The Complete King Lear

Because Julius Caesar has been required reading in most high schools, it may be the Shakespeare play most familiar to students. However, as one reader protested, it can’t be much of a play when the hero dies early in the third act. However, many of us have been instructed that Julius Caesar is not the protagonist; Brutus is. This is apparently made clear by Mark Antony’s comment over Brutus’ body in Act V: “This was the noblest Roman of them all.”

On a closer reading, however, it seems that Brutus is certainly not the noblest. A comparison between Julius Caesar and Brutus reveals many similar traits: both are ambitious, both are quite pompous, and both speak of themselves in the third person. Actually, neither one of them is a model Roman. Perhaps Mark Antony comes closest to being the actual protagonist. One could even advance the argument that Cassius acts most “honorably” of the plotters; he is certainly the most level-headed; yet Brutus has his way and contravenes Cassius’ advice repeatedly, always to ill effect. Perhaps none of these men is the true protagonist; maybe there isn’t one.