In order to understand the significance of Brutus's last words, let's first consider what exactly he's saying. He has just impaled himself on his sword, and then he says, "Caesar, now be still." Essentially, he is commanding the soul of Caesar to rest in peace.
He goes on to say "I kill'd not thee with half so good a will," which is a bit more difficult. This line, translated into modern English, would be something like "I didn't feel even half as happy to kill you as I feel to be killing myself now."
These lines, then, are significant for a number of reasons. First of all, it is significant in the first place that Brutus's last words are about Caesar. He has been occupied with guilty thoughts about the death of Caesar since long before he actually took part in the attack which killed him. Brutus never hated Caesar as some of the other conspirators did. On the contrary, he thought of Caesar as a mentor and as a friend and thus has had considerable regret about killing him, on a personal level. He also, since the death of Caesar, has been embroiled in a situation which he now recognizes is partly of his own making. Had it not been for his part in killing Caesar, Rome would not now be in the situation in which it finds itself, and perhaps quite a lot of killing might have been prevented.
The fact that Brutus is thinking about Caesar so kindly in his final moments indicates the depth of his regret for his own actions and the extent to which he was reluctant to harm his friend in the first place. He now feels that he himself deserves to die in recompense for what he has done.
Brutus's last words reflect his genuine feelings regarding his decision to murder Julius Caesar and solidify his character as an honorable tragic hero.
In act 2, Brutus contemplates murdering Julius Caesar and has serious reservations about committing the crime. Brutus is close friends with Caesar and admits that he has never known Caesar to be erratic or swayed by his emotions. Nonetheless, Brutus concludes that Caesar is an ambitious man who could transform into a ruthless tyrant and rule Rome with an iron fist. Therefore, Brutus reluctantly decides to take his life to protect the citizens of Rome.
Despite Brutus's good intentions, his plans go awry when he allows Antony to live and speak at Caesar's funeral. A violent civil war ensues, creating a power vacuum that Octavius eventually fills. In the final scene of play, Brutus realizes that he has lost the battle and would rather commit suicide than be captured by Octavius and Antony.
Brutus's final words indicate that he is more certain and at ease about taking his own life than he was killing Caesar, which is a decision he has come to regret. Brutus has witnessed the destruction caused by Caesar's death and regrets taking the life of his...
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close friend. Unlike his decision to assassinate Caesar, Brutus has no reservations about taking his own life and willingly stabs himself.
Brutus also tells Caesar's spirit to rest easy, and his suicide is viewed as an honorable action. Brutus's final words underscore his character as a noble tragic hero and depict his feelings concerning his difficult decision to murder Caesar. Brutus's final words once again display his good intentions and solidify him as an honorable man.
Further Reading
Shakespeare wanted to make it seem that the spirit of Caesar was influential throughout the entire play, even though he was assassinated in the third act. Evidently this was because the play was titled Julius Caesar and Shakespeare sensed it would be an artistic fault to eliminate the title character in the middle. The play seems to break into two halves as it is. Antony says that Caesar's spirit will create havoc in Italy, and Caesar's ghost visits Brutus twice. So Caesar's presence and his powerful will are felt throughout the play. When Brutus kills himself he is informing the audience that Caesar's ghost is now satisfied and at rest. The play does not end with the deaths of the conspirators but with the triumph of Julius Caesar. Brutus has been haunted by Caesar's memory, since he was Brutus' best friend. Brutus did not really want to participate in Caesar's assassination, any more than he wants to kill himself. He seems to be apologizing to the spirit when he says "I killed not thee with half so good a will" as well as to be acknowledging Caesar's supernatural power, which prevails over his enemies even after his death. Brutus does not want to kill himself, but he wanted to kill Caesar even less. He realizes the futility of his decision to participate in the plot against his friend.
What does Brutus mean by his final words: "Caesar, now be still: I kill'd not thee with half so good a will."
Brutus says that he feels more justified in killing himself than he was in killing Caesar.
When Brutus walked in his garden in Act II as he attempted to reach a decision about what should be done about Caesar, he debated whether it would be better to rid Rome of a potential tyrant, or to let him rule and become cold and heartless in exercising his authority. Brutus decided Caesar should be prevented from ruling Rome because of Brutus's idealism and emotional state after reading the forged letters sent to persuade him to join the conspiracy.
As a result, in Act V, Scene 5, as Brutus recognizes defeat and prepares for death by his own sword so he will not suffer the ignominy of defeat, his final words indicate his remorse for his assassination of Julius Caesar. He states that what he is about to do is much more honorable than his act of stabbing Caesar, an act which resulted in civil discord in Rome and conditions much worse than they would have been had Caesar lived and become emperor.
Unlike Caesar's death, in which others such as Marc Antony gained honor, no one can take honor from the suicide of Brutus. Antony acknowledges that Brutus was "the noblest Roman of them all" (Act V, Scene 5, line 68) because he was the only one who did not kill Caesar out of envy, but in a "general honest thought/and common good to all" (Act V, Scene 5, lines 72-73).
What does Brutus mean by his final words: "Caesar, now be still: I kill'd not thee with half so good a will."
Brutus utters this line after he has run onto his own sword to kill himself. He would rather die than be captured by Antony and Octavius. With these final words, he is telling Caesar's spirit to rest easy, and remarking that he was actually much happier to take his own life than he was Caesar's. With this quote, Shakespeare is showing Brutus to be an honorable man, who chooses to die honorably. Antony reinforces this notion a few lines later, when, discovering Brutus's body, he says "This was the noblest Roman of them all."
In Julius Caesar, what does Brutus mean by his final words: "Caesar, now be still; / I killed not thee with half so good a will"? Why does Brutus think it's time to die?
Brutus utters these words almost at the end of Scene 5, Act 5. He has asked Strato to hold up his sword so that he may run into it. Once he has done so, he utters these final words.
What Brutus means is that Caesar's spirit can now find peace because it has been avenged. Furthermore, he says that he has now taken his own life with a greater purpose and more determination that he had when he stabbed Caesar. What Brutus also implies is that he has more reason to kill himself now than the ones he had to assassinate Caesar.
Brutus realises that his time has come. They have been fighting a losing war. Antony and Octavius' troops have gained an advantage and there is no chance of a victory. He stated earlier in this scene:
...Brutus' tongueHath almost ended his life's history:Night hangs upon mine eyes; my bones would rest,That have but labour'd to attain this hour.
Whilst he was in his tent, Brutus was confronted by Caesar's ghost and it told him that it would visit him one last time on the plains of Philippi. This has now happened. He has seen Caesar's ghost the second time and knows that his time has come, as he tells Volumnius:
The ghost of Caesar hath appear'd to meTwo several times by night; at Sardis once,And, this last night, here in Philippi fields:I know my hour is come.
Added to this, Cassius had also asked Pindarus to stab him with the sword he used to slay Caesar. This gives Brutus a further incentive to also take his own life. In addition, Portia, Brutus' wife, has also committed suicide by swallowing hot coals. He has nothing to return to. It is a matter of honour to him that he not be taken alive for he does not want to be paraded through the streets of Rome as a failure and a slave. It would be humiliating.
Brutus' suicide links with the promise he had made to the crowd during his speech in the marketplace to explain why Caesar had been killed. He told the citizens, in part, in Act 3, scene 2:
...as I slew my best lover for thegood of Rome, I have the same dagger for myself,when it shall please my country to need my death.
This moment has now arrived and since Brutus is a man of integrity, he keeps his promise. He has become an enemy of Rome and his country has sworn vengeance and, therefore, seek his death.
Brutus had stated earlier, in Act 5 scene 2, that he deemed suicide a cowardly and despicable act. He told Cassius on that occasion:
...I did blame Cato for the deathWhich he did give himself, I know not how,But I do find it cowardly and vile,For fear of what might fall,...
He did, however, change his mind when Cassius asked him if he would be happy to be marched through the streets of Rome after his defeat. He then declared:
No, Cassius, no: think not, thou noble Roman,That ever Brutus will go bound to Rome;He bears too great a mind.
In Julius Caesar, when Brutus says "now be still/ I kill'd not thee with half so good a will," is he asking Caesar to forgive him?
As with so many of Shakespeare's speeches and lines that he gives to characters, I think it depends a lot on how a director of this excellent play wants to show these lines using subtext: what isn't in the play, but needs to be created to give it meaning. When we think of subtext, we think of non-verbal communication, emphasis, inflection and pauses, and by using all of these any actor can give their lines a variety of different meanings. It is one of the problems that we have, studying a play just from the page, rather than analysing it on the stage.
However, having said that, the first line, "Caesar, now be still," seems to reflect the acknowledgement of Brutus that Caesar is not lying still. Having been wrongfully killed, he hopes that his death will enable Caesar to lie still. The second line, "I killed not thee with half so good a will," could be paraprased as "I didn't kill you with the good intentions that I kill myself now." Again, this is a recognition that his killing of Caesar was not good, but that his own intentions for killing himself are better. I don't know if we can use these lines to state that Brutus is asking Caesar to forgive him. He does however clearly recognise that it was a bad thing to assassinate Caesar, and hopes that his own death will make amends somehow.