A Comparison of the Character of Brutus in Julius Caesar...

The Characters of Brutus and Hamlet in Hamlet and Julius Caesar Written one year apart from the other, one cannot fail to recognize the parallels between William Shakespeares tragedies Julius Caesar and Hamlet. To begin, they are both stories of assassinations gone horribly wrong. Although the details of the plays are different, the two assassins (Brutus and Hamlet) provide interesting comparison. Through these two killers, Shakespeare reveals the different levels of justice; one’s personal sense of justice; others’ perception of justice; the justice of the monarchy that supports Shakespeare’s craft. Through this, the audience realizes that a just person is not always a humble one, a condition that may turn out to be a†¦show more content†¦However, Hamlet, especially upon learning of Claudius responsibility for the elder Hamlets death, takes the Old Testament view and seeks to avenge his fathers death. To Hamlet, his revenge will wipe out the injustice brought on by Claudiususurping of the elder Hamlets throne and wi fe, and thus will justice be served. Per Hamlets thinking, Claudiusascension to power was unjust: He murdered his brother and married his brothers wife two months later. To the people of Hamlets day, the son avenging his fathers death was an acceptable form of justice. Hamlet himself sees such an action more as cleaning house than revenge: A villain kills my father, and for that/I, his sole son, do this same villain send/To heaven./Why, this is hire and salary, not revenge (Hamlet, III.iii.76-79). The son avenging the father is especially prevalent in Hamlet, with Fortinbras seeking to fight the elder Hamlet for the death of his father, Hamlet looking for revenge against Claudius for the death of the elder Hamlet, and Laertes pursuing Hamlet to avenge the death of Polonius. In the midst of these examples, one can see a certain amount of acceptance accorded to the sons and their intended actions, especially toward Laertes at the end of Hamlet. In this sense, the society that advocates turn the other cheek still allows a certain degree of an eye for an eye. In the case ofShow MoreRelatedEssay The Central Question of Hamlet2409 Words   |  10 PagesQuestion of Hamlet  Ã‚      Hamlets tragedy is a tragedy of failure-the failure of a man placed in critical circumstances to deal successfully with those circumstances. In some ways, Hamlet reminds us of Brutus in Shakespeares Julius Caesar. Hamlet and Brutus are both good men who live in trying times; both are intellectual, even philosophical; both men want to do the right thing; both men intellectualize over what the right thing is; neither man yields to passion. But here the comparison ends, forRead More Barkovs Hamlet: A Tragedy of Errors Essay6762 Words   |  28 Pages William Shakespeare authorship: The text of Hamlet contains indications that Shakespeare portrayed himself as an allegedly dead university graduate. HAMLET: A TRAGEDY OF ERRORS, OR THE TRAGICAL FATE OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE? by Alfred Barkov To the contents When the text of William Shakespeare: a mask for Hamlet - Christopher Marlowe? William Shakespeare Hamlet is read attentively, and no details are disregarded, it becomes evident that William Shakespeare included in it something quite differentRead MoreStudy Guide Literary Terms7657 Words   |  31 Pagesmain characters. A form of extended metaphor, in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative, are equated with the meanings that lie outside the narrative itself. The underlying meaning has moral, social, religious, or political significance, and characters are often personifications of abstract ideas as charity, greed, or envy. Thus an allegory is a story with two meanings, a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning 4. allusion- A reference in one literary work to a character or themeRead MoreANALIZ TEXT INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS28843 Words   |  116 Pagesor a short story. Events of any kind, of course, inevitably involve people, and for this reason it is virtually impossible to discuss plot in isolation from character. Character and plot are, in fact, intimately and reciprocally related, especially in modern fiction. A major function of plot can be said to be the representation of characters in action, though as we will see the action involved can be internal and psychological as well as external and physical. In order for a plot to begin, some