A (Mis-)Guide to Morality on Marcus Brutus in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar

Juhi Singh
Fri, 17 Apr 2026 09:00:00 PDT

This talk, based on a longer essay, presents a distinctive interpretation of William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar. Drawing on literary, psychological, critical and political perspectives, it examines Marcus Brutus’s departure from the funeral forum after delivering his final speech. Traditional readings present this moment as an act of honor or political naivety as they suggest that Brutus departs due to the trust he has in Mark Antony and believes that his own idealism—or his own noble intentions—will be clear to everyone. On the contrary, this project argues that Brutus’s exit marks a deliberate, inward, and immediate shift of allegiance from the conspirators’ goals and beliefs.

This departure demonstrates the breaking of his moral conviction, now driven by a sense of wrong over betraying Caesar’s friendship, and a new awareness of authoritarian manipulation. By leaving the scene, Brutus intentionally allows Mark Antony to avenge the death of Caesar specifically because Brutus is burdened with guilt and can no longer morally justify the consequences of his actions. Through close textual analysis of Acts III-V and engagement with scholarship on Shakespearean tragedy, this project interrogates the psychological mechanisms behind Brutus’s morality. This approach reframes Brutus as a figure manipulated by authoritarian systems, and expands on Brutus’s inner shift of allegiance as he realizes he is an aid to a system that claims to oppose tyranny while enforcing it. This talk, thus, illuminates the psychology of Brutus in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.