Typically for carbon steels, the carbon composition contributes largely to its

strength and hardness.

The higher the carbon, the more likely the steel has higher hardness and the more
likely it becomes brittle.

However, it is worth noting that carbon itself is not the only component that
affects steel hardness.
Manganese have been shown to increase strength in steels and a lot of other
elements.
Therefore, it is usually good to look at Carbon Equivalent (C.E.) to really see the
total carbon effect equivalent of the total contribution of each components.
(There are many CE standards but the IIW is very widely used in the industry)

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Heat treatment affects brittleness and ductility in terms of the thermal cycles it
is exposed to.
You can make it very malleable by annealing (and solution annealing), and you can
also make it very hard (quenching).

Fast cooling for example can increase a steel’s hardness and therefore brittleness.
This is due carbon atoms not having enough time to diffuse out of the lattice.

Tempering of steel is used to to increase ductility of martensitic steel.

It works by heating up steel to a certain critical temperature and allowing carbon
to diffuse out by cooling slowly.
This method allows martensitic material to gain ductility while retaining some its
martensitic properties(hardness).