| Noble Birth | became Caesar’s ‘second in command’ and was always in an aristocratic position in Rome |
| Extraordinary Talents | fantastic on the battlefield |
| Tragic Flaw #1 | idealism/naivety Brutus’ idealism controlled the idea of doing the greater good, which included going against the ideas of Rome and going against the loyalty of his best friend. Brutus put his loyalty into the citizens of Rome over the loyalty towards his best friend, Caesar. His flawed idealism leads him to kill Caesar for the good of Rome, only dependent on his hypothesis in which Caesar would rise to power and overtake Rome’s ideal governmental functions. |
| Error in Judgement | Brutus kills Caesar due to his idealistic views of a greater Rome without Caesar. He also believes that Mark Antony’s speech at Caesar’s funeral would have been to his advantage; it was the opposite. |
| Downfall | Mark Antony destroys Brutus’ heroic and honorable character; Caesar’s death and his speech send Rome into the opposite of Brutus’ image–civil war. |
| Faces death with Courage | Brutus commits his own suicide after he realizes that his damage done to Rome was worse than what Caesar would have ever done, making him “the noblest Roman of them all”. |
Julius Caesar: Brutus as the Tragic Hero
April 13, 2020