Julius Caesar - Who was the villain?

[drewder]

Hello everyone,
I'm new here and in fact I searched for this form just so I could discuss the following topic. In the play Julius Caesar who is the villain? The answer, which I believed when I first read it in Jr. High, seems to be Brutus. After all he betrayed and killed his best friend and caused a civil war in Rome. I have an alternative theory that in fact the villain of the piece is the title character, Mr Caesar himself. I base this on the fact that Caesar had brought about the end of the Roman Republic and turned it into his own personal empire. Brutus and the others were trying, even though they failed, to save the country and the Roman way of life. Any thoughts on this or am I barking up an odd tree.

[togre]

It has been a while since reading the play, but I agree that Brutus isn't the true villain. He actually may be a tragic hero of sorts, not desiring power or acting out of malice but offering everything he has (going so far as to give up his honor and murder his friend) upon the altar of the Republic. I get the feeling that Mark Anthony is somewhat villainous. His "Friends, Romans, Countrymen.." speech is manipulating popular opinion, causing the murder of Caesar to lead to civil war, when that wasn't a necessary consequence. Also what are his motives? I'm foggy here, but I don't think that they are purely selfless. So he's a good candidate for villain. And maybe Cassius too. What Brutus did for noble reasons he did for ignoble reasons.

As far as Caesar being the villain--Is that the impression you get from history or from the play? I needed to study history for a while before I recognized Brutus' angst over Caesar's actions--in the play itself I found the reasons for his murder less urgent than Brutus felt they were.

[OrphanPip]

I don't think any character in this play can truly be described as a villain.

We have to consider the two sides.

The first side is the Republicans represented by Cassius and Brutus. They want to maintain the Roman Republic and its form of democratic government. Cassius' interest in maintaining the status quo is much more selfish than Brutus', but I find it hard to condemn him for wanting to prevent Julius Caesar from gaining absolute power. Brutus is certainly a tragic hero, he seems convinced by Cassius' arguments for preventing Julius from crowning himself emperor. Brutus betrays his friend for the greater interest of the republic, and he pays the ultimate price at the end.

The other side is the supporters of Augustus Caesar, the most prominent member is Mark Antony. Mark Antony isn't a completely unsympathetic character either. The issue of Caesar's right to rule is complicated because Shakespeare himself lived within a monarchy not a democratic republic. Challenging the right of Augustus to take the throne would challenge contemporary notions of good government. Mark Antony I think is more of a devoted servant, which seems like a virtuous quality. Also, Shakespeare is in part bound by the circumstances of the historical events. I don't think finding blame for the civil war is all that important.

I think this play is the tragedy of Brutus' conviction to see out what he thinks is best for the Roman people, even if it requires murder. If Brutus truly believed in the Roman Republic and didn't want to see a tyrant rule over Rome, he had no other choice but to kill Caesar. The tragedy is that it results in a civil war and the death of the conspirators.

I haven't read the play in a long while as well, so I may have some aspects wrong.

[kelby_lake]

The closest one to a villain is Cassius. Caesar was deluded and believed his own mythology about him being a god-like politician. Brutus was trying to restore nobility and do what he thought was right in what he saw as a flawed society. The line in Hamlet 'Denmark's a prison' is an echo of 'What trash is Rome!'

But even Cassius had flaws. The play is so great because there isn't really a villain and we have two tragic figures- Brutus and Caesar.

[dfloyd]

the noblest Roman of them all, while Cassius has a lean and hungry look.

[kelby_lake]

Indeed. Brutus resembles the old Roman nobility- Cassius believes that the rest of Rome has turned to trash.

[Mr. Pedantic]

Well, in Dante's inferno Brutus and Cassius are in the bottom layer of hell. So I'm going to have to agree with Dante since regicide is the worst sin in the eyes of most Elizabethans.

[moshea]

Personally, I think that the true villain in this story is narrow minded thinking. Caesar gets carried away with his arrogance and Cassius with his 'itching palm'. Brutus is both gullible and a patriot, making him a very dangerous catalyst character. Antony clearly has his own personal agenda if he is willing to start a civil war out of some strange sense of obligation.
Also, while most of us may be for democracy, Augustus' empire after the fall of the senate was arguably far more successful than the Roman Republic. Under his rule, Rome saw the longest period of peace in int history.

[cafolini]

Personally, I think that the true villain in this story is narrow minded thinking. Caesar gets carried away with his arrogance and Cassius with his 'itching palm'. Brutus is both gullible and a patriot, making him a very dangerous catalyst character. Antony clearly has his own personal agenda if he is willing to start a civil war out of some strange sense of obligation.
Also, while most of us may be for democracy, Augustus' empire after the fall of the senate was arguably far more successful than the Roman Republic. Under his rule, Rome saw the longest period of peace in int history.

How little you must know of history in order to make that statement about peace.