Assassinations almost always bring about something harmful, not something beneficial, and they almost always spell out the doom of the assassin. Lincoln's assassin is caught and punished, Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassin is caught and punished, and the same thing happens with Brutus in Julius Caesar, by Shakespeare. Although Brutus may not have what it takes to be a conventional hero, he has many admirable traits. Even though Brutus is too idealistic, he comes through as being an admirable person because of his loyalty and his persuasiveness.
Through Brutus? experiences it is very easy to see that he is too idealistic to pull off Caesar's assassination without a hitch. One good example of this is what ultimately brings about his death. When Cassius tries to convince Brutus that Antony needs to be killed along with Caesar, Brutus saysAs for Marc Antony, think not of him, for he can do no more than Caesar's arm when Caesar's head is cut off.? (2.1.181-183) This, of course, proves to be disastrously wrong and Antony ends up defeating Brutus? army and causes Brutus to commit suicide. This shows that Brutus is too idealistic because if Brutus bothers to think about anything besides the best case scenario he wouldn't let Antony make his speech that gets the peasants on his side and he wouldn't have been killed. Another instance of Brutus being too idealistic is that he thinks everyone else wants to assassinate Caesar forthe good of the country? and not for their own personal gains and reasons. He is of course wrong on this point too. Nobody else is in it for the good of the country. Brutus doesn't suspect at all that they just need him for his public popularity, and even so, he agonizes for a very long time about whether he should kill Caesar or not, sayingSince Cassius first did whet me against Caesar I have not slept.?(2.1.61-62) Brutus seems to have the constant idea that people have the same idealistic views as himself and that they always want to do everything for the common good.
