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   ask996 Teacher
   High School - 10th Grade

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   Brutus is honorable and noble, and it are these very characteristics that bring about his involvement in the assassination of his friend Caesar. The conspirators think that if they can get Brutus involved that others will be persuaded by his honor and nobility that the assassination is the needed and appropriate. Brutus is also gullible and this leads him to buy into their plot. A more wary man would have seen through the fake letters and questioned the intent of those who felt as if Caesar was a danger that needed removed even though his actions had been mostly good. He is also naive in that he does not see Marc Antony as a threat, and he gives in too easily when Marc Antony asks to address the public about the assassination. He leaves, believing that he has satisfied the public's need to have the assassination justified. 

   Antony is more world wise than Brutus. He realizes that by playing to Brutus's sense of honor and nobility he can cajole the man into giving him what he wants--a public forum in which he can address the assassination and turn the tide of th public opinion in his favor. Ultimately Antony wants to seek justice for the murder of Caesar, and he also wants to replace Caesar as the ruler of Rome. While Antony does seem to have perhaps more honor, he is not above lying to the conspirators by telling them he will support them--he will defend their actions, but perhaps the end justifies the means.

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   Posted by ask996 on Thursday October 29, 2009 at 7:22 PM