Read until Act III
Primarily the question is what/who does Brutus love and how does this lead him to act as he does?
To answer this reflect upon what kind of man Brutus is? What characteristics does he have that lead him to join the Senate's fold? Analyze his relationship with Rome, Caesar, his fellow countrymen as well as his wife Portia.
Brutus is my opinion is a confused, but noble man. Misguided by a letter upon his door step, as well as the conspirators he is convinced that killing Caesar is best for Rome, for Rome is his true love. He respects the city and in my opinion does not kill Caesar to gain power (which indeed is what was going to happen) but for the better of Rome. He fears Caesar will me overwhelmed with power and be corrupted by his power. With the convincing of his "friends", he lead to assume this is all for the better. Brutus is over all a good man, just a tad blinded by trust in all. This is quite evident at the end of the play when he allows Mark Antony to speak last at the funeral. He does not believe one could lie so viciously, which is ironic since his trust in the conspirators leads him to lie a deceive Caesar.
ReplyDeleteBrutus, like many at the time, were still in love with the idea that Rome was a republic. They have not yet come to terms with the actions of Sulla and, in true Roman fashion, they put the Republic and upholding its honor before all else; even the bonds of friendship.
ReplyDeleteCaesar was a proud man and one of the things he was known for was wandering the streets of Rome without a bodyguard. He did this both because of how comfortable he felt in his city and how confident he was that the people of Rome loved him and even his enemies respected him enough to not lay a hand on him.
What this means is that when Caesar notices Brutus, one of his best friends, in the mob of conspirators for his assassination his very will itself is defeated. Not only do his enemies believe he is doing wrong, but his best friend believes he has overstepped his bounds as dictator of Rome.
Brutus loved both Rome and Caesar; however, his love for the Republic came first - even if Caesar's assassination arguably hastened its demise.
Brutus, by and large, seems to be a very apathetic individual. He does not love himself, but rather borders on self-hatred (or if he does love himself, he is very good at acting modestly). His love for Caesar is fairly easily overturned, with the only push coming from Cassius and supposed strangers. I might argue that he loves his wife, but it appears to be out of obligation and guilt more than anything else.
ReplyDeleteNo, it is clear that if Brutus loves anything, it is the Roman republic, and even that he only protects out of fear for what Caesar will become. It wasn't even so much that he sympathized with the other conspirators as it was that they built up his ego and directed his new-found pride in the direction they wanted. Still, though, there is that deep-rooted love for the Rome of old, and it is this that ultimately wins out over what little other love he has.
I see Brutus as a man ruled by ideals and principles above all else. To me, he is most similar to the character of Rorschach in Zack Snyder's film Watchmen. Completely devoted to his ideals at any cost, regardless of consequences. In that sense, I think he may be a fanatic, in that he accepts consequences the of his ideals to not only himself, but also allows those consequences to harm others for what he considers to be the greatest good. He cannot compromise even when that compromise (killing Anthony) would clearly produce a greater good, because it would violate his ideals. Ironically, his love of Rome before all else helps to destroy Rome and himself. He does love Caesar, and others, but as the "noblest of all Romans" he must follow his ideals, which force him to surrender everything to what he considers to be the greatest good: Rome.
ReplyDeleteBrutus loves his ideals, namely, piety. The classical Roman ideal of piety was loyalty to gods, country, and family. Although friendship and perosnal honor were important, to men like Brutus, piety came first. Therefore, he felt obligated to kill Caesar out of duty to his country, as he felt that Caesar's rise to power was hurting Rome. His love for Portia (which I think is very strong) ties into this- the well being of his family depends on the well being of Rome, in his mind.
ReplyDeleteBrutus' relationship to the people of Rome is interesting to me. He never realy interacts with them, and I suspect that he would despise doing so, as the uneducated masses wouldn't understand his pious ideals and uptight soldier/senator ways. But he loves them dearly, as a whole, because his ideals tell him to love them (he just wouldn't talk to one).
In this sense, Brutus could be accused of fanaticism in regard to piety. It is obvious (especially later in the play, for those who have read the whole thing) that the murder of Caesar made him extremely miserable, and he knew it would. He encounters doubt and struggle at every step, but feels compelled to press on because he believes he knows what is right for Rome- a Republic and nothing else. While he generally comes off as a hero to most modern readers because we happen to agree that a Republic is better than a dictatorship, in that day and age (Brutus' as well as Shakespeare's) this was not quite true; wise men were divided on the issue; and since the murder made him personally unhappy, it could be argued that Brutus acted out of pure fanaticism, because logically, his becoming a conspirator makes little sense. He was unwilling, in a time when people were equally divided betweeen two camps, to consider the different one for any reason, even love and respect for his hero, Caesar.
Brutus, while trying to be a noble man, became a fanatic.
Brutus is an honorable man but he is persuaded by the conspirators to kill Caesar whom he loves dearly. Some may say that Brutus is gullible as a few notes left by his window and speeches by the conspirators make him turn against Caesar, however Brutus only agrees to this because he believes that Rome will be worse off if something is not done. The conspirators, in an attempt to gain Brutus’ favor make it seem that the one thing he absolutely loves i.e. Rome, is in jeopardy. Therefore it is evident that Brutus has a deep and genuine love for the good of Rome, but unfortunately he trusts too easily the words of others without looking within these characters for their true intentions.
ReplyDeleteBrutus does not fear Caesar but rather what he could become in the future, as “absolute power corrupts absolutely,” and the negative effect this would have on the Roman republic. Therefore although Brutus has a good relationship with Caesar he simply values the good of the country more than this friendship. He puts his fellow country-men first as Brutus also does not gain any personal advantage from committing the act.
Brutus is simply a man, a member of the human race, not a reference to his gender. In doing so, he is a romantic, plagued with ideas of perfection and misconceptions that he could rule best. Not to mention a tad bit of greed that stems from the inherent evil in all men. As humans, we are subject to all of the so-called "7 Deadly Sins" (that actually make the world work), but it is those who can repress these urges who are the truly strong human beings. Brutus, even though he may see himself as powerful and courageous, lacks the ability to repress this greed and his envy of Caesar. And it is his pride that denies him from admitting that Caesar may actually be able to rule Rome. The other conspirators did not need to convince Brutus, he wanted to do it all along, but much like many other weak men, he needed someone to express a similar thought to repress the fear of doing it himself. Brutus loves his city, wife, countrymen, and everything else, but he loves himself more, he wants to better himself, and the only way to take action on the bitterness he harbors for Caesar is to gain revenge.
ReplyDeleteBrutus is a man who loves honor more than anything and his ability to warp his honor into a self serving tool Leads him to becoming part of the Senate's fold. Cassius knew early on the way to sway Brutus to the Senate's side and manipulates his love for honor and praise to get him to give up his loyalty to Caesar. Once he establishes that he is some how entitled to the praise and rule that Caesar is to be given (through reasoning put in his ear by cassius), he becomes consumed with the idea of having more honor and power than he has as Caesars comrade.
ReplyDeleteIn relation to his fellow country men it seems that Brutus is seen as an easily sway able yet needed asset that requires only vague ideals to prove his possible action against Caesar is just expediting his own moment of glory. He has nightmares and can scarcely sleep because he knows that not telling Caesar is hurting his honor, but in the end his self interests-personal honor and power-win out.
Brutus loves both the state and Caesar, but he believes Caesar will be his own downfall. He actually seems to mis-predict the sequences of events. He loves Caesar as a friend but is torn to his love for the state as well.
ReplyDeleteBrutus loves his state and also Caesar, however, he loves his honor above all else. He saw that Caesar's power was hurting Rome and he felt it was his duty to kill Caesar. Although he was friends with him, his honor to his country came before anything else.
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