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  • Essay / Character of Brutus: Becoming a Hero Through Change

    In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Caesar is a future monarch who is assassinated by a group called the Conspirators whose justification for their actions can be debated. Throughout the story, Brutus switches sides several times, starting as Caesar's best friend, then killing Caesar, and finally ending his life by apologizing to Caesar. The conversation between Antony, Octavius, Massala, Lucilius and Stratus in act 5, scene 5, lines (50-81) depicts Brutus as a distinguished man towards whom everyone feels positively because he did not kill Caesar out of desire for power like the other conspirators and instead did everything for the common good, thus demonstrating his honorable and kind nature. In order to convey these ideas, Shakespeare uses assonance, logo, and foreshadowing, respectively. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Shakespeare uses assonance to draw attention to Brutus' selfless motivations for killing Caesar. By acting for the good of the majority, Brutus proves himself to be a respectable man. Later, when Brutus realizes that he had done wrong in assassinating Caesar, Brutus takes an additional reputable action by committing suicide, declaring: “Caesar, now be silent; I did not kill you with a will half as good” (Vv50-51). Shakespeare helps emphasize main points by using assonance; in this case, the sound "sick" is repeated in key words such as "again", "kill" and "will". This pattern allows words to appear individually to the reader, emphasizing their meaning for the passage. In accordance with what the ancient Romans believed, suicide preserves honor in the face of defeat and further prevents another from taking away one's own honor. At the moment of Brutus' epiphany about how he made the wrong choice in killing Caesar and facing defeat, he obeys this Roman law and impales himself on his own sword, thus maintaining his reputation as honorable. His last words show Brutus regretting his past while questioning the real reasons why he killed himself. Additionally, he wishes "Caesar, now be still" to rest in peace and thinks he did better by committing suicide. Because of the assonance in this passage, Brutus' final words tend to resonate in the reader's mind, leaving them with something to think about throughout their reading. Logos and a hint of personification help portray Brutus as a gentle being in Antony's speech. After hearing the story of Brutus' death, Antony said: "He was the noblest Roman of all...Nature could stand up and say to the world: 'He was a man!' » » (Vv68-75). Antony seduces his audience by using logos by giving logical examples of Brutus' gentleness, for example by saying that Brutus aimed for "the common good". Then he praises Brutus as an example of the goodness of nature with the words "Nature could stand up and say to the whole world, 'That was a man!' » » Shakespeare also manifests personification here by characterizing nature as a literal figure possessing the qualities of a human. In Antony's eyes, Brutus was the "noblest Roman" because he did not commit murder "out of envy of the great Caesar", but rather for the common good. Brutus believed that by killing Caesar he had liberated Rome and preserved its democracy, and would therefore be doing something beneficial to the majority. Likewise, the logic that readers see in Antony's arguments helps Antony in his description of Brutus as a gentle being. Notably, Brutus being.