My Essays

'Et Tu, Brute?'

A/N: This essay is brought on by Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar. Whether Brutus should murder Caesar or not. 

                                                 By, Isabella 

Stab,Stab,Stab,Stab,Stab,Stab,Stab,Stab,Stab,Stab,Stab,Stab,Stab,Stab,Stab,Stab,Stab, Stab,Stab,Stab,Stab,Stab,Stab and Death!

This was basically how Caesar was killed. Each conspirator took a stab and eventually Caesar died. Caesar received 23 stabs that day, and one was from his good friend Brutus.

Bet that really surprised him. "Et tu, Brute?" (Even you, Brutus?)
There has been a lot of arguments on whether Brutus should have assisted in the assassination of Caesar or not. I believe that Brutus should have.

Brutus should have killed Caesar for three reasons, power, because of Cassius, and for Rome and revenge.

The first reason that Brutus should have killed Caesar, has to do with power.
After Brutus killed Caesar, if Mark Antony hadn't rallied up the Roman people, and the Roman people hadn't gone after the conspirators, causing most of the conspirators to commit suicide; than Brutus could have gained power. The Roman people trusted Brutus to make all the right decisions, and had Mark Antony not given a speech and fired up all the people, the roman people would have continued with life, not rising up against Brutus and the conspirators. Now as you're reading this, you might be thinking
"Good job Antony! Who would want Brutus as a leader? He just assassinated the last leader!" But to that I say, Have you ever thought of what could have happened had Brutus and the other conspirators not assassinated Caesar? Have you thought about how since all the Romans loved Caesar, he basically had them all wrapped around his finger, and since he had all the people wrapped around his finger, he would be able to seize all power and become a dictator. And no one likes a dictator.

The second reason Brutus should have killed Caesar is because of Cassius. Cassius played a big part in the assassination of Caesar. Cassius formed the group of conspirators, convinced Brutus to join the group, and was the main brain of the group. What does that have to do with Brutus killing Caesar? I'm glad you asked. Cassius could have threatened or hurt Brutus if he had backed out of killing Caesar or had refused to join the group of conspirators. Brutus could be scared of Cassius and would not want to get on his bad side.(I sure wouldn't want to!) Or maybe Brutus owed Cassius for something. It is quite possible that Cassius had done a favor for Brutus and Brutus owed him, and repaid him with by helping with the assassination.

The third reason Brutus should have killed Caesar, is he was doing it for Rome, and hehimself and told himself it was okay to kill a friend, by telling himself and others that he was doing it for the sake of Rome. He also could have told himself that it was ok to murder Caesar for revenge. Brutus could have wanted revenge for a few reasons. The first one, is he wanted revenge on Caesar for killing Pompey. Pompey was a person the Roman population loved, and when Caesar killed him, that could have set badly in Brutus. Secondly, Brutus could have wanted revenge on the Roman people. The Roman people had said that they loved Pompey, but when Caesar killed him and came to Rome, the people cheered, which is contrary to something you would do for the person that just killed someone you loved.

So there you have it, three reasons why Brutus should have killed Caesar.

Firstly, for power, Brutus could have gained a lot of power.

Secondly, because of Cassius, Cassius had a lot of influence on Brutus.

And thirdly, for Rome and revenge, Brutus had some ways to validate his doings for him to think they were okay. was also doing it for revenge. In Brutus's mind, when he murdered Caesar, he validated the murder by saying he needed to do it for Rome or for Revenge.