When people think of a hero, if they do not imagine Superman or Batman, they probably think of someone who does something heroic, like saving someone's life. What is a tragic hero then? A tragic hero can be defined in many ways. It seems to be an oxymoron because the term tragic symbolizes bad and the term hero symbolizes good. Then is a tragic hero good or bad? The answer to this simple question is complicated. A tragic hero possesses both good and bad qualities. Most of the time a tragic hero does something bad to make something good happen. An example of this is shown in the well known Shakespearean play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, wherein Marcus Brutus is identified as a tragic hero. The rest of this paper explains why. .
Throughout the play, Brutus commits many crimes and wrong assumptions. The most obvious of these is when he takes part in the assassination of Caesar. While in his orchard, Brutus says to Lucius, "It must be by his death; and for my part,/ I know no personal cause to spurn at him,/ But for the general. He would be crowned./ How that might change his nature, there's the question." Even though Brutus cannot justify the murder of a friend who has yet to misuse the powers of his office, he believes that the citizens of Rome will approve of the assassination. Knowing this, we can say that Brutus does not make wise decisions and is not a man rich in morals. On the other hand, we cannot completely say that Brutus is a villain because he is not a very bright man. Brutus is naive, close-minded, and underestimating. He does not realize the things that Cassius, Casca, and Antony are capable of achieving, and he does not notice things that a perceptive man would. But most importantly, he underestimates the cleverness of Antony and allows him to convince the Roman citizens that the conspirators were wrong to murder Caesar. Therefore, I believe that Brutus, as a tragic hero, is neither completely virtuous, nor utterly villainous.