virtuous Julius Caesar

Being virtuous is to show or have high moral standards. However, it is not easy for everyone to acquire this quality because it requires a great effort to be a virtuous and worthy individual. In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Brutus acquired a virtuous characteristic; however, he misused his certain qualities, such as being noble among people, loyalty to Rome and over confidence characteristics in assassinating Caesar, which led him to his destruction. To begin with, Marcus Brutus was a very noble person among the people of Rome, which slowly led him to his self-destruction. Because he was a noble person, he could easily persuade people. Although, he did not want to take part in the conspiracy against Caesar, he was persuaded by Cassius. Cassius knew if he persuaded Brutus, people would not make a great deal out of Caesar's death by Brutus because they believe in him, knew he was an honorable man and know he would not do anything wrong. “That you do love me, I am nothing jealous./What you would want me to, I have some aim./How I have thought of this and of these times/I shall recount hereafter. For this present,/I would not, so with love I might entreat you,/Be any further moved. What you have said/I will consider, what you have to say/I will with patience hear, and find a time/Both meet to hear and answer such high things./Till then, my noble friend, chew upon this:/Brutus had rather be a villager/Than to repute himself a son of Rome”( I.ii.162-173). Though Brutus knew that he was being persuaded, he still fell for Cassius's words. Not only, he took part in the conspiracy but he actually killed Caesar for the good of Rome as he later realized that Caesar’s death would bring goodness in Rome. He later spoke and said, “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 (III. ii.20-23). Since he loved Rome, he had to choose between killing his friend or to be loyal to Rome. Thus, unlike the other conspirators, who took part out of hatred and envy also to kill Antony but Brutus knowing he was justly in it for Rome, persuaded the rest of the group not to kill Antony. As he states to them “For Antony is but a limb of Caesar:/ Let us be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius” (II.i.165-166). Therefore, Brutus's intentions are clearly stated about Caesar and Anthony. Moreover, Brutus's quality of being overconfident about his work and plans led him to his own destruction. He always believed that his plan of assassinating Caesar was perfect and would perfectly occur. As it was indicated in the book, “'Tis time to part.” (II.i.194). This was said by Trebonius one of the conspirators just after a short meeting they had at Brutus’ house discussing Caesar's assassination. Since the plan and preparations for Caesars assassination had taken place in hurry, Marcus Brutus thought nothing will be done against their plan; nonetheless, he did not know what was going to happen to him. Furthermore, he made the mistake of giving Anthony permission to speak at Caesar's funeral because Brutus was overconfident about his plan and himself. “Mark Antony, here, take you Caesar’s body. You shall not in your funeral speech blame us,”( III.i.244-245). Brutus believed that Anthony would not make any mistake or nothing would slip from his mouth to. Lastly, his overconfidence is proved through his ignorance of Cassius's suggestion on waiting for the enemies to come to them instead of marching to Phillipi. “The people ’twixt Philippi and this ground/Do stand but in a forced affection, /For they have grudged us contribution. /The enemy, marching along by them,/By them shall make a fuller number up,/Come on refreshed, new-added, and encouraged,/From which advantage shall we cut him off/ If at Philippi we do face him there,/These people at our back”( IV.iii.203-211). This explains that Brutus knows that the people that live from there to Philippi are devoted to them because they forced them to be, and so if they meet them at Phillipi the people would be at their backs and an advantage for them. Furthermore, Marcus Brutus's loyalty to Rome led him to destruction. Although, he was Caesar’s best friend, he was more loyal to Rome than to his friendship and he knew that Caesar would turn his back on Rome. Though it was hard for him to kill Caesar, he was thinking of Rome while assassinating Caesar. He did not want to murder him but wanted to give him an honor death. As it shows when he says “Between the acting of a dreadful thing/and the first motion, all the interim is/Like a phantasma or a hideous dream” (II.i.63-65). This indicates that he really didn’t think it was happening since it was so terrible of an act that he thought it was all a horrible dream until it happened. In addition when he was going to kill Caesar while the assassination was happening he tried to kill Caesar with an honor rather than cruelly. "Let us be sacrifices, but not butchers, Caius" (II.i.166). This suggests that Brutus wants to kill Caesar with some kind of dignity and respect, so that the Romans see them fighting for a cause rather than being murderers to Caesar. Likewise he refused to kill Antony, since he saw it unnecessary and inhumane. “And for Mark Antony, think not of him; / For he can do no more that Caesar’s arm/ when Caesar’s head is off (II.i.181-183). This shows that Brutus knows that Antony shouldn’t be killed as he really doesn’t deserves to, and Brutus persuades the complete group of conspirators out of the plan to kill Antony as well. This all shows the way Brutus is so virtuous towards others and himself by the actions he does to help others and the sympathy he had for them. In conclusion, despite Brutus being a very virtuous and very noble person among the people of Rome. He acquired certain characteristics that were not in accordance to his virtuousness, such as his characteristics of being noble, overconfidence and loyal to Rome rather than his friendship. Therefore, Brutus played an important role in assassinating Caesar because of his position in the society and his relationship with Caesar. Although, after Caesar's death, other conspirators flee, Cassius and Brutus were left to defend themselves, but due to his virtuous characteristic among people, he could easily get away with the assassination.