“This was the noblest roman of them all” Mark Anthony said about Brutus in the play Julius Caesar, after Brutus had killed himself at the battle of Philippi. Although Brutus had participated in the assassination of Julius Caesar, Mark Anthony, Julius’s nephew, was praising Brutus as a noble person. But how was he noble?
In the beginning of the play, we meet Brutus, a highly respected, much loved, senator of Rome. He loved Rome as a republic and he has a good life until he is led astray by Cassius. When he becomes embroiled in the assassination of Caesar, he is very reluctant to do so. In the way he acted, you could tell he has sleepless nights over what he should do. He decided to kill Caesar for the good of Rome. This is an important point. One of the reasons why Brutus was noble is that he did not assassinate him for personal gain, but for the greater good, the good of Rome. Unlike the other conspirators, he was not envious, and acted in his best intentions. He had no bad motives. He thought he was right, so he went with his decision instead of being indecisive and cowardly. These reasons show that he was an honourable and noble man. He was popular which shows he was a good man as large numbers of ordinary citizens would not side with a bad man. In the scene when the conspirators plotted the assassination, Brutus said that they should not disrespect Caesar’s body by chopping limbs off but to give him a funeral and to make sure his body was like “a dish fit for the gods.” He also said not to kill Mark Anthony as he was not dangerous and that he wanted Caesars death to be a sacrifice, not a bloodbath. This shows he was a caring person and didn’t fit the persona of “murderer” unlike the other conspirators, who were all keen on killing Mark Anthony and who couldn’t care less about Caesar’s body. Brutus is trusted with Cassius’s secrets about the weaknesses of Caesar in an effort to turn Brutus against Caesar in a pang of