Julius Caesar

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   jilllessa Teacher
   High School - 10th Grade

   Antony and Brutus are different in several ways.  Early in the play if you had asked nearly any Roman to compare the two, he would have said that Brutus was an important and honorable man and that Anthony was a man of lesser character who runs in races and is known for his evening revelries.  Antony is seen as a lesser figure than Brutus or Caesar.  Brutus does not see him as important enough to worry about as he plansCaesar's death.

   A second difference is that Brutus is an idealist while Antony is more of a realist.  Brutus becomes involved in killing one of his best friends because he feels that it is best for Rome.  Antony grieves his friends passing and his want for revenge is based on his anger and grief as a friend with little thought for Rome.  Antony has no moral problem pretending to accept the conspirators and promising not to speak against them at the funeral  He also has no problem breaking that promise with his very effective rhetoric.    We also see the more realistic and less honorable side of Antony's nature when he plans with Octavian to change Caesar's will and in his willingness to use Lepidus as though he were a horse while planning to put him aside later.  Antony himself recognizes the true nobility of Brutus calling him the "noblest Roman of them all."

   Sources:

   http://www.enotes.com/jc/antony-character-analysis

   http://www.enotes.com/jc/brutus-character-analysis

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   Posted by jilllessa on Monday April 14, 2008 at 9:43 PM
   
   

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