A) Brutus is a more misguided character than he is a tragic one. Discuss.
Shakespeare’s intention in Julius Caesar was to attest to his Elizabethan audience that regicide was
unjustifiable, and that murdering the leader, regardless of who this leader was, was a crime against
God. At the time of Julius Caesar being written, there were anxieties regarding succession to the
throne, and there was unrest between Catholics and Protestants in England. Shakespeare wrote for
the Queen, and in order to please her he crafted Julius Caesar to attest that mutiny and regicide
would only result in turmoil. Based on this, it is contextually apt to infer that Shakespeare didn’t
characterise Brutus as one who was misguided, but instead bore the tragic flaw of being naively selfrighteous and emotionally malleable.