ABSTRACT
From the crystal lucidity, even flow, and brilliant imagery of the style of Julius Caesar stand out two main personal themes: the Brutus-theme and the Cassius-theme. The one predominates at the start, the other at the finish. This chapter outlines the imaginative nature of the Brutus-theme alone. In considering the figure of Brutus, it indicates how his soul-experience resembles that of Macbeth. The chapter serves as a valuable introduction to the complexities of the Macbeth vision itself. Brutus is confronted with a task from which his nature revolts. He, like Macbeth, embarks on a line of action destructive rather than creative; directed against the symbol of established authority; at root, perhaps, selfish. Two impulses diverge: one urges him to conspiracy and murder, the other reminds him of Caesar’s goodness and the normal methods of upright men. He is thus divided—torn between a certain sense of duty and his instinct for peaceful and civilized behaviour.
