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William ShakespeareJulius Caesar
Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1599A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Character Analysis
Marcus Brutus
Brutus is a patrician Roman senator who is notable for his rigid honor and sense of virtue. Brutus is the most famous conspirator in Shakespeare’s version of Caesar’s assassination. Brutus and Caesar shared a close friendship, making Brutus’s betrayal more significant than that of the other senators. Brutus can be considered the tragic hero of the play. His tragic flaw is his adherence to his sense of justice, which puts him at odds with Mark Antony after Caesar’s death and ultimately leads to his suicide. Antony praises Brutus after his death, saying, “This was the noblest Roman of all” because he turned against Caesar for the good of the republic, rather than personal gain (5.5.67).
The conflict Brutus faces stems from the fact that he logically knows that Caesar presents an existential threat to Rome, yet he does not wish to turn against a friend. Cassius convinces Brutus that Caesar’s death is for the greater good. Brutus gets the other conspirators to agree not to kill Mark Antony, even though he presents a danger to them due to his loyalty to Caesar. Following the assassination, Brutus takes on a leadership role, addressing the mob of plebeians alone to convince them that Caesar needed to be killed for the good of the Republic. He is initially successful, but Mark Antony turns the crowd against them. Brutus and Cassius raise armies against Mark Anthony and Octavius, Caesar’s heir. However, Brutus is visited by the ghost of Caesar, a manifestation of his own guilt for killing a friend, foreshadowing his downfall on the fields of Philippi. When his army is routed, Brutus commits suicide to avoid the dishonor of being captured.
Caius Cassius
Cassius is a Roman Senator and the conspirator who convinces Brutus to turn against Julius Caesar. While Caesar trusts Brutus, he is more wary of Cassius, noting to Mark Antony that “Yon Cassius has a lean and hungry look./ He thinks too much. Such men are dangerous” (1.2.195-196). This indicates that Cassius is power-hungry and that Caesar is right to distrust him.
A patrician, Cassius looks down upon the plebeians, whom he blames for putting Caesar in a position of power. While Brutus is concerned about preserving the Roman Republic, Cassius is selfish and angry that the public loves and venerates Caesar. He uses underhanded means to convince Brutus of Caesar’s guilt, such as using flattery and forging letters supposedly from the public that address grievances toward Caesar (1566).
After the assassination, Cassius urges Brutus not to allow Mark Antony to deliver a funerary oration. This turns out to be shrewd advice: Mark Antony manages to turn the plebeians against the conspirators, precipitating a civil war with Cassius and Brutus pitted against Octavius and Mark Antony. Cassius is shown to be a hypocrite for using his position for money; this briefly causes a schism between Cassius and Brutus. Despite his flaws, Cassius is a loyal friend. During the battle with Mark Antony and Octavius’s forces, Cassius sends Titinius on a scouting mission. When he thinks Titinius has fallen in battle, he says, “O coward that I am, to live so long/ To see my best friend ta’en before my face!” (5.3.34-35). Cassius commits suicide with the same sword he used on Caesar.
Julius Caesar
A Roman Consul and populist dictator, Julius Caesar is the figure around whom the action of the play revolves, even though he is assassinated in Act III. Caesar is a celebrated general. His exploits include subjugating Gaul and defeating his fellow Consul, Pompey, in a civil war. Despite his popularity among the plebeians, the patrician senators, particularly Cassius, are wary of his rise to power. During the festival of Lupercalia, Mark Antony offers him kingship three times. Though Caesar refuses, the Senate plans to coronate him the next day on the Ides of March. Caesar is not assassinated for what he is done. Rather, he is killed for what he might have been capable of—or, as Brutus puts it, for his ambition.
Caesar is a figure of great hubris. His pride and arrogance render him blind to the dangers around him. Though he seems suspicious of Cassius, Caesar does not act upon this suspicion. He is warned to “Beware the ides of March” by a soothsayer on Lupercalia, a portent he casually dismisses (1.2.19). Moreover, he refuses to heed other omens and warnings, including those given by Artemidorus and his own wife, Calpurnia. Caesar’s ghost later visits Brutus to punish his “evil spirit” (4.2.333).
Mark Antony
Roman General Mark Antony is Caesar’s chief supporter in the play. He is trusting and loyal, but also opportunistic. A skillful orator, he is well-known to the plebeians. As Caesar’s biggest supporter, he offers Caesar the crown three times on Lupercalia; Antony later presents Caesar’s three refusals as evidence against Brutus’s allegation that Caesar was ambitious. Mark Antony misguidedly defends Cassius when Caesar voices his distrust of the Senator; he believes that Cassius is noble and thus trustworthy. Brutus underestimates Antony, which proves to be a fatal mistake: his choice to spare Mark Antony against Cassius’s wishes leads to the battle that culminates in Brutus and Cassius’s deaths. Though he is loyal to Caesar, Antony uses the power vacuum following his death as an opportunity to seize power alongside Octavius, Caesar’s heir.
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