JULIUS CAESAR: TRAGEDY OR NOT?

JULIUS CAESAR: TRAGEDY OR NOT?

I think that "Julius Caesar" is a very beautiful tragedy by William Shakespeare.

The story is taken from "Plutarch's Lives", but Shakespeare never came to Italy and he didn't know very well Roman history. He used the English translation of Plutarch, so the events aren't all real. Heroes usually give the name of the title in tragedy, but Caesar seems to not be the protagonist, in fact, he dies in the third act. Instead, traditional tragedy can be divided into different sections: the introduction, where the characters and the situation is presented, the climax, a fatal episode, the decline and the catastrophe for the protagonist.

The tragic hero usually takes a course of actions, which is fatal to himself, he makes a fatal mistake, which brings him to death.

Instead in "Julius Caesar" the central theme is the assassination of Julius Caesar, but I think that the tragic hero is Brutus.

In fact, he is represented like a noble character, who loves Rome more than he loves himself or Caesar. He is loyal and honourable, this word his often repeated in Anthony's speech.

In the first act, Brutus doesn't want murder Caesar, but then Cassius convinces him to do it for the common wealth.

He kills Caesar because of his ambition, because he wants live free not slave.

However, Brutus commits a fatal mistake: he lets Anthony speak after himself and Anthony changes people's mind with a powerful oration. People consider him like a traitor and they want revenge Caesar. The events decline to the catastrophe, so in the fifth act both Brutus and Cassius commit suicide.

So the traditional structure of tragedy is respected not for Caesar but for Brutus, even if he doesn't give the name to the title of this tragedy.