A Comparison between the Characters of Brutus and Cassius in William Shakespeare’s Play Julius Caesar
Brutus and Cassius are two main characters who share many things; one of the most similarities of Cassius and Brutus is that they are both one of noblest and most honorable people in Rome, and both of them ended up in the same path throughout the play. They are both conspirators that killed Caesar and in the end, they both fought the battle against Antony and Octavius, and both Cassius and Brutus died the same way. However, even though they been through the same parts and plots they have contrasting personalities.
Cassius has a crafty personality and he is very narrow minded and impulsive. His narrow minded and impulsive personality can be shown in his argument with Brutus when he became angry over a very small insult and even took the issue of the argument so seriously that he even offered his life just to prove he is right. Cassius’s impulsive personality also led to his downfall when he murders Caesar through jealousy and anger without thinking clearly the consequences of killing him, and because of his murder of Caesar, he and his conspirators were criticize by the Romans as traitors and murderers instead of bringers of justice. Cassius is also a very cunning person as he could easily fool Brutus into taking part in this plan by playing his mind into thinking that Caesar is taking over Rome as a Tyrant.
Brutus is different from Cassius for he is always calm and straight forward. He showed his calmness in his argument with Cassius when he replied Cassius’s every word with a simple explanation without any hesitation or stuttering. He is also very noble, (Act III, Scene ii, lines 19-24) and it is his nobleness that brings him to his end when he was tricked into killing Caesar for the good of the republic. He loved Rome so much that he is willing to kill his friend, Caesar to protect the city from Caesar’s ambition. Brutus is also very straightforward; he makes statements on people without any exceptions. This could be shown when straightforward in his argument with Cassius he told Cassius all the negative things he thinks about him without sugar coating his words. Brutus also has a gullible personality, and would believe anything that anyone said to him, this is how he got tricked into being part of the plot. He immediately believes that Caesar is a tyrant when he saw the fake letters (Act II scene i, lines 10-34) from the people, he didn’t stop to think whether the words of the people matches with his own opinion of Caesar, and he immediately believes the fake letters.
In my opinion Brutus would be a better leader to lead the assassination plot and militarily plot, and to lead the civil war than Cassius because, Brutus is considered the most honorable man in Rome. Everyone looks up to him. Even Antony, at the end of the play, says that he was “the most honorable of them all.” Whenever people decide to do something, they look up to Brutus for approval. Right before the assassination, when one of the conspirators is begging Caesar to bring his brother back from exile Caesar, Brutus starts begging, as he needs to get close to stab as well. When Caesar sees him beg, he tells the others that they might as well stop trying because if he declined their request when Brutus himself begged, he would certainly decline the rest. This also shows that Brutus never has to beg much, as everyone listens to him.
Brutus and Cassius have different ways of recognizing people, different personalities and different values, they deny each other in these three important ways, but together they play an important role in Shakespeare’s play. This is how Shakespeare often shows his characters, by using contrasting characters to emphasize the characteristics of a major character. So I just compared and contrasted the characteristics of Brutus and Cassius, and explained how Brutus would be a better leader than Cassius.
