Why Is Brutus A Tragic Hero Essay Example

I once heard, “false friends are worse than open enemies.” Plenty of individuals regard Marcus Brutus to be an honorable man, however, he matches this example perfectly, as the false friend he was to Julius Caesar. Choosing your country over your best friend should be a clear reason as to why he wound up dead in the first place, but is it the only reason? Because of the loving nature of karma, cause and effect, and his honorable flaw, Brutus is clearly a tragic hero.

Without a doubt, karma played a vital role in Brutus’ tragic moment in this particular Shakespeare tragedy. To put it in simple terms, karma is the act of altering one's fate. The story is tragic because Brutus believed he was doing good by assassinating Caesar, his best friend, when in reality it was a terrible decision. Actually, it was so terrible that karma determined that his one and only fate was a one way ticket straight to death. The most important rule to remember in life, whether it is about friendship, family, or anything else, is to treat others the way you want to be treated. This well known rule is recognized as the golden rule. If you are abiding by the golden rule, dying sounds like a relatively reasonable punishment. Disobeying this rule and the effects of karma, Brutus forced himself into a battle for his own life that he ultimately lost.

Even though most people understand what cause and effect is, they don't understand how it correlates to Brutus's character. Already we can identify the effect, which was Brutus dying at the end of the story. To discover the cause, first, we must rewind and consider what Brutus must have done to become the tragic hero. There are a number of things Brutus was accountable for, some good, some bad, but by far the most important was, of course, the assassination of Julius Cesar, which we have already mentioned before, but which we can now see as the major cause for our major effect. In fact, Cause and effect is quite similar to karma. They both depict the story in the same way, with the exception that cause and effect has nothing to do with fate and is an actual proven concept. That is why, using cause and effect, we can look back and connect the dots. Nevertheless, there is still a lot more to learn about his character.

Every tragic hero requires a personality trait or flaw that contributes towards their role. Brutus' flaw was, believe it or not, is being honorable. Obviously, being honorable sounds like a desirable trait, except being a tragic hero is all about being honorable. You must twist one good trait to the point where it twists the entire plot. Assuming he was being honorable, Brutus tried protecting his country from a horrendous leader, and the story led the audience to assume the same thing, but when he performed his honorable act, his entire country turned against him, and whatever remains of his honorableness vanished. Moreover, the only individuals who thought Brutus was honorable were those who participated in the crime with him, thus while they felt the tragedy, the rest of his country had no sympathy and only sought justice. While Shakespeare modified the story to express sympathy to the audience, he created a fantastic work of literature. 

Consequently, Brutus’ actions finally led him to be an indefinite tragic hero. Overcoming a lot of challenges and misjudgment, he still had people under him that believed in him up until his death, clearly that goes to show how influential of a person he really was, even if his decision making wasn’t good enough. Unquestionably, the story portrays Brutus’ character quite well in a way that allows it to be enjoyed by everyone.