William Shakespeare's play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, is mainly based on the assassination of Julius Caesar. The character in charge of this assassination was Marcus Brutus, a close friend of Caesar. Brutus believes he uses wise judgment in his plans to prevail over Caesar. After analyzing Brutus" character, he makes several errors in judgment. Refusing to take an oath, not killing Antony, and allowing Antony to speak at Caesar's funeral are the three most significant errors in judgment Brutus makes.
Brutus strongly goes against the conspirators taking an oath to pledge their loyalty to the group. Brutus feels that the motive of each conspirator is enough to join them together. Little does Brutus know, the conspirators feel free to have doubts and discuss them with others not in the conspiracy. By Brutus" refusal towards an oath, this allows Artemidorus to write a letter warning Caesar and naming each of the conspirators.
The conspirators bring to attention the question of whether or not to kill Antony. They fear that Caesar's death will cause Antony to seek revenge. Cassius states "Let Antony and Caesar fall together," (2.1.161). Brutus feels Antony is powerless without Caesar and that they should "be sacrifices, but not butchers," (2.1.166). Through Brutus" persuasion, they decide that the killing of Antony would be pointless. This decision leads into Brutus" next error of letting Antony speak at Caesar's funeral.
After Caesar's assassination, Antony proposes to speak at the funeral. Cassius strongly disagrees that one of Caesar's loyal friends should address the people. Brutus feels Antony's speech will be harmless and convinces Cassius to let Antony speak after him at the funeral. Because of Antony's powerful speech, the people felt the desire to avenge the murderers of Caesar, and chase all of the conspirators out of Rome.
Refusing to take an oath, not killing Antony, and allowing Antony to speak at Caesar's funeral are the three most significant errors in judgment Brutus makes.