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<title> Et Tu Brute? </title>
I shall in this essay do a close reading analysis on an extract in William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (act two, scene one, lines 112-191). I am going to analyse what is revealed about Brutus' character, values and political beliefs. I argue that we in this passage get to know some less amiable sides of the character Brutus, namely features that cause the failure of the conspiracy. We get to know Brutus the leader, always secure of himself even when he actually is wrong. But we can also see his appreciation of honour and his ability of trusting people. In this extract Brutus has just decided to join the conspiracy after having received a letter that he believes is from the Roman people. The other conspirators have come to visit Brutus' house to plan the deed. 
To begin with I want to present Brutus the leader who immediately takes over this role from Cassius. I get a feeling that he has a lack of respect for Cassius, which is shown for example when he does not let his friend finish speaking. Brutus almost patronises Cassius in his wish to show the others what he believes is true.
For the ingrafted love he bears to Caesar-
Alas, good Cassius, do not think of him.

Brutus' wish to be the leader of the conspiracy is also the reason for his decision not to let Cicero join them. He knows that Cicero is older and wiser and he is also aware of the great respect the others have for Cicero.

O, let us have him, for his silver hairs
Will purchase us a good opinion

Brutus therefore fears that Cicero would take over the leader role from him, in the same way as he took the leader role from Cassius. 

For he will never follow anything 
That other men begin.

The decision not to let Cicero join, together with the decision to let Mark Antony live, later proves to be great mistakes of the conspirators and the conspiracy ends up being a failure. The decisions are both Brutus' and prove his desire to decide and be in charge of the conspiracy. But not only this, but they are also proof of his belief in himself at judging characters and situations. He is completely sure about the fact that Mark Antony is harmless:
For he can do no more than Caesar's arm
When Caesar's head is off.

	Brutus seems very impulsive to me, trusting his immediate feelings. There is never any time for discussion or to consider the proposals from the others, but instead he immediately knows what is best for the conspiracy. Brutus later proves to be the exact opposite of what he believes he is, namely hopeless at judging characters and this leads to the fatal outcome of the conspiracy. When it comes to judging the characters of the conspirators he is right though.
	The extract begins with Brutus asking the conspirators to give him their hands, and their hands only, to show that they are joining the conspiracy, he does not want them to swear. It is Cassius' suggestion that they should swear a resolution, but also in this case Brutus refuses and by this shows that he is the leader. But there is also something positive that comes with this refusal and that is Brutus' belief in the loyalty of his friends. He does not want them to swear an oath because he thinks that their motives are so strong that they do not need to. Only when there is doubt, only priests, cowards and
 such suffering souls
That welcome wrongs; unto bad causes swear

	By his refusal to swear an oath Brutus shows the other conspirators that he trusts them. At the same time this could mean something else to them, and that is that Brutus can not be trusted. Why would he otherwise refuse to swear the oath? But he still makes it very clear that anyone who would break the promise would no longer be worth to be called a Roman. And since the other conspirators know how much Brutus values his honour they probably have no doubts about him. And since they also know that they can not perform the deed without Brutus' help they do not really have any other opportunities than to consent to what he says. 
	Brutus' belief in his honour is the reason for his struggle, the struggle that is the main theme of the whole play. Brutus says that a Roman:

Is guilty of a several bastardy, 
If he do break the smallest particle
Of any promise that hath passed from him.

Having been such a good friend of Caesar and loving him as a man, he has made kind of a promise to Caesar, a promise that he now is breaking. This is the reason for the great battle within Brutus. He is betraying his friend and therefore also himself and his heart and love. But he succeeds in letting this go, since because he is an idealist he always values the general good more than what is best for himself and his heart. 
	The greatest struggle has been fought before this extract though, and Brutus has convinced himself that he has made the right decision. He has convinced himself that leaving Caesar be results in tyranny:

So let high-sighted tyranny range on

The conspirators killing Caesar can only stop this tyranny. He has convinced himself that the result of the deed will be a situation that for all means will be better, or at least no worse, than if Caesar would continue to be the leader of the state. But this is another mistake that Brutus makes, when he does not consider the possibility of the state getting an even worse leader than Caesar, who after all still has not abused his power. The decision to kill Caesar is made by Brutus mainly because of his great belief in democracy. He knows that if Caesar would be offered the crown a fourth time he would probably accept it and this would be the end of democracy in the state and a step backwards in history. 
	In convincing himself that the deed is inevitable Brutus also almost glorifies it and tries to convince himself that it is not that terrible.

Let's carve him as a dish fit for the god,

He implies that as long as they do only what is absolutely necessary: kill Caesar and touch no one else, it is not such a terrible deed. 

Let us be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius

His mixed feelings are shown when he says:

O, that we then could come by Caesar's spirit,
 and not dismember Caesar! But, alas,
Caesar must bleed for it.

Brutus has accepted the need of the deed, but he has still not really convinced himself enough to forget that he is doing something dreadful to his friend. 
	The qualities Brutus shows us in this extract of the play are of vital importance to the fatal outcome of the play. If Brutus simply had been the emotional loving person that I got the feeling he was when I first read the play he would never have made the decision to join the conspiracy. But on the other hand, if this had been the case, if the conspirators had known that Brutus was not an idealistic democrat who valued the general good more than anything else, they had probably not asked him, but instead Cicero, to join the conspiracy. What the outcome had been then we do not know. What we do know is that Brutus' good intentions had a fatal outcome that in the end led to oppression of the Romans and a civil war in which people were slaughtered. Brutus played a game with his heart and emotions as stake and he lost. First his friend and his wife and later himself, or perhaps it was the other way around.
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