What is a tragic hero? A tragic hero is a person of great respect and wisdom. They have a wonderful reputation with their people or civilization, but they have to possess a great flaw in character as well. A tragic hero suffers a reversal in his/her fortune, and discovers in own downfall was brought on by his own actions or inactions. The audience feels sympathy for the tragic hero, for his actions lead to misfortune toward himself and the people he loves. A tragic hero in Julius Caesar is Marcus Brutus, or just Brutus for short. He possesses all of these traits for a tragic hero. He has a fatal flaw that brings him down; he suffers a reversal in his fortune, and is of great respect and wisdom.
Brutus is a man of great respect. His family line brings him respect, and his closeness with Caesar brings him a lot of attention. He is a warrior of battle and a representative in the Parliament. He brings himself respect and is very wise to his people and himself. He was also very gullible, unfortunately. His love for his country was the main flaw in his character. He let his overpowering patriotism cloud his thought for Rome’s semi leader, Caesar. When Cassius and his conspirators against Caesar began to fill Brutus’s head with doubts about Caesar, he began to worry about his country. On page 895, line 172, Brutus is speaking to Cassius about his feelings toward Caesar. “Brutus had rather be a villager than to repute himself a son of Rome. Under these hard conditions as this time, Is like to lay upon us.” In this statement, Cassius has convinced Brutus that Caesar will eventually turn against Rome and its beliefs, and Brutus would rather be a common villager than turn against his country. Cassius turns Brutus against Caesar, and on page 983, line 77, Caesar is assassinated by Cassius and his conspirators. This all takes a turn for the worst for Brutus, though. For Brutus, killing Caesar was a big mistake. Everything for Brutus began to go downhill when he encountered Caesars ghost on page 977, line 273. Caesars ghost tells him that he is the evil spirit of Brutus and they will meet again at Phillipi, a place destined for war.
Brutus fortunes begin to change. In the beginning of the play, he was greatly respected and honored; now he is looked upon with ill thoughts. He started out thinking that if he took Caesar out of the picture of Rome, Rome would be bettered. Brutus was wrong about that, for when he took out Caesar he lost supporters of him. Caesars loving people turned their backs on the conspirators and refused the help them in even the lowest of ways. Brutus is forced to see his troops die in battle, and his friends perish at the hands of his enemies. Brutus is slowly losing the reason for fighting. He completely loses the cause for fighting when he begins to lose his friends in battle and begins to see Caesars spirit in the battle around him. He sees Caesars spirit taking revenge on him, as told on page 992, line 94, “O Julius Caesar, thou are mighty yet! Thy spirit walks abroad, and turns our swords in our own proper entrails.”.
You should feel sympathy for Brutus. He is brought to believe killing Caesar is a good thing, but in the end he dies for it and nearly crushes Rome. Brutus loses all of his dear friends in the battle he created, and loses his best friend by his own hand in the beginning. Feeling sympathy for Brutus is expected, because of all he has given up for his country, he is forced to give up more than he ever expected. He has to give up his friends, his family, his brothers, and the one thing he protected and loved the most, his country.
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