Book Time

Alright, I just risked my life in this new snow storm to buy my own copy of Julius Caesar because I knew you readers were waiting patiently for me to post again. This is the post to make up for Monday’s “IOU”, so enjoy it!

So, this is actually the first piece of literature that got me really interested in the whole “heroes gone bad” idea. I mean, I read this in 10th grade, right after Crime and Punishment, and I really saw Brutus as an extraordinary man (see my first blog for a link). Everyone knows that Brutus is great, wonderful, and wise, and if not for the whole killing of Caesar part, Brutus could have seen himself rise above in history and take on a great hero status. Unfortunately, though, Brutus is too trusting and naïve and Cassius all too easily convinces Brutus that Caesar is too prideful and will turn tyrant once he becomes more powerful. Brutus keeps the impression that he is doing the right thing and being heroic until the very end, but in reality, he’s just made himself a murderer.

That’s my whole point with this project. Brutus was an extraordinary man, able to go above the law and above others because of his character and person, before he killed Caesar. Until that point, Brutus never over-used his heroic nature and stayed within his own rights and laws. Killing Caesar was the move that pushed Brutus over the line and made him a villain…

OK, I’m going to try to explain my theory thus far, so try to stay with me… Like I have stated before and in other blogs, an extraordinary man has the ability to go above and beyond ordinary laws. A lot of times the people (yes, once again, almost always white men) become heroic by overstepping the lines other can’t cross. The way one becomes a hero depends on the outcome and intention of their action or actions. If more good than bad occurs, then the character is usually seen as a moral, justified person. If the bad outweighs the good that is brought, or was thought to have brought, the line was probably over stepped and the person goes down with the bad. It may be a little sketchy still, but I am trying so please comment if you have more imput or questions.

Anyways, back to poor Brutus. In his case, while he thought he was doing the right thing, the bad that came about his action outweighed his intended good, and ultimately made Brutus take his own life. Right after Caesar’s death, Brutus and Cassius run out of the city, build up armies, and begin fighting. More than one unnecessary death occurs. If he only waited for Caesar to become the corrupt dictator everyone feared he would (or at least said he would), then maybe Brutus could have lived a wonderful life as a hero to the people. Now, I do have to point out that Brutus was still called “the noblest Roman of them all” (Act V Scene V) but that was only because his intentions did stay true. However, in this case, intent does mean nothing when compared to the action.

More to come!

And by that, I mean I’m going to sit down for 2 hours, re-read all of Julius Caesar, have a long discussion with my dad, get very confused, then come back to my blog with my newly learned knowledge and insight.

Ok, from re-reading the play, I noticed that everyone says nothing but praise and nice things to Brutus even after he kills Caesar.  Now, I did mention that before, but I thought at one point people did start to question his nobility.  However, I was wrong.  So then I became very confused with my views of Brutus.  I mean, he clearly went above the mystic line I always speak of because Caesar didn’t necessarily have to die.  But at the same time, the leaders of Rome and other high figures made it a mission to keep Brutus’s memory a good, noble, and moral one.  I could not, and sort of still can’t, figure out how those two could work together.

So I talked with my dad, who owns literally (yes, I do mean literally, I can weigh it for you) over 2 tons of books and knows a little of just about everything, and he explained that Brutus was supposed to be portrayed the way he was to show that tyranny and self-importance in decisions and conflicts don’t work.  Brutus bases everything he does off of what he thinks will better Rome and leaves himself out of the equation; Cassius and Caesar don’t.  My dad said I have to be careful with using Shakespeare because his reasons for writing the play are not the same as my intentions for using the play.

But that talk lead me to believe that Brutus then wasn’t a bad guy or someone who over-stepped the line.  Clearly he was trying to better his world with no personal gain.  Again, though, my dad helped me out and told me to look at the big picture and back at my own thoughts on heroes and villains.  I said that if the bad outweighed the good, then something went wrong, so I looked at Brutus and Rome at the time and asked myself if there was more bad or good.  The answer I found was that since Caesar’s death lead to civil war and Mark Antony taking over, more bad was definitely done.  (Yes, I know I already said this too, but now I feel more convinced.) 

So now I’m back and forth on my thoughts of Brutus  but ultimately I feel that he gave up his extraordinary abilities when he allowed himself to be manipulated by Cassius and then stepped over his bounds by killing Caesar.  Cassius made killing Caesar seem like the right thing to do to Brutus, and if Brutus would have allowed his own emotions to come out and help, which he didn’t believe in doing, he could have seen through Cassius’s plan and probably wouldn’t have killed Caesar.  But by giving up his own strengths to Cassius, Brutus became an average person who was then unable to justify the killing of another human-being.  He is still called noble because he did everything right (meaning he kept his reasons to only what Rome would have wanted and needed), he just wasn’t extraordinary anymore. 

Brutus is a good show of someone who goes too far, and yet I can’t call him the villain anymore.  He did the wrong thing for the right reason, but in the end, he could have avoided it all.

I know a lot of that was just repetitive, but I needed to clarify all of that for myself.  That really is the main purpose of this anyways, right?  For me to formulate my ideas and go into details the things I learn on my way?  Well, I think it is, so you all will just have to deal!

Alright, now I’m done…hopefully…