Compare and Contrast Essay

   Dino Chiu      English 10   

  Compare and Contrast between Cassius and Brutus

Cassius and Brutus are both important characters in the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by Shakespeare; they both took part in the most dramatic scenes in the play. Both of these characters shared a lot of similarities; however, in personalities they are very different.

         One of the most similar of Cassius and Brutus is that they are both one of noblest and most honorable people in Rome, and both of them ended up in the same path throughout the play. They are both conspirators that assassinated Caesar and in the end they both fought the battle against Antony and Octavius, and both Cassius and Brutus died the same way. However, even though they been through the same parts and plots they have contrasting personalities.

           Cassius has a cunning personality and he is narrow minded and impulsive. His narrow minded and impulsive personality can be shown in his argument with Brutus when he became angry over a very small insult and even took the issue of the argument so seriously that he even went to the point of offering his life just to prove he is right. Cassius impulsiveness was also demonstrated when he kills himself when he heard that Titinius is captured without thinking first whether or not it is true that his friend his captured. Cassius’s impulsive personality also led to his downfall when he murders Caesar through jealousy and anger without thinking clearly the consequences of killing him, and because of his murder of Caesar he and his conspirators were condemned by the Romans as traitors and murderers instead of bringers of justice; if Cassius had think about the consequences before he killed Caesar then he wouldn’t had been condemned to death and defeated by Antony’s army. Cassius is also a very cunning person as he could easily fool Brutus into taking part in this plan by playing his mind into thinking that Caesar is taking over Rome as a Tyrant.

     Brutus is different from Cassius for he is always calm, straight forward, and noble, but he is also very gullible. He showed his calmness in his argument with Cassius when he replied Cassius’s every word with a simple explanation without any hesitation or stuttering. He is also very noble, and it is his nobleness that brings him to his end when he was tricked into killing Caesar for the good of the republic. He loved Rome so much that he is willing to kill his friend, Caesar to protect the city from Caesar’s ambition. Brutus is also very straightforward; he makes statements on people without any exceptions. This could be shown when straightforward in his argument with Cassius he told Cassius all the negative things he thinks about him without sugar coating his words.  Brutus also has a gullible personality, and would believe anything that anyone said to him, this is how he got tricked into being part of the plot. He immediately believes that Caesar is a tyrant when he saw the fake letters from the people, he didn’t stop to think whether the words of the people matches with his own opinion of Caesar, and he immediately believes the fake letters.

       In many ways, the personalities of Brutus and Cassius differs from each other greatly, and it is because of the difference between the characters that we were able to understand a character more by also knowing the personality of the character’s opposite. This is how Shakespheare often show his characters, by using contrasting characters to emphasize the characteristics of a major character.