JC Essay

Influenced, shaped and killed by Love


“Honor, for his Valor; and death, for his ambition.” Page 130. Brutus is one of the main characters in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. This quote signifies the strength of Brutus’ beliefs. Brutus has a very passionate and undying love for Rome. He is motivated to keep Rome the beautiful city he believes it is and he is not willing to let Caesar destroy it. Brutus is a patriotic, honorable man who believes that Caesar is going to ruin his beloved city of Rome. Brutus conspires against Caesar because he is convinced it is the honorable thing to do for his city.

As the novel progresses, we see that one of Brutus’ main motivators for his actions is honor. Brutus is motivated to protect Rome from the rumors he hears of Caesars ambition getting in the way of the Roman democracy, and Caesar wanting to become king. Believing that he is doing the ethical by the people of Rome and Rome itself, Brutus conspires against Caesar, and plans to take him down before Caesar can take down Rome. “Lets kill him boldly, but not wrathfully; lets carve him as a dish fit for the gods, not hew him as a carcass fit for hounds.” Page 74. In this quote, Brutus is in a meeting with the conspirators and is trying to convince them that, because they are doing the honorable thing by Rome and it’s people, they should do the honorable thing by Caesar as well. In his speech Brutus shows that he believes they are doing the right thing by Rome and are preventing -along with healing- the city from destruction. To further prove that Brutus is motivated by honor, he goes on to say, “Believe me, for mine honor, and have respect to mine honor, to that you may believe.” Page 128. In this quote, Brutus and the conspirators have slain Caesar, and are explaining to the people of Rome, their reasons for the murder of Caesar. This quote means that Brutus is trying to explain to the people, that they have to have faith in his honor, because he did it for honor. In his speech, Brutus truly stresses honor over and over to drive home his main motivation.

Along with honor, Brutus’ patriotism took a big part in his motivation for killing Caesar. Brutus’ deep and passionate love for Rome wouldn’t let anything come in the way of that. It is clearly proven that Brutus is motivated by patriotism when he says, “Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.” Page 128. This quote is also from Brutus’ speech when he is explaining to the commoners why he killed Caesar. This quote shows that Brutus’ patriotism and love for Rome, over-rode his love for Caesar and that this lead to Caesars death. Brutus’ patriotism is further acknowledged when he says whilst confessing to the people of Rome, “As I slew my best lover for the good of Rome.” Page 130. Another justification of Brutus’ patriotism is when at the end of the murder; Brutus tells the conspirators to bath their hands in Caesars blood and walk around Rome showing the people that they have done the righteous thing by their city. The author exaggerates Brutus’ patriotism to such a degree that he is willing to murder one of his best friends for his city’s protection.

In conclusion Brutus’ actions were heavily shaped by his motivation. Honor and Patriotism created the outcome of Caesars death. These traits can be seen as noble and worthy, but Brutus took them to such a degree that in the end, he created a tragedy. He may have achieved his goal of taking down Caesar, but he was not noble or worthy about it. Caesars death turned out to be a catastrophe to the people of Rome and ended up in a war leaving almost all the conspirators dead.