Blooms Literary Themes - THE HEROS ... - ymerleksi - home

98William ShakespeareAnd after seem to chide ’em. This shall makeOur purpose necessary and not envious;Which so appearing to the common eyes,We shall be called purgers, not murderers. (2.1. 175–193)This speech cleverly depicts how Brutus’s personal benevolenceand his rigid standard of public justice collide with disastrous consequences.Compelled to murder Caesar for the sake of the generalgood, Brutus nevertheless fails to understand that Mark Antony’sdeath is required as well. Yet, despite the hints of compassion andidealism in Brutus, this speech ends on a much more pragmatic noteas Brutus expresses his desire to be known as a “purger” instead ofa “murderer.” There is more than a hint of Machiavellian ethos hereas the noble Brutus attempts to disguise his murder as a sacrificeinstead of what it really is, a violent act of butchery. In the eyes ofBrutus, Caesar’s assassination has become a hallowed event, notmerely a mercenary act of bloodshed but rather a sacramental meansto achieve, in Brutus’s own words, “a piece of work that will makesick men whole.” Of course, as Brutus is reminded by Ligarius, thosewho are whole (i.e. Caesar) must also be made sick. The tragic pricefor republican freedom, Brutus sadly acknowledges, is that Caesar“must bleed for it.”This rhetorical attempt by Brutus to define their murder asa sacrifice and to make their conspiracy appear necessary to allRomans implies a deepening contradiction in Brutus’s motive formurder. Whereas before this speech Brutus had used honor as hisjustification for the conspiracy against Caesar, now he appearsto cloak his motives in deceptive fashion. Apparently, even thenoble Brutus has been somewhat seduced by the Machiavellianclimate of the conspiracy, a truth foreshadowed by Cassius’s earlierremark: “For who so firm that cannot be seduced?” (1.2. 308).After the conspirators stab Caesar, Brutus even claims that hehas actually done Caesar a favor, a feeble justification brought onby Casca’s remark that “he that cuts off twenty years of life cutsoff so many years of fearing death.” Here, as in his earlier speech,Brutus refuses to acknowledge Caesar’s death as an actual murderby instead associating Caesar’s blood with the imagery of a fountain.Having slain the demagogue who threatened Roman liberty,