, “What means this shouting? I do fear the people do choose Caesar for their king ... yet I love him well” (I, ii, 79-80, 83). In these lines, it is illustrated how despite his own personal love and friendship with Caesar, Brutus fears what power might cause his friend to do, allowing him to reach the top rung of the proverbial ladder of ambition. “He then unto the ladder turns his back, / Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees / By which he did ascend” (II, i, 25-27). Thus, his motives in participating in the assassination of Caesar are revealed to be based upon a true and noble concern for the welfare of the common people whom Caesar would lead as a dictator rather than as a leader of the republic. Because of his own beliefs and his innocence in assuming others have this same honorable concern, Brutus is willing to believe the words of Cassius and others, who actually have more self-serving motives in mind for overthrowing the charismatic and powerful leader. After the assassination, Brutus continues to struggle with the morality of the choice. He finds himself attempting to justify his actions to an unbelieving audience as he tells them, “If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer: Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. Had you rather Caesar were living, and die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live all freemen?” (III, ii, 21-24). Yet Antony questions his motives both in private and in public, leaving Brutus to continue doubting whether he actually acted in the right, “He hath brought many captives home to Rome / Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill. / Did this in Caesar seem ambitious? / When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept; / Ambition should be made of sterner stuff” (88-92). While Antony’s words begin to create doubt in Brutus’ mind regarding his own actions, the actions of others begin to call into question their honorable intentions as well. A particular incident in which this occurs is when Cassius confronts Brutus about publicly shaming a man Cassius had been defending. By this point, Brutus is beginning to understand Cassius’ selfish motives in all that he’s done. “Let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself / Are much condemned to have an itching palm, / To sell and mart your offices for gold / To underservers” (IV, ii, 9-12). This begins to highlight Brutus’ decreased ability to consider the advice of others, turning from a man who believed in self-determination based on adherence to highly honorable ideals to one who must take into account the movements of fate. In his speech toward the end of Act IV, Brutus demonstrates a change in his character as he is more willing to conceive of the role of fate in a man’s life. On the eve of battle against Antony and his allies, he tells Cassius, “You must note beside / That we have tried the utmost of our friends, / Our legions are brimful, our cause is ripe. / The enemy increaseth every day; / We, at the height, are ready to decline. / There is a tide in the affairs of men / Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; / Omitted, all the voyage of their life / Is bound in shallows and miseries. / On such a full sea are we now afloat, / And we must take the current when it serves / Or lose our ventures” (IV, iii, 214-224). In this speech, Brutus not only recognizes that his star has reached its apex, but also that he is, to some extent, governed by the stars, or fate as the more proper term. Yet he is unwilling to give up the concept that mankind has some determination as to how his fate will work out. If one is willing to take advantage of the full tide, he can ride it to a victory that the stars have laid out for him, but if he merely rides out the tide in safety, he will be forever constrained within the shallow harbor. At the same time, he is demonstrating a strong unwillingness to listen to Cassius’ advice regarding the tide of battle, something Cassius knows more about, when earlier he had been willing to take the full council of Cassius regarding the danger and death of Caesar. He is now assertive when he should be passive while before he had been passive when he should have been assertive. In the end, it is Brutus’ rigid idealism that marks him as an exceptional man as well as leads to his crushing defeat. In a world where self-serving ambition emerges as a dominating factor in all other motivations, Brutus alone is able to live up to Antony’s elegiac description of him as “the noblest of Romans.” His honorable commitment to justice prevents him from killing Antony at the same time he killed Caesar, which eventually swings back around to hurt him just as his inability to trust the advice of Cassius leads to his final defeat. Throughout the play, Brutus can be seen to act through a desire to limit the self-serving aspects of his behavior, but ends up doing little more than harming the cause and serving no one any benefit. Works Cited Shakespeare, William. “The Tragedy of Julius Caesar.” Name of Book you use. Stephen Greenblatt (Ed.). Place of publication: Publisher name, date of publication. Read More