"Brutus and Cassius"

The contrast between Brutus and Cassius is really one of the most important features of the play, Julius Caesar. Brutus is recognized by everybody in Rome as a noble-minded man. Casca says that Brutus stands high in all the people's hearts. Brutus's participation in the conspiration against Caesar would make the assassination of Caesar appear to be a noble deed. In a soliloquy, Cassius himself says that Brutus is a man of a noble character though he can he misled and lured into a wrong path. At the end of the play, Antony pays a high tribute to Brutus by saying that Brutus was the noblest of all the Romans who joined the conspiracy against Caesar. No such praise is given by any person in the play to Cassius and discuss about Compare and Contrast between the characters of Brutus and Cassius.

In tact, it is only Caesar who makes an elaborate comment upon cassius's character and this comment is most adverse. Caesar speaks of him as a dangerous man whom he would like to avoid. Now we will bring out the contrast between the characters of Brutus and Cassius. The main difference between Brutus and Cassius is that Cassius is a selfish man while Brutus is an unselfish man. Brutus joins the conspiracy against Caesar because of his profound and real love of freedom and republicanism. On the other hand, Cassius initiates die conspiracy because of his personal motives. Cassius conceives a plan to assassinate Caesar because he has been feeling jealous of Caesar's growing power.

Brutus is a very close to Caesar. He feels a deep affection for Caesar. On the other hand, Cassius is not very close to Casar.He does not feel any affection for Caesar. He conspires to murder Caesar. Caesar seems to Brutus to be well on the way to become a dictator and a tyrant. Brutus's motives in joining the conspiracy are therefore totally unselfish. Cassius himself bears testimony to this contrast between Brutus and himself. In a soliloquy early in the play, Cassius says that, if he had been Brutus and if Brutus had been Cassius, he (Cassius) would not have joined the conspiracy.

There is another point of contrast between Brutus and Cassius too and this is a major contrast. Brutus is a philosopher and an idealistic philosopher. On the contrary, Cassius is a man of action and he is a man who possesses an exceptional practical sense. Brutus lives in the world of ideas and ideals, while Cassius lives in the world of realities and the world of hard facts.Brutus proves a failure both as a conspirator and as a military leader, while Cassius shows himself to he most competent to start the conspiracy. At last, we can say that Brutus is morally far superior but Cassius is far superior to Brutus practically. For politicians and military leaders, morality is not the chief consideration. Brutus had not taken up himself the responsibility to lead the conspirators. Cassius would most probably have led the conspirators to a victory over Caesarism.

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