#8. ... Brutus is proud of his integrity and confident of his statesmanship and of his military ability, yet he is putty in Cassius' hands... In the second scene Cassius can manipulate Brutus precisely because he is noble.
In scene two of the play Cassius begins a manipulation of Brutus. As the scene begins Brutus loyal to Caesar. He tells Cassius that he loves Caesar, however he would not want him to be king. Brutus is so noble that he says he would rather die than do something dishonorable. This reflects that Brutus is an honest man who wants to remain noble. Brutus realizes that Cassius is trying to make him act otherwise. Since he is so proud of his integrity he becomes vulnerable when being spoken to by Cassius. I believe that this is because Cassius makes Brutus feel guilty. When Cassius does this, Brutus feels as though he is not being a good fhend to Cassius, so he feels like the noble thing to do would be to hear Cassius out. Therefore Cassius tries his hardest to be very convincing when he is speaking to Brutus, because he knows that Brutus is "putty" in his hands. Cassius proves to be an intelligent man by turning Brutus' strong trait against him in order to turn Brutus away from Caesar. The reader becomes aware of the fact that Cassius is trying to manipulate Brutus during the last part of the scene. When Brutus exits the stage, Cassius shares his deepest feelings with the audience. Cassius says, "Well Brutus, thou art noble, Yet I see thy honorable metal may be wrought from that it is disposed" (p. 390, line 302). This states that Brutus is noble, yet that spirit can be turned from its natural inclination. Cassius will make sure of it.