Printable View
I have to wright an essay on who is the protagonist and antagonist for this play. I have no clue how to start it off and if Brutus is the protagonist or antagonist. I need evidence from the play to back up my answer and if anyone has any clue on what to do I will be really thankful. thanks!
In the modern analysis, Brutus is seen as the protagonist because of how he sticks to his word, how he never breaks his honour, and how he never manipulates anyone. He does what he sees as best for Rome, not for himself (like any other character in the book). Modern society does not see the same loyalty to the monarch (or Caesar) as feudal society did.
In the medieval analysis, Brutus was seen as the antagonist. The peasantry, who were loyal to the monarchy, hated Brutus because he broke his loyalty (although in favour of what he thought was right). The word "brutal" comes from the name Brutus.
I can't write your essay for you. I've probably given you too much of a clue already, but I bet it's too late anyway. I hope you read this and further analyze it yourself, but I doubt you will. Your essay was due long ago.
You're right about Brutus being a genuinely good man, but that doesn't necessarily qualify him as a protagonist, unless you take protagonist to mean the most heroic or noble character in the play. While protagonist has, in contemporary usage, become synonymous with heroism, the O.E.D. defines the protagonist as simply the leading character in a play. With that definition, Brutus would also be a likely candidate for protagonist.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Vandemar
Of course, playwrights and critics have developed many definitions of protagonist. Some playwrights follow a particular definition and others do not. While Shakespeare probably understood that an effective play needs at least one strong central character, he almost certainly never used the term "protagonist" to describe that character, since the word doesn't appear in English until the 1660s, well after his death.
Because "protagonist" is a term loaded with multiple meanings, when asking, "Who is the protagonist in Julius Caesar?" one should define how the term is being used. I appreciate the fact that while the original poster didn't bother to do that, you did.
I'm curious, though, about what you describe as a medieval analysis. Historians often use the rule of Henry VII to mark the point when Renaissance culture slowly began to overtake medieval culture in England. So I imagine you're referring to English literature written prior to 1500. So far as I know, the story of Brutus and his fellow conspirators does not appear in a form that would have been accessible to English peasants.
In Italy, medieval culture begins to be supplanted by Renaissance culture earlier than in England. The prime example of medieval literature that deals with Brutus is Dante's Divine Comedy (c. 1310). Dante puts Brutus in the lowest circle of hell because he believed Brutus was responsible for destroying Italian unity when he assassinated Caesar. But this idea doesen't connect to the notion that peasants were against Brutus because they were loyal to the aristocracy. In fact, I can't figure out exactly how the peasantry would have learned of Brutus' story, since almost all of them were illiterate.
Finally, the etymology of "brutal" offers no direct link to the name "Brutus." In Latin, "brutus" means slow, heavy, or clumsy. When "brute" first entered English usage in the late 1400s, it described unthinking beasts of burden. The word "brutal" developed from that connection, not from the Brutus of history.