Julius Caesar

Caesar’s tragic flaw is his hubris or excessive arrogance. Hubris is a common character trait of tragic figures in drama, from Sophocles to Shakespeare. Throughout the play, Caesar is warned by many individuals and omens to “Beware the ides of March” (1.2.19). He is given warnings both divine—the storm, ghosts walking the streets of Rome—and human—Calpurnia’s dream, Artemidorus’s warning—and he ignores them all.

Caesar is a larger-than-life figure who recognizes his own status in his society. He has accomplished much, but he is not invulnerable. When confronted with the danger of his situation, he scoffs and says, “Danger knows full well/ That Caesar is more dangerous than he./ We are two lions littered in one day,/ And I the elder and more terrible” (2.2.44-48). Caesar speaks of himself in the superlative; he is more dangerous than danger. When confronted about his inflexibility toward pardoning Cimber’s brother, he compares himself to the North Star, fixed in its position in the heavens and immovable. He refuses mercy because it is a quality of his public image that he remains constant in his decisions. Aloof to the danger around him, this reaction to Cimber’s entreaty is the catalyst to his assassination.