Is Brutus A Hero Or Traitor

Although Brutus was Caesar’s closest companion, he let himself assassinate his own best friend for the good of Rome, therefore becoming a hero of his country but forever a traitor in the dead eyes of Caesar. Will Brutus ever forgive himself for this? William Shakespeare wrote Julius Caesar to leave readers pondering upon the boundaries of sacrifice, the loyalty (or absence of) in friendships, and how peer pressure and needing to “fit in” persuades our own decisions. Sacrifice: to surrender or give up for the sake of something else. This is exactly what Brutus did; he sacrificed his best friend to please the thousands of people of Rome. He must have decided that the happiness of others was more important than his own. Brutus was willing to give up one of his beloved friends, because the Roman citizens wanted to kill them. Even though he understood why they yearned to kill Caesar, it took him days to come to the compromise of participating in the killing of his friend. The actions of Brutus represents how when we sacrifice, we become the bigger person, the hero, the problem-solver. But in his case, and in many others, he unfortunately simultaneously become an enemy, traitor, and back stabber (literally)! Humans make sacrifices every day and usually it takes a lot to give up something in order for another to happen, but
At the beginning of Julius Caesar, Brutus was extremely loyal to Caesar, like a typical friend would be. However, his feelings changed when everyone noticed how over confident Caesar was becoming. The amount of loyalty slowly vanished as Brutus saw the cockiness in Caesar as well. Once you lose loyalty in a relationship, you have nothing. Right before Brutus stabbed Caesar he mumbled “Et tu, Brute?” These three words were Shakespeare making it evident that Caesar knew the loyalty between him and Brutus was gone, and with the loyalty his