Who is the tragic hero in Julius Caesar?

An argument could be made that the main character, or protagonist, and hero of the Tragedy of Julius Caesar is Caesar himself. After all, the play's title is eponymous and normally, when Shakespeare named the play after the main character, for example Macbeth, Hamlet, Henry V, to name a few, the character is also the hero. This is not the case in Julius Caesar. Even though the play is named after Caesar, the tragic hero of the play is Brutus.

The definition of the tragic hero as outlined by Aristotle can be paraphrased thus:

1. A person of high birth or rank

2. The character has a tragic flaw that causes his/her downfall

3. The character recognizes that his/her downfall is caused by his/her tragic flaw

4. The audience experiences a catharsis, meaning pity or fear felt because of the hero's fate.

Brutus is a person of high rank because he is a senator, but also because he is considered Caesar's best friend.

In Act I, Scene ii, Cassius explains Caesar's feelings for Brutus and him:

"Caesar doth bear me hard; but he loves Brutus:" (I.ii)

Brutus's tragic flaw has been described in a number of different ways. Often it is explained that Brutus's flaw is his loyalty to Rome, but, on some level, Brutus's flaw is one of pride. He knows that Caesar means to become a dictator and even a king and that he will take the power away from the senators, thereby causing Rome to become a monarchy rather than a democracy. Brutus firmly believes in the will of the Roman people and that he is their servant, not Caesar's. But his pride is in the fact that he, Brutus, feels he knows what is best for the people of Rome and allows himself to be convinced by Cassius's hamfisted efforts to get him to join the conspiracy against Caesar. Cassius's dislike of Caesar is more personal than political and he manipulates Brutus to help him achieve his aims out of a sense of revenge, not sacrifice. While there is a small minority of Romans who resent Caesar's grab for power, indicated by the tribunes Flavius and Marullus and by the other conspirators, the bulk of the Roman people, the commoners, love Caesar greatly and seem to welcome the idea of Caesar becoming king. On some level, the conspirators are upset because they themselves will lose power when Caesar gains all control; so, it is merely a power struggle. 

At Caesar's funeral, Brutus describes his motivation:

"If then that friend demand
why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer:
--Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved
Rome more. Had you rather Caesar were living and
die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live
all free men? As Caesar loved me, I weep for him;
as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was
valiant, I honour him: but, as he was ambitious, I
slew him." (III.ii)

After Mark Antony turns the fickle Roman people against Brutus and the other conspirators, Brutus begins to suffer his downfall. The mob attacks the conspirators’ houses. Many senators die and Brutus and Cassius barely escape Rome with their lives. Brutus and Cassius gather together an army, though Antony's forces greatly outnumber them. While on the battlefield, Brutus receives word that his wife, Portia, has committed suicide. He explains how to his friend and brother-in-law Cassius (Portia's brother):

BRUTUS 
Impatient of my absence,
And grief that young Octavius with Mark Antony
Have made themselves so strong:--for with her death
That tidings came;--with this she fell distract,
And, her attendants absent, swallow'd fire.

CASSIUS 
And died so?

BRUTUS 
Even so. (IV. iii)

Finally, as the war begins to turn, and Brutus's and Cassius's soldiers begin to abandon their posts and join Antony and Octavius's forces, Cassius commits suicide, wrongly believing that Brutus has been captured and killed. Upon finding out the news that his last friend and ally is dead, Brutus himself decides to end his life. But before this, Brutus acknowledges that he has caused his own downfall and regrets killing Caesar. His last words are:

"Caesar, now be still:
I kill'd not thee with half so good a will." (V. v)

The audience experiences pity for Brutus because he among all the conspirators believed that he was killing Caesar for the good of Rome. But because he allowed himself to be convinced by Cassius's lies, he has lost his best friend, his wife, and now has paid the final price for his pride. Antony articulates this pity in his final speech:

ANTONY 
This was the noblest Roman of them all:
All the conspirators save only he
Did that they did in envy of great Caesar;
He only, in a general honest thought
And common good to all, made one of them.
His life was gentle, and the elements
So mix'd in him that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world 'This was a man!' (v. v)

Brutus fits all the characteristics of the archetype of the tragic hero.

All quotations from Julius Caesar were taken from The Literature Network at:

http://www.online-literature.com/shakespeare/julius_caesar/

Who is the villain in Julius Caesar?

The most obvious answer to your question would be to say that Cassius is the play's villain because of his selfish personal motives and his manipulation of Brutus. Cassius despises Caesar and resents the great power he has assumed in Rome. In one of Cassius's monologs in Act I, he states his case against Caesar, emphasizing Caesar's weakness in contrast to his own strength. Cassius understands Brutus's sense of honor and love for country, and he uses these traits to lure Brutus into the conspiracy, even going so far as to forge letters to Brutus, supposedly from Roman citizens, begging him to free them from Caesar's dictatorship. Cassius is clever and deliberate, carefully planning each step in his plan to enlist Brutus in Caesar's assassination. Furthermore, after Caesar's assassination, Cassius uses his new power to enrich himself. In the violent argument between  Cassius and Brutus in Act IV, Brutus condemns Cassius for accepting bribes, for profiting from his position of strength.

In some ways, however, Antony behaves as a villain, also. He is genuinely outraged by Caesar's murder, but once he drives the conspirators from Rome and seizes power for himself, his character comes into question. He executes more than one hundred Roman senators, anyone whom he perceives to be a potential enemy. Then he changes Caesar's will, making sure that monies set aside for the Roman people will instead go to himself. Finally, he betrays Lepidus, conspiring with Octavius to cut Lepidus out of sharing any of the fortunes to be gained through the war. When Octavius defends Lepidus, Antony compares Lepidus to his (Antony's) horse, someone to be used. Through all of these actions, Antony shows himself to be greedy, arrogant, and deceptive--hardly the characteristics of any kind of hero, but certainly those of a villain.

In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, who is the protagonist and why?

The protagonist is the central character in a story. The writer intends for the audience to identify with and feel sympathy for his or her protagonist. In this tragedy, Brutus is Shakespeare's protagonist, even though the play bears Julius Caesar's name.

Brutus is the play's central character. It is his story that unfolds from the beginning of Act I through the conclusion of Act V. Shakespeare develops Brutus as an honorable man who struggles with a terrible conflict: to remain loyal to his good friend or to his beloved country. Brutus tries hard to do what he perceives to be right.

Brutus becomes even more sympathetic when the audience realizes that Cassius is not only encouraging Brutus to join the conspiracy to murder Caesar, but also tricking him. Cassius deceives Brutus by making him believe the citizens of Rome are begging him to protect their freedom. When Brutus does join the conspiracy, he does so believing that their cause is noble. After Caesar's assassination, when he disapproves of actions taken by Cassius, he reminds Cassius in a very emotional speech why they killed Caesar. He must  believe that Caesar's death was for the good of Rome.

At the play's end, a defeated Brutus chooses to die with honor. Shakespeare reminds the audience that his protagonist was an exceptional man, worthy of admiration and sympathy. Antony says, "This was the noblest Roman of them all." Furthermore, Antony adds that Nature herself should tell the world, "This was a man."

Although Shakespeare's play is named after him, Julius Caesar is not the play's protagonist. He is certainly a very important character--and a real figure in history--but he is not Shakespeare's central character in the play. Although his ghost appears briefly later, Caesar's role in the play effectively ends in Act III with his assassination.

In addition, the protagonist is the character who earns sympathy and, sometimes, admiration. Caesar's murder is certainly cruel and painful, which perhaps earns him some sympathy, but he is not developed as a very sympathetic character. He is cold, arrogant and self-centered. He is very vain and easily flattered. He will not tolerate any political dissent in Rome. Also, Shakespeare implies that Caesar misuses his power in some respects.

Shakespeare most likely named his play after Julius Caesar, not because he is the protagonist, but because he and his assassination were so well known to Shakespeare's audience.

Who is the tragic hero in Julius Caesar and why?

What happened to Brutus was tragic. However, if you look at the play only in the sense of the genre tragedy, then you have to see Julius Caesar as the tragic hero.

In Greek tragedy, the hero must be someone of noble birth, such as Caesar; the lives of ordinary people were just too uninteresting. This hero must have some kind of fatal flaw that does him in, such as pride or stubbornness or ignorance. Caesar's fatal flaw is his pride, which the Greeks called hubris. The eNotes Guide to Literary Terms defines it as

arrogance, excessive self-pride and self-confidence. The word was used to refer to the emotions in Greek tragic heroes that led them to ignore warnings from the gods and thus invite catastrophe. It is considered a form of hamartia or tragic flaw that stems from overbearing pride and lack of piety.

Caesar's pride is masked by false humility. We know good and well that he wants to be king of Rome, but he keeps turning down the crown because he wants the people to believe that they ultimately convinced him to accept the honor. This same pride made him ignore Calpurnia's plea to stay home: What kind of man would the people think he was? And that pride made him hurry to his fate instead of reading the note that might have saved his life.

I say Caesar was his own worst enemy!

The other way to view Brutus as the tragic hero is giving him the role of central character according to the Elizabethan 5 Act Play Format.  Brutus is introduced to us as an important character to the plot in act one.   He then gains power throughout the rising action of act two while first agreeing to, then planning the assassination of Caesar.  He is certainly involved in the conflict of act three, the killing of Caesar.  Now, as a tragic hero, it is in act three that our central character should begin to lose power.  We see that as Marc Antony reveals his true feelings and is planning on building an army against Brutus.  Throughout the falling action of act four Brutus continues to lose power, and, of course, he is resolved in act five through his own suicide. 

Marcus Brutus is one of Shakespeare's most accurately written tragic heroes in accordance to this format.  It is quite easy to follow his rise and fall throughout each act.

Who is the tragic hero in the play "Julius Caesar"?

Even though Julius Caesar is the titular character of the play, and while his death surely is a tragic one, he is not to be considered the play's tragic hero. The title of tragic hero is more fitting for Marcus Brutus.

Part of what makes Marcus Brutus such a tragic figure is the fact that he's used and manipulated by Cassius in order to carry out Caesar's death. Surely Brutus was always envious of Caesar's power, but it is Cassius's snakelike deception that causes Brutus to actually consider carrying out any violence against Caesar. Brutus cares immensely about the state of Rome, and when he is convinced that Caesar is only to become a tyrant, he chooses to act. Later, when speaking to the public about Caesar's death, Brutus suggests, "not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more!"

He is essentially stuck between two feelings: his love and admiration for Caesar and his deep care for Rome. Torn between the two, he acts somewhat impulsively, and his actions ultimately lead to his own death. Fearful of being captured and executed in Rome, Brutus commits suicide, thus further gaining him the role of the tragic hero.

In Julius Caesar, is Julius Caesar the main character?

There has been much debate over just who the main character of the play actually is. Opinion is divided as to whether it is Caesar, or Marcus Brutus, Caesar's one-time friend and the most conspicuous of his killers. Brutus certainly appears in many more scenes than Caesar; his moral dilemma over Caesar's killing absorbs most of the play's interest, and the play ends with his death. In his nobility of bearing (recognised at the end even by his enemy Mark Antony), his political idealism, and the moral trials he endures, he certainly appears to qualify as the tragic hero of the play.

On the other hand, Julius Caesar is the titular character, which reflects how the action of the play essentially revolves around him, even although he appears in person in only a very few scenes, and dies halfway through. His murder is the central event of the play; we see first the build-up, the forming of the conspiracy, and then the bloody aftermath as Rome descends into civil war.

Caesar's influence does not diminish after his death; rather, it increases, as his nephew Octavius, and Mark Antony do battle with the conspirators and emerge victorious. Ultimately the murder of Julius Caesar only leads to the establishment of another, even more powerful Caesar; Octavius will go on to become the first Emperor of Rome. This is the very reverse of what Brutus had hoped.

Therefore Julius Caesar can be regarded as the main character as, even in death, he continues to dominate the action. Brutus himself recognises this only too well:

O Julius Caesar, thou are mighty yet!
Thy spirit walks abroad, and turns our swords
In our own proper entrails. (V.iii.94-96)

And, when he finally falls on his own sword, he invokes the man he killed once more:

Caesar, now be still, 
I killed not thee with half so good a will. (V.v.50-51)

Who is the main character in The Tragedy of Julius Caesar?

Most scholars consider Brutus the protagonist of Julius Caesar. He is certainly the most complex and fully explored character of the play. He is portrayed as a friend, a husband, a military leader, and a strong public leader, all in detail. The audience gets insights into Brutus's thoughts through a few soliloquies, as well as comments to other characters, such as when Cassius asks Brutus what's on his mind: 

"Cassius,
Be not deceived. If I have veiled my look,
I turn the trouble of my countenance
Merely upon myself. Vexèd I am
Of late with passions of some difference,
Conceptions only proper to myself,
Which give some soil, perhaps, to my behaviors.
But let not therefore my good friends be grieved
(Among which number, Cassius, be you one)
Nor construe any further my neglect,
Than that poor Brutus, with himself at war,
Forgets the shows of love to other men" (1.2.42-53).

Brutus' complexity as a character is clear here. He is a deeply thoughtful man who works hard to do what is right, not for himself alone, but for society as a whole.

Additionally, Brutus is viewed by many as a tragic hero. Like many tragic heroes, Brutus's greatest trait is also his downfall: his strict ideals and virtue. Antony rightly calls Brutus the "noblest Roman." However, it is exactly through this trait that Cassius convinces Brutus to participate in the assassination, despite Brutus's personal love for Caesar as a friend. More problems are created when Brutus determines that it is too bloody and violent to kill Antony as well, and even more when he lets Antony speak as Caesar's funeral. In each of these acts, Brutus is trying to do the right thing for those involved and Roman society as a whole. In each, however, his good intentions backfire and chaos and war reign.