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Julius Caeser was a giant figure in literature and history. In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, his death is a major event in the plot. Brutus and Cassius were the lead players in the assassination of Caesar and though both led the charge, they each had very different motives. Brutus acted on what he believed were just reasons, while Cassius acted on more self serving reasons. They acted wrongly, and though they succeeded in killing Caesar, their plot to avoid a dictator like power failed.

Brutus was an honorable, well respected man who believed strongly in the Republic. He expressed his fear that the people wanted Caesar to be King to Cassius in Act 1, sc. 2: “What means this shouting? I do fear the people choose Caesar for their king.” That gave Cassius, who was not trusted by Caesar and supported the republic for the wealth and power it gave him, the chance to talk Brutus into a conspiracy to kill the popular ruler. He planted forged letters supposedly from the people expressing concerns about Caesar in Brutus’s home. That further supported Brutus’s decision to go ahead with the plan. Again, Brutus was more concerned with doing the right thing.

After Caesar had been brutally murdered, Brutus encouraged his co-conspirators to “And let us bathe our hands in Caesar's blood
Up to the elbows, and besmear our swords:
Then walk we forth, even to the market-place,
And waving our red weapons o'er our heads,
Let's all cry, "Peace, freedom, and liberty!" (Act 3 sc. 1)

So much did he believe that what he did was just, that he persuaded these men to parade through the streets with bloody hands and swords proclaiming what they had done. When speaking to the crowd he told them that he “loved Caesar but loved Rome more” (Act 3, sc. 2) and was afraid of Caesar’s ambition. When they did not question his actions, he felt totally justified. Then Marc Antony spoke and that was Brutus’s downfall.

Marc Antony reminded the people in Act 3, sc. 2 that Julius...