Brutus as The Noblest Roman of Them All

The play starts off with Julius Caesar entering Rome after his victory in the civil war against Pompey. Some of the conspirators feel that Caesar has become too powerful, so they conceive a plan to kill him. After we meet Brutus, a highly respected, much loved, senator of Rome. He loved Rome as a republic and he had a life of honesty as a model senator of Rome up until he is led astray by a conspirator named Cassius who threw flattering letters through the loyal Brutus’s window saying that he should be emperor of Rome. In act 2 scene 1 Brutus delivers a long soliloquy in which he debates the rights and wrongs of killing Caesar. Cassius suggests “let Antony and Caesar fall together”. But Brutus is against this as he feels it would make the conspirators “too bloody and more like butchers than sacrifices”. Here Brutus shows himself to be merciful and that he has very noble traits. Despite this, as Brutus spent more time with Cassius he becomes more and more embroiled in the assassination of Caesar, even though he is very reluctant to do so.

As the day of the assassination approached Brutus spent more and more time thinking about the conspiracy he had some sleepless nights over what he should do. But finally, after a few days of thinking about it he decided to kill Caesar for the nobility of it, and in addition to prevent Rome from becoming a dictatorship.

On the “Ides of March” the conspirators and Caesar all meet at the Senate House. That is when all the conspirators kill Julius Caesar one by one. After seeing Caesar’s body Mark Antony, Caesar’s associate, plans revenge for Caesar’s killing. Antony then plans an alliance with Octavius. The play ends with Mark Antony winning the battle against the devious Cassius and the vulnerable Brutus.

In truth, Antony only wanted to gain the conspirator’s trust to be able to defeat the conspirators through the citizens of Rome. We can easily see how Brutus was manipulated in this part of the story by the conspirators and Mark Antony. Brutus has great sense of honour and he thinks that others think in the same way. It is this weakness in Brutus that makes him so easy to be manipulated. Brutus is also shown as being decisive in the play. He easily makes decisions that are followed without a moment’s hesitation.

Even though Antony avenged Caeser he still said, “This was the noblest roman of them all”. Yet this only happened after he had won the battle and after he found that Brutus had killed himself on the grounds of Philippi. Although Brutus had participated in the assassination of Julius Caesar, Mark Anthony, Caeser’s nephew, was praising Brutus as a noble person.

During the assassination of Caesar, Caesar took all the knife wounds caused by the other conspirators, but, when he saw Brutus with a knife in his hand he cried out “Et tu, Brute? (which translates as; Even you, Brutus?)- Then fall Caesar!” This shows how shocked he was at the fact that his own best friend ended up betraying him. This additionally was a suprise because Brutus was normally a very loyal friend. After the assassination, Brutus speaks to the crowd, who were demanding an explanation. He made a good speech and successfully justifies his reasons to kill Caesar. To prove this fact, he says “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”. This shows that he was truly noble as it proves he did it for all the right reasons. He also allowed Anthony to speak at Caesars funeral. While it was a dangerous decision, it was also a brave decision. However, Anthony swings the crowd over to his side and he partners with Octavius to get revenge on the conspirators. Meanwhile, Brutus and Cassius are having an argument. Brutus is accusing Cassius of taking bribes, and therefore undoing the goodness that Brutus thought killing Caesar had done. He also accuses Cassius of having “an itchy palm”. This shows that he was righteous, and he loved by high standards. At the end Brutus kills himself instead of being captured and then paraded as a disgrace.

At the end of the battle Antony now comes to praise Brutus, not to bury him. Out of all the conspirators, only Brutus thought of the "common good," and had honest intentions toward the general people of Rome. The rest merely envied Caesar’s greatness and due to Cassius’s manipulation Brutus ended up thinking it a real threat to the Republic.

Brutus can be summarized as a welcoming and loving person. Although he’s classified as a conspirator against Caesar, he tried to not scare Romans and Antony. After killing Caesar, Brutus attempts to explain and make peace with Antony by saying: “Our hearts you see not; they are pitiful; And pity to the general wrong of Rome”.

In conclusion I do believe that Brutus was the noblest Roman of them all I think the servant speaking in act 3 scene 1 described Brutus perfectly “Brutus is noble, wise, valiant and honest”. However, although he was noble and had the very best of intentions he was ultimately naive and too trusting. His realism overcame his reason and he paid the price for it.