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I didn't" affair that almost results in a fight. Cassius is innocent of the offense
and is hurt that he is "Hated by one he loves, braved by his brother."
What motivates Brutus to this anger? It turns out that it is grief over Portia's
death. It is to Cassius that Brutus turns in his grief. The grief that he feels,
the loss, the sense of betrayal are all translated into anger toward this friend,
and after those emotions are spent, the two men are closer in some ways
than Brutus ever was with Portia. The latter relationship shares the same
respect for each other and the same sharing of intimacy, yet it is a
relationship that can operate in the same spheres because it encompasses a
level of equality not possible between a woman and a man.
From that moment, the audience has an increasing amount of sympathy for
Brutus, who has been humanized by his wife's death. While he clearly loved
his wife, there was also some distance between them, partly because of her
rather stoic nature (remember her self-wounding), partly because he is
unwilling to confide in her. This combination of the masculine and the
feminine in her character was not a completely appropriate one. It was
unworkable given the way in which the Roman world worked. The flip side, of
course, was Caesar's behavior. His combination of femininity and masculinity
was also unworkable. With their deaths, Brutus is able to incorporate both
aspects of their personalities, most directly from his wife, given her more
moral nature. With the banishment of women and inappropriate femininity
from Rome, the state ought to be a better one. But there is an unattractive
sterility to such a world. What has been created is an unworkable ideal.
Brutus' death is an indication of just how unworkable it is.