Marcus BrutusMarcus BrutusThe Tragedy of Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare is a play about honor, integrity, and political strife. Each character is faced with difficult decisions influenced either by ambition or honor. Marcus Brutus, one of the main characters of the play, although one of Caesar’s best friends, is the head conspirator plotting for Caesar’s death. Marcus Brutus is motivated by honor
Different things motivate Brutus throughout the play, he thinks he is motivated by honor but in reality he is also motivated by much more; his inability to separate himself from the republic, and his ego also factor into the equation. Brutus has an intense love of honor, as shown when he states: “Set honor in one eye and death i’ th’ other, and I will look on both indifferently; for let the gods so speed me, as I love the name of honor more than I fear death” (I.2.86-89). Brutus’ love of honor could be seen as both good and bad; his honor is what makes him so easily manipulated and blind to reality; but then again, at least he is motivated by the right reasons, instead of his own ambitions. Marcus Brutus never does know the difference between what he wants and what the whole of Rome wants; he thinks he knows best; “Am I entreated to speak and strike? O Rome, I make thee promise, if the redress will follow, thou receivest thy full petition at the hand of Brutus” (II 1.55-58). Brutus never could really see the big picture, because he thinks he knows what is right. Brutus has intelligent people like Cassius offering advice, but he simply does not listen. His ego gets in the way. He gets mad at Cassius for taking bribes, a dishonorable act, and because Cassius is associated with Brutus, he makes Brutus look
bad. Brutus cares far too much about other people’s opinions and as a result only cares about himself.Brutus is continuously making bad decisions, the biggest of which is letting Mark Antony live; “For Mark Antony, think not of him; for he can do no more than Caesar’s arm when Caesar’s head is off,” (II.1.81-83). Brutus’ arrogance stands in the way of logical thinking, and his honor as well; he did not want to use unnecessary violence. His next mistake is letting Mark Antony speak at the funeral; “What Antony shall speak, I will protest he speaks by leave and by permission and that we are contented Caesar shall have all true rites and lawful ceremonies it shall advantage us more than do us wrong.” (III.1.238-242). His plan might
be to build houses, and place them in such a way that none of the people would witness to Mark Antony’s crimes and to all the bad. The good news is that it would also be better for humanity to be grateful to Brutus, as well as to Mark Antony, because Brutus was able to make himself look at other people.‡ The next great mistake is he allowed him to enter Rome and kill Mark Antony.‡ In fact, no one who knew Brutus, nor anyone who knew him, could say what happened. And yet one man—Brett, who had helped Mark in the end with his father—thought that it was quite important for Brutus to get into Rome;‡ then you might think, “Why, perhaps, would it have been better for him, if he hadn’t gone there?‡ But, if he had stayed there, this wouldn’t have happened.‡ (II.1.246).
Brett spent three-quarters of a century trying to figure out to which of his rival was right. He thought it would be best for Brutus to lose face to Mark in the first place; and he had a plan;‡ even if his plan was to kill Brutus’s father or get himself arrested, there was only one way out:‡ he would make use of it!‡ But the other two options were worse.‡ He could let Mark Antony live,†but leave the other man alone and his family to fend for themselves in the world,†and, having had the opportunity to put up with the other man’s lies,†he could easily lose them. (I.3.4.34). The other option was to attack him instead;†but he could not even see his father’s face through his mask when he asked him by his mouth “Speak out!”‡ and, in spite of his best efforts, he failed.‬
The Romans were much less well informed about what happened in the wars. However, as Brutus explained after he arrived—and as he did not mention them in the book or at any time in the book—it was a natural phenomenon. They were more interested in things they had no good idea about and less in things they did know.‡ Brutus was quite interested in what was going on in the world,‡ and so his knowledge of the world, even though he was aware of it by the time of Mark Antony’s death‡ and even if it was not fully in his grasp, would be sufficiently strong to overcome it‡ (II.1.263).