Julius Caesar: Brutus or Caesar As the Protagonist.
The play Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, tells the story of a man trying his best to make reasonable, rational decisions. Marcus Brutus is this struggling character who eludes constant pressure from all sides to gloriously pull through, yet dies at play's end. Undoubtedly, Brutus is the main character, and driving force of the play, despite the misleading title of Julius Caesar. Three critical aspects show the reader the non-essentialness of Julius Caesar. Caesar appears, in dreams, and thoughts of multiple people, giving warnings and special messages. Nobody seems to pay attention to him. Another example illustrates itself by the way that Brutus seems to dominate his own actions. Also, Antony declares war on Brutus, but not out of love for Caesar, but anger toward the conspirators.
Caesar warns numerous people of ensuing tragedies multiple times, and not once do they listen to him. When Brutus sees the likeness of Caesar in a dream, Caesar gives an ominous message telling Brutus not to go to Philipi. ". . . thou shalt see me at Philipi."(Shakespeare, Pg.97) The unimportant and un-believed ghost of Caesar is perceived as merely a "day dream". Brutus, not paying any attention to the dead and gone Caesar, does not listen. In this sense, Caesar does not make a strong enough impression upon other characters in the play to be taken seriously. The word Caesar often manifests itself in their dying words of the characters of the play. "Caesar, thou art revenged, even with the sword that killed thee."(Shakespeare, Pg.96) Brutus's final words are somewhat similar to the previous quote, "Caesar, now be still; I killed not thee with half so good a will."(Shakespeare, Pg.103) These words show that although final thoughts consisted of the evil crime they had committed,!.
Caesar had nothing to do with their deaths. Caesar, although a highly respectable man, had no more influence on the outcome of the play than did any character.