The man who kills him was easily defeated later, showing us that Caesar was taken down easily. It is understandable that some think of Brutus as a tragic hero, but: Brutus, who kills Caesar in Shakespeare's play, is an incompetent.
The argument can be made that an incompetent could not succeed in killing one of the worlds great generals, but Brutus was later defeated and Caesars family continued to rule. His treachery in killing Caesar has been discussed since when the deed was done. It has been said that treachery never succeeds. This is because if successful, an action is not called treachery. To turn yourself from a usurper to a hero, you must leave no witnesses of the actual deed, and you must never leave an enemy behind you.
Brutus killed Caesar where the whole senate could watch him continue to be noble even with his very last breath. Brutus left Antony and Octavian alive to avenge Caesar. When preparing the funeral oration, he forgot that people always remember the last speaker more, and that he who speaks second can tailor his speech to ruin his opponent.
Yet Brutus folly starts much earlier. He started by acting without any truth in his stated cause, which showed his lack of understanding of the way the world works. He then did not state a good objective, acting only in defense, which military scholars have told us can't be won. He then did not carefully pick a team of associates, but went with those recommended by Casius. He did not demand oath or even hand shake to secure their loyalty or obedience. And his plans were simple. The only effective way to remove a ruler is to stage a coup D eta and put in a rule of your own. Brutus made no such plans.
I feel that Caesar's death was cheep and dishonorable. He was not killed for any crime, nor for to prevent any crime that a sane man would actually believe might happen. He was not killed to clear the way for some great project of even for greed. Caesar was killed by a stupid man as a stand-in for his demons. I can not in any way consider Brutus the tragic hero in this play because that phrase has the word hero in it. Brutus is still tragic.
