An Analysis of the Character Brutus in JULIUS CAESAR
Ⅰ. Introduction
Julius Caesar, probably written in 1599, is the second of Shakespeare's three Roman history plays. It is so in a special way, as it is a play of overt challenge and debate linked to clear action, whose dilemmas are set out with Roman clarity, Roman simplicity (Bradbrook, 1969). Like Antony, Cleopatra and Coriolanus, Julius Caesar is a dramatization of actual events, with Shakespeare drawing upon the ancient Roman historian Plutarch's Lives of Caesar, Brutus, and Mark Antony as the primary source of the play's plot and characters. Shakespeare gets all the specific materials from Plutarch. What Plutarch offered is well-written and biographies. Plutarch is a faithful recorder, and Shakespeare brings the record to finer and fuller life (Asimov, 1970).
The play is tightly structured. It establishes the dramatic problem of alarm at Julius Caesar's ambition to become 'king' (or dictator) in the very first scene and introduces signs that Caesar must beware the Ides of March from the outset. Before its midpoint, Caesar is assassinated, and shortly after Mark Antony's famous funeral oration, the setting shifts permanently from Rome to the battlefields, where Brutus and Cassius meet their inevitable defeat.
Literary scholars have debated for centuries about the question of who exactly is the protagonist of this play. The seemingly simple answer to this question would be Julius Caesar himself----after all, the play is named after him, and the events of the play all relate to him. However, Caesar only appears in three scenes, thus apparently making him an unlikely choice for the protagonist who is supposed to be the central character, whereas, Brutus, who is in the play much more often than Caesar, is not the title character of the play and is listed in the dramatis personae not only after Caesar but also after the entire triumvirate and some senators who barely appear in the play. Julius Caesar is truly a tragic character and the name of the play, yet for all these, the central tragic character of the play is Brutus. Brutus, the noble Roman, with his decision to take part in the conspiracy for the sake of Roman and his ideal, plunges himself into a personal dilemma and irrevocable downfall. Since the major part of the play is devoted to the depiction of Brutus----his mental conflict, his debate with Cassius, his hesitation in his noble mission, his speech for the funeral, all these present his outstanding character: nobility and idealism, which is the core of the whole tragedy.
Brutus impresses the audience not only as a noble Roman in the play but also as a model of human being in real life. Therefore his character deserves to be the subject of the following analysis.
Ⅱ. Analysis of the character Brutus
Brutus, as mentioned above, is the real main hero in the play, who takes part in the murder of Caesar for his noble reasons although he is Caesar’s close friend and supporter hitherto. To say that Brutus is the real tragic character is because he is the victim of the weakness----or of virtues----in his character: his nobility and idealism----self -deceiving idealism perhaps. These important things in his character, therefore, are to be analysis in the following parts.
A. Brutus’s nobility
1. Brutus takes part in the assassination for noble reasons
Brutus is one of the trusted senators by Caesar although Brutus used to be a follower of Pompey and then is pardoned by Caesar after the former’s defeat. It could be imagined how much he is favored and befriended by Caesar. However, he seems to be more attached to Rome and its people and their freedom (Gill, 1997). It is because he loves Rome more (Act 3, scene 2) so that he sacrifices Caesar. We could look through his love and fear for Caesar to see his noble reasons for doing the bloody thing.
a. Brutus’s love for Caesar
Brutus is an admirer of Caesar. In Roman times, the only way for someone to get close to a person of high rank is if he/she is close to him/her . Brutus loves Caesar. In the early acts of the play, Brutus says to Cassius,
I do fear, the people
Choose Caesar for their king...
yet I love him well. (Act 1, scene 2)
and his monologue in his orchard,
I know no personal cause to spurn at him,
But for the general. (Act 2, scene 1)
Even after the assassination of Julius Caesar, Brutus speaks to Antony about Caesar's death,
Our hearts you see not; they are pitiful; (Act 3, scene 1)
Brutus says that Antony cannot see their (members of the conspiracy) hearts, which are full of pity. This shows how Brutus loves Caesar though he takes part in the assassination for more important reasons.
Moreover, his love for Caesar can be best seen in Caesar’s reaction when he sees Brutus is one of the killers, as Plutarch’s record says that, Caesar is standing unsteadily with knifes thrusted in his body, bleeding, and he could fight and roar like a lion before death, however after seeing Brutus, Caesar falls down sadly and accepts the fact of being killed. And Shakespeare faithfully presents the scene in the play, Et tu, Brute! Then fall, Caesar. Dies (Act 3, scene 1).
b. Brutus’s fear for Caesar
Brutus loves Caesar but fears his power. Brutus loves Caesar, but fears that,
…. He would be crown'd:
How that might change his nature, there's the question.
It is the bright day that brings forth the adder;
And that craves wary walking. Crown him?--that;--
And then, I grant, we put a sting in him,
That at his will he may do danger with.
The abuse of greatness is, when it disjoins
Remorse from power: and, to speak truth of Caesar,
That lowliness is young ambition's ladder,
Whereto the climber-upward turns his face;
But when he once attains the upmost round.
He then unto the ladder turns his back . (Act 2, scene 1).
As the quote says, Brutus fears that Caesar would rise to power and then turn his back onto the people of Rome. The reason why he fears Caesar is his deepest love for Rome. This also shows his nobility.
c. Brutus’s decision
One of Brutus’s famous lines is,
Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved
Rome more (Act 3, scene 2)
This shows how Brutus loves Caesar but cares more about the freedom of Rome and its people (Zhu, 2005). This is the only reason why Brutus could have conspired against Caesar. For Brutus says to himself,
I know no personal cause to spurn at him,
But for the general. He would be crown’d;
How that might change his nature... (Act 2, scene 1)
What is being emphasized here is that, because Brutus loves Caesar, he could not allow Caesar to become a tyrant. Brutus loves Caesar but he loves Roman more and he fears that Caesar would become a tyrant, which would be a threat to Rome. He loves Caesar so he cannot bear seeing that one day Caesar should become a tyrant. It can be well imagined how bitter Brutus feels when he strikes his knife into Caesar’s body. But Brutus has no other choice because of his noble ideal----the freedom of Rome.
2. Brutus’ nobility is shown by others’ admiration for him
Brutus’s admired by almost all the people around him, including Antony, who is his enemy. What could have aroused the admiration? Nothing but his noble personality.
a. Caesar’s understanding of Brutus’s nobility
Caesar's relationship with Brutus is close. Just allowing Brutus to speak to Caesar shows his respect for Brutus, which could be found in the Act 3, scene 1, when Metellus repeals of his banished brother, Caesar says, Doth not Brutus bootless kneel? It means that even Brutus’s words could not change my mind, you—Cassius and Metellus’s words are of less use.
Caesar believes that Brutus must have good reason in doing everything and does the right thing regardless of personal danger (Plutarch as quoted in Humphreys, 1984). On the Ides of March, as Caesar is assassinated, Caesar's last line is,
Et tu,Brute?--Then fall, Caesar. (Act 3, scene 1).
This shows that Caesar would not accept his fate without Brutus' stab. Caesar realizes that there must be a noble reason for this assassination if Brutus should be in it (Zhu, 2005).
b. Anotony’s comments on Brutus
What impresses the reader most is Antony’s comments on Brutus after the latter’s death.
When Octavius and Antony overcome Brutus’s army, Brutus commits suicide, after his death Antony says to Octavius,
This was the noblest Roman of them all:
All the conspirators save only he
Did that they did in envy of great Caesar;
He only, in a general honest thought
And common good to all, made one of them.
His life was gentle, and the elements
So mix'd in him that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world 'This was a man! (Act 5, scene 5).
Brutus is born to devote himself to his people, he has no selfish ambition, so even Antony as his enemy has no excuse for not praising him as a noble man.
Brutus’s nobility impresses the reader as this: his virtue is admired by both his friends and enemies. They admire Brutus’s crystal uprightness. What he does to Caesar is out of his love for his country, which is quite different from Cassius who is more or less moved by jealousy.
3. Brutus’s nobility is shown by his love for his wife
Brutus treats his wife as a drop of blood in his heart, as he says: “you are my true and honorable wife, as dear to me as are the ruddy drops that visit my sad heart”, when Portia demands to know what is on her husband’s mind she says,
…my Brutus;
You have some sick offence within your mind,
Which, by the right and virtue of my place,
I ought to know of: and, upon my knees,
I charm you, by my once-commended beauty,
By all your vows of love and that great vow
Which did incorporate and make us one,
That you unfold to me, yourself, your half,
Why you are heavy, and what men to-night
Have had to resort to you…
Tell me your counsels, I will not disclose 'em:
I have made strong proof of my constancy,
Giving myself a voluntary wound
Here, in the thigh: can I bear that with patience.
And not my husband's secrets? (Act 2, scene 1).
Brutus is much moved to hear what she says unto him, and, lifting up his hands to heaven, he beseeches the gods to give him the grace he might bring his enterprise to so good pass, that he might be found a husband worthy of so noble a wife as Portia. So he then does comfort her the best he could (Humphreys, 1984). He says,
O ye gods,
Render me worthy of this noble wife!
…Portia, go in awhile;
And by and by thy bosom shall partake
The secrets of my heart.
All my engagements I will construe to thee,
All the charactery of my sad brows… (Act 2, scene 1).
What is seen between Brutus and Portia is real communication of souls, which is vastly different from how Caesar treats his wife Calphurnia: When Calphurnia tries to persuade Caesar not to go to senate house because of her nightmare, she says,
Do not go forth to-day: call it my fear
That keeps you in the house, and not your own.
Let me, upon my knee, prevail in this. (Act 2, scene 2).
Then Caesar says: for thy humour, I will stay at home. And later, he laughs at her and leaves, saying to her,
How foolish do your fears seem now, Calpurnia!
I am ashamed I did yield to them.
Give me my robe, for I will go. (Act 2, scene 2).
Caesar treats his wife as a toy while Brutus treats his wife as his real companion.
It is Brutus nobleness that makes him love Caesar, honor Caesar, kill Caesar; it is also his nobility that wins his admiration from others and his wife. However, his nobility is also his Achilles heel in his political career.
4. Brutus’s nobility is manipulated by others
As everything in the world has got two sides, one’s virtue can turn out to be his fatal point. This is most true in the case of Brutus’s destruction since his nobleness allows for manipulation from others.
a. Cassius’s manipulation Brutus
Cassius is jealous of Caesar so he wants to kill him, but he knows clearly if he should be the only leader of the action, maybe no one would follow him, so he makes use of Brutus’s nobility to achieve his goal.
Brutus has a very important role in the conspiracy against Caesar. He is the 'back-bone' of the plan.
This is well understood by Cassius: he could not succeed without Brutus’s participation. As Casca says,
O, he sits high in all the people's hearts:
And that which would appear offence in us,
His countenance, like richest alchemy,
Will change to virtue and to worthiness. (Act 1, scene 3).
Then Cassius answers Cassa that, Him and his worth and our great need of him You have right well conceited. Furthermore Cassius’s monologue reveals that his determination to use Brutus’s nobility as he says:
Well, Brutus, thou art noble; yet, I see,
Thy honourable metal may be wrought
From that it is disposed: therefore it is meet
That noble minds keep ever with their likes;
For who so firm that cannot be seduced? (Act 1, scene 2)
An enterprise and attempt as the assassination of Caesar does not so much require courage to draw the swords as it requires a man as Brutus with nobility, to make others boldly think that by his only presence the fact is holy and just: if he does not take this course, then they should go to it with fainter hearts; and when they do it they should be more fearful, because every man thinks that Brutus would have refused to join them if the cause had not been good and honest.
Therefore Cassius, considering this matter with himself, speaks to Brutus first of all. Cassius asks him if he is determined to be in the Senate-house the first day of the month of March, because he hears that Caesar’s friends should move the council that day and that Caesar should be called King by the Senate. Brutus answers him, he would not be there (Shackford, 1929). Shakespeare presents the scene faithfully: Cassius speaks to Brutus,
Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods!…
When could they say till now, that talk'd of Rome,
That her wide walls encompass'd but one man?
Now is it Rome indeed and room enough,
When there is in it but one only man. (Act 1, scene 1).
Cassius knows Brutus’s loving heart for Rome so he says the above words to Brutus and he is satisfied with Brutus’s reaction and murmurs to himself: I am glad that my weak words Have struck but thus much show of fire from Brutus.（Act 1, Scene 2）
Then Cassius uses a trick to deceive Brutus as Cassius says that he will write several letters in several handwritings and throw them through his windows as if they comes from several citizens, and all of those are tending to the opinion of Caesar’s ambition. Because of Brutus’s nobility he could not imagine anybody could play any tricks, so Cassius could go on manipulating Brutus’s nobility.
What is discussed above shows that Brutus’s nobility is exploited by Cassius.
b. Anotony’s manipulation
Antony, is the most dangerous opponent to Brutus, and he manipulates Brutus’s nobility through his funeral speech to arouse people’s feeling all against Brutus.
In the play, Act 3, scene 2 is the climax of the play with two orations, which give the best portraits of how Brutus’ honesty is manipulated by Antony.
Brutus’ speech is in prose, brief and direct, presenting a reasoned argument to justify their action, showing his noble honesty, as he says,
Romans, …believe me
for mine honour, and have respect to mine honour, that
you may believe: censure me in your wisdom, and
awake your senses, that you may the better judge.
If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of
Caesar's, to him I say, that Brutus' love to Caesar
was no less than his. 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 free men? As Caesar loved me, I weep for him;
as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was
valiant, I honour him: but, as he was ambitious, I
slew him. There is tears for his love; joy for his
fortune; honour for his valour; and death for his
ambition. (Act 3, scene 2).
Antony’s speech, in contrast, is in verse. It does not appeal to the head with reason, rather it appeals to the heart with rhetoric questions, ironies and emotional show. Antony is most artful in his repeated reference to the honorable men. With each repetition the phrase gathered up its ironic power till a citizen speaks out Antony’s true meaning “traitors”. As he says,
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest--
For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men--
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
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:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man. (Act 3, scene 2).
Antony, with his good understanding of the plebians’ psychology, leads the mob, step by step, to the opposite side of Brutus and incites them to mutiny. Every time when he achieves his desired effect with his passionate words, he goes on to stir them further, until he is deadly sure that the mob is completely aroused (Knights, 1965).
It can be seen how vulnerable Brutus’s uprightness is in the mud of politics.
The above is about Brutus’s nobility, which is seen through his noble reason for murdering Caesar, his fellows’ admiration for him, and his nobility is being manipulated by others.
B. Brutus’s idealism
Brutus’s idealism is another phase of his character which leads to his tragic destiny. Though it is called by some as blinkered idealism, it is his one important phase of his character which help to lead to his destruction.
1. Brutus’s idealistic view of humans
It is Brutus’s idealism that makes him believe that everyone must be as noble as he. The following discussions illustrate his idealism.
a. The letter
Within his noble mind Brutus thinks everyone could be as noble as him and would not do harmful things to their friends, their family members and their country. He could only see one’s virtue and refuse to believe one has evil spirit that leads them to hurt others (Zhu, 2005).
Brutus’s judgment about Caesar would become a tyrant is not wholly based on fact but partially based on Cassius and his fellows saying and the anonymous letters faked by Cassius. He cannot imagine that there is anyone in the world who could fake a letter and throw it into his yard on the purpose of deceiving. To his knowledge, because HE would never do this, so no one else could ever do this. His idealism for people affects his judgment. Moreover, he trusts his people and fellow as he trusts himself.
b. The oath
Brutus trusts his friends entirely. Even when they want to take oath for the assassination Brutus says,
No, not an oath: if not the face of men,
…But if these,
As I am sure they do, bear fire enough
To kindle cowards and to steel with valour
The melting spirits of women, then, countrymen,
What need we any spur but our own cause,
To prick us to redress? what other bond
Than secret Romans, that have spoke the word,
And will not palter? and what other oath
Than honesty to honesty engaged,
That this shall be, or we will fall for it?
Swear priests and cowards and men cautelous,
Old feeble carrions and such suffering souls
That welcome wrongs; unto bad causes swear
Such creatures as men doubt; but do not stain
The even virtue of our enterprise,
Nor the insuppressive mettle of our spirits,
To think that or our cause or our performance
Did need an oath;…(Act 2, scene 1).
Brutus trusts his friends very much. In his opinion, once they have the same aim they will fight for it together, they are noble man as himself, so they should not need an oath as an regulation. And Brutus considers other senators’ reason of assassination to be as pure as his own, which is for the good of Rome; he is unable to see others’ envy of Caesar and ambition of governing a powerful country (Stewart, 1949).
c. Towards Antony
Brutus’s idealistic view of Antony could be seen from the following scenes in the play:
When Cassius suggests that Antony should be killed together with Caesar since the former would be a danger to them, Brutus says,
Our course will seemed too bloody, Caius Cassius,
To cut the head off and then hack the limbs,
Like wrath in death and envy afterwards;
For Antony was but a limb of Caesar:
Let us be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius.
…And for Mark Antony, think not of him;
For he can do no more than Caesar's arm
When Caesar's head is off. (Act 2, scene 1).
In Brutus’s idealistic opinion Antony is not a problem, he cannot decern Antony’s true mind. Antony enjoys music and arts and even some porns, but he is the one who Caesar the most (Zhu, 2005). Brutus with his idealism cannot predict the danger in Antony, in his political shrewdness, so he does not put killing Antony into his assassination plan.
He gives Antony a chance to choose whether to stand with them or not. If Antony chooses not to, they would kill him. The wise Antony knows how to deal with this new-coming event; he pretends to be a friend and shakes everyone’s bloody hands. Brutus believes in him and spares him. Brutus still can not look through Antony’s mask and find out that he is preparing for revenge (Gill, 1997).
When Antony wants to say something on the funeral, Brutus willingly consents thinking Antony would just be as honest as himself,
Antony Produce his body to the market-place;
And in the pulpit, as becomes a friend,
Speak in the order of his funeral
Brutus You shall, Mark Antony.
Brutus to the mob stay here with Antony:
Do grace to Caesar's corpse, and grace his speech
Tending to Caesar's glories; which Mark Antony,
By our permission, is allow'd to make. (Act 3, scene 1).
In spite of Cassius’s opposition, Brutus agrees. Brutus still has his idealistic feeling towards everyone, so he ignores Cassius’s advice on this point, he goes on his idealistic way and brings about a chaos: after people’s hearing of Antony, they are evoked.
Shakespeare fits the oration artistically to Brutus’ intellectual-idealistic nature and to what Plutarch calls his gravity and constant mind (Plutarch, 1970). The great dramatist also presents Antony’s speech with equal art: thought stiff and cold the speech gains its hearers’ heart (Humphreys, 1984). It is seen that Brutus is so idealistic that he vulnerable in the real world since his idealism is stupidity in the mud of politics.
Brutus’s idealism brings his political failure not only in the funeral speech but also in the battle. Brutus does not make a proper plan during the war and is defeated by Antony.
Brutus and his friends have misread Rome’s political destiny, and error follows upon error. Brutus attacks too early. The sword that kills Caesar kills Cassius, and it kills Titinius too. Twice visited by the ghost, Brutus knows that Caesar is mighty yet and turns our swords (Gill, 1997)(Plutarch, 1970).
This dramatic failure also could prove that Brutus treats pacticalwarfare in an idealistic way.
2. Brutus’s blinkered idealism
Brutus’s idealism is called by some scholars as “blinkered idealism” since he sometimes deceives himself. (Foakes, 1954) This is best seen from his soliloquy in his garden: he confesses that Caesar’s affection has never swayed more than his reason (Act 2, scene 1) and unable to find fault with Caesar’s conduct, he then resorts to a generalization, a common proof, that so Caesar may（Act 2, scene 1）. With no more justification than this, Brutus just fashion it thus that Caesar is a potential tyrant and must be killed in the shell (Zhu, 2005). In thinking so he is actually deceiving himself with something of an “ideal” reason for killing Caesar.
Brutus’s blinkered idealism also shows in his condemning Cassius’s corruption, however, he asks Cassius for military expenditure because he does not like to rob of people himself ignoring the fact that he, just like Cassius, cannot go without money,
For certain sums of gold, which you denied me:
For I can raise no money by vile means:
By heaven, I had rather coin my heart,
And drop my blood for drachmas, than to wring
From the hard hands of peasants their vile trash
By any indirection: I did send
To you for gold to pay my legions (Act 4, scene 3).
Finally, his idealism makes him ignore the necessity of Rome at that time, Rome needs a king like Caesar as a representative of centralized power, who could lead its people and give Rome a more gorgeous future. Brutus’s springboard is good, but his idealism shorten his view of politics.
All in all, Brutus’s idealism makes him vulnerable politically: jumping to conclusion according to his ideal, sparing his most dangerous enemy, thinking anyone is just as upright as he himself.
Ⅲ. Conclusion
The above is an analysis of Brutus’s character: Brutus, a noble Roman, loves Caesar with his heart, but he fears for Caesar become a tyrant, so he chooses taking part in killing Caesar out of his noble reason. He loves Caesar though he loves Rome more. Brutus’ nobility is shown by other’s admiration for him including: Caesar, his enemy Antony and his own wife Portia. Brutus, a noble Roman, his nobility is manipulated by those who are cunning such as the mischief-maker Cassius and enemy Antony. Apart from his nobility Brutus has undeniable idealism. He is idealistic for human beings in general shown in the matter of the mockde letter, the form of taking oath and his attitude towards Antony. Moreover, Brutus has blinkered idealism as he sometimes deceives himself and fails to see the course of politics and of history. There is no doubt that Brutus is noble with his honest devotion to his nation and his people. However, when his nobility meets his idealism his nobility becomes other’s weapon and the fatal poison against his own life and political career.
Brutus’s nobility and idealism are his outstanding virtues but are turned in political strife into weakness that destines him to final destruction.
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