Brutus's Honor and Devotion Towards Rome

“Believe me for mine honour, and have respect to mine honour, that you may believe.” (pg128) In the play the Julius Ceasar, all Brutus can do is hope his country sees how honorable and devoted he is and hope they accept his reasons for killing Ceasar. Brutus is lets the people decide for themselves if his act is honorable or not. This also shows his devotion to the people in letting them think of him what they please without being forced. Brutus’ honor and devotion drove him to kill Ceasar for the good of Rome.

Brutus believes that to be a true Roman one must be honorable and contribute to the society. He is always and honorable to his country, doing only what he truly believes is for Rome’s good. Because Ceasar was becoming ambitious Brutus killed him, as this was the only solution to free Rome of becoming a monarchy again. “It must be by his death; and for my part, I know no personal cause to spurn at him, but for the general good.” Brutus is showing his honor to his country, because even though, he has no personal charges against Ceasar, he is willing to kill his friend for the good and freedom of his people. This caused mixed feelings between the people. Some may have found Brutus’ act dishonorable. But even Antony, Ceasar’s good friend, secretly found Brutus honorable. “All the conspirators save only he did that they did in envy of great Ceasar; He only, in a general honest thought and common good to all…” Even though Antony was angry and upset that Brutus killed Ceasar he truly believed that Brutus was the one conspirator that had done this out of the goodness of his heart. This shows how Brutus’ honor might have been absent to his people, but it was there to those who looked more carefully.

Brutus was the most devoted man to his country and people. He killed his own friend for them and even offered his own chest for them to stab. Brutus would go to any heights to please not only the people around him, but his entire country. After killing Ceasar, Brutus allowed the people to make their own decisions on weather they think him honorable or not. “ …to him I say that Brutus’ love to Ceasar was no less than his… Not that I loved Ceasar less, but that I loved Rome more.” Ceasar was becoming ambitious and Brutus feared he might do wrong so he slew him and left it to Rome to decide his fate. Brutus devotion is shown in how, even though he believes his act was honorable, he is leaving it to the people to decide. Rome is so important to Brutus he is even willing to give his own chest to stab with the same dagger Ceasar was killed. “With this I depart, as I slew my best lover for the good of Rome, I have the same dagger for myself, when it shall please my country to need my death” Brutus later gets one of his soldiers to kill him once they lose the battle against Antony and Octavius’ army. He does this only for his people and his devotion is truly evident throughout the play.

When Brutus killed Ceasar, Some people found this a dishonorable act and set out to get revenge over his assassination. Even though the people could not see it, honor and devotion were the motivators behind this act. Even though these motivators caused Brutus to kill his friend, which resulted in a war, some, such as Antony were able to see through the anger and betrayal. But even though Antony saw this he kept fighting for revenge and this was not was Ceasar wanted. In the end Brutus achieved his goal to free Rome of Ceasar, but it took much bloodshed, including his own, and violence to get Antony to finally confess. Brutus might not have achieved his goal peacefully and democratically the way he had planned but he finally set Rome free. This goal was definitely noble and worth, because Brutus was only doing it, for what he believed was the good of Rome.