Julius Caesar
Every classical tragedy has a tragic hero and, in turn, every tragic hero has a tragic flaw. A tragic flaw is any weakness of a hero that eventually leads to their demise. In Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Brutus has a few tragic flaws. Although Brutus is an honorable and true man, these flaws inhibit his actions and lead to his eventual ruin.
One fatal flaw of Brutus is that he is very naïve. Brutus’ naïveté leads to a string of bad decision making. A big mistake that Brutus makes due to his naïveté is making the decision not to allow the conspiracy to kill Antony along with Caesar. When Cassius brings up killing Antony, Brutus tells him, “good Cassius, do not think of him./ If he love Caesar, all that he can do/ is to himself: take thought and die for Caesar./ And that were much he should, for he is given/ to sports, to wildness and much company”(II, i, 187-191). It is very naïve of Brutus to believe that he will able to kill Caesar without Antony retaliating. Cassius, always having been the man with better judgement, was right in suggesting that they should kill Antony along with Caesar. Antony is one of Caesar’s best friends, and therefore very loyal to him. It would be apparent to most people that Antony would want to avenge Caesar’s death. However, because Brutus has such a lack in good judgement, he believes that Antony will pose no risk to them. When the conspiracy kills Caesar, Antony does, in fact, seek revenge on them and it starts a civil war in Rome. Brutus severely misjudged Antony, and if Brutus did not express such bad judgement the civil war would not take place. Another mistake Brutus makes, again in regards to Antony, is allowing him to speak at Caesar’s funeral. In fact, not only did Brutus allow Antony to speak, but he exits before Antony’s speech, leaving Antony to say and do whatever he wanted. After Brutus makes his own speech at Caesar’s funeral, he addresses the crowd, “good countrymen, let me depart alone./ And, for my
One fatal flaw of Brutus is that he is very naïve. Brutus’ naïveté leads to a string of bad decision making. A big mistake that Brutus makes due to his naïveté is making the decision not to allow the conspiracy to kill Antony along with Caesar. When Cassius brings up killing Antony, Brutus tells him, “good Cassius, do not think of him./ If he love Caesar, all that he can do/ is to himself: take thought and die for Caesar./ And that were much he should, for he is given/ to sports, to wildness and much company”(II, i, 187-191). It is very naïve of Brutus to believe that he will able to kill Caesar without Antony retaliating. Cassius, always having been the man with better judgement, was right in suggesting that they should kill Antony along with Caesar. Antony is one of Caesar’s best friends, and therefore very loyal to him. It would be apparent to most people that Antony would want to avenge Caesar’s death. However, because Brutus has such a lack in good judgement, he believes that Antony will pose no risk to them. When the conspiracy kills Caesar, Antony does, in fact, seek revenge on them and it starts a civil war in Rome. Brutus severely misjudged Antony, and if Brutus did not express such bad judgement the civil war would not take place. Another mistake Brutus makes, again in regards to Antony, is allowing him to speak at Caesar’s funeral. In fact, not only did Brutus allow Antony to speak, but he exits before Antony’s speech, leaving Antony to say and do whatever he wanted. After Brutus makes his own speech at Caesar’s funeral, he addresses the crowd, “good countrymen, let me depart alone./ And, for my