A Study On Brutus V Cassius English Literature Essay

Published Date: 23 Mar 2015

Throughout the play, Julius Caesar, many characters contrasted each other, but there were two who stuck out the most and they happened to be Brutus and Cassius. Brutus and Cassius appear to be similar, but very diverse in different aspects of their life. Brutus has a genuine personality, and Cassius changes his personality when he is around different people. The four basic differences that Brutus and Cassius shared were personality, leadership, relationships, and handling crises.

These two had several differences in their personalities. Brutus was a very honorable man, as Anthony stated in his speech several times. He always would put his honors at the top of his priorities. On the other hand, Cassius wants to get to the bottom of the case. He is more of a problem solver, than a wise thinker. He mainly tried to find out why Anthony was so loyal to Caesar. Brutus felt he had more power over Cassius because he had a high government position. Every time Brutus and Cassius would quarrel, Brutus would be victorious. When Cassius had an idea, Brutus would always make up another idea, even though Brutus could have been completely wrong. Therefore, Cassius felt his ideas and work to be meaningless.

Brutus was a fierce leader. He always carried out his orders, no matter how tough they were. Cassius did a good job in rounding up all of the conspirators, but he did not finish out the job. Brutus took control of them and led them to kill Caesar. Cassius would always fall under Brutus' control every time he had a good idea. Cassius came up the idea to overthrow Caesar and kill him, but he did not have the strength to carry out the operation by himself especially when there was a crisis at stake.

Brutus had a strong relationship with Caesar. Brutus was known for his honorable traits. Antony, in his speech, even mentions, "And Brutus is an honorable man."(Act III, Scene II, 95) When Caesar said, "Et tu, Brute," (Act III, Scene I, 85) he thought that they were good friends and thought Brutus would never harm him. For Brutus to kill a man, he must have done it for the right cause. Cassius liked Caesar just as much, but had a different opinion. Caesar basically became a god to the Roman people. When the Romans thought of him as this, he could get the people to what he wanted, he wanted. In a way, Cassius was frightened and jealous of Caesar's power. Cassius and Brutus both finished off Caesar for the good of Rome.

Neither Brutus nor Cassius were strong at dealing with crises. Brutus was said to be a rational thinker. When crises came up, though, he would always take the easy way out. At the end of the play, he ended up killing himself because he could not make the decision whether to go and fight or kill himself. Cassius does not think about the crisis, he reacts. When he heard Antony was going to kill all of the conspirators, he thought it would be best to kill Antony along with Caesar.

As you can see, Brutus and Cassius were both strong leaders, but Brutus always had the upper hand. He was outspoken with a high government position. Whoever tried to quarrel with him, he would come out on top. Brutus knew what he was doing at all times and never questioned himself. Cassius, on the other hand, turned out weak compared to Brutus. He knew how to lead people, but did not think he could possibly do it. Cassius and Brutus broth had some similarities but contradicted each other in many areas. They were both great examples of leaders in Julius Caesar.