Subsequently, he makes an appeal to his own character by portraying his pride for his country; he forces the crowd to feel guilty if anyone opposes him is essential an enemy of Rome. On the other hand, Mark Antony’s speech tries to convince the crowd to believe that Caesar did not deserve to die and the conspirators are the real antagonist by the use of a rhetorical question. Therefore, Mark Antony used his rhetorical question to contradict Brutus’s statement that they had to kill Caesar because
Anthony does this to tell the crowd that Brutus is in fact not honorable; he does this in a sly way, because he is not allowed to talk bad on Brutus or the conspirators names. Another device Anthony utilizes to express his tone of manipulation is personification. Sorrowfully Anthony tells the crowd that he will “show [them] Caesar’s wounds, poor dumb mouths, and bid them to speak for [him]”(Shakespeare 47). This strengthens his tone of manipulation, because not only bringing up Caesar’s wounds cause emotion in the crowd, but also delivers the message of rebellion. It is important because this is how Anthony says to stand up for Caesar.
Although this is literally about of the murder of Caesar and Cassius’s power hunger, it hides the message of the plan to murder Queen Elizabeth (which was what was happening while Shakespeare was writing this play). This adds to the tone of the scene, along with the setting of a thunderstorm. The dual monologues show how passionate Cassius is about killing Caesar and gaining power that a sense of anger and slight desperation takes hold. Casca’s anxiety also adds to the uneasiness of the entire situation. Therefore, in entirety, the tone of the scene is stressed anger with hints of irony (as Cassius is trying to get Casca and Brutus on his side through angry monologues.
In William Shakespeare’s tragedy Julius Caesar, Mark Antony uses rhetorical devices such as paralipsis, rhetorical questions, and verbal irony in his speech to the plebeians in order to plot them against the conspirators. During his speech to the plebians, Antony uses paralipsis in order to kindle curiosity and interest in the audience. Antony mentions to the plebians that he had Caesar’s will with him but tells them, “Have patience, gentle friends, I must not read it; It is not meet you know how much Caesar loved you” (3.2.152-153). By drawing attention to Caesar’s will, something Antony desperately wants to show the plebeians, but then dismissing the idea of reading it, Antony uses a type of verbal irony called paralipsis. Antony is aware that the contents of
Brutus attempts to sway the crowd of people toward believing that Caesar’s death was for good intentions using his honor. Antony secretly turns the crowd against the conspirators with evidence; according to Susan Hines, it is the display of Caesar’s body that successfully turns
Persuasion is primarily used in the debate between Brutus and Antony after Caesar’s death. Brutus attempts to sway the crowd of people toward believing that Caesar’s death was for good intentions using his honor, while Antony secretly turns the crowd against the conspirators with evidence; according to Susan Hines, it is the display of Caesar’s body that has successfully turned the crowd of people against the conspirators (135-136). Antony’s speech causes the crowd of people to riot and leads to the battle at the end of the play. There is also persuasion involved in Brutus joining the conspiracy, using letters that appear to have come from other citizens. To ensure Caesar’s arrival at the state house, Decius tries to convince Caesar to still go despite the warnings, by reinterpreting Calpurnia’s dream and telling Caesar that the Senate might rethink their decision of crowning him if he doesn’t arrive (Shakespeare Act 2 Scene 2.
However, Brutus turns the tables on Caesar with a powerful question. “Who is here so vile that will not love his country? If any, speak; for him I have offended. I pause for a reply” (4). Brutus tells the citizens that he has killed Caesar because he didn’t love his country and he had evil intentions for Rome.
In the speech that he gave after Caesar’s death, he managed to persuade the crowd into hating the conspirators. Antony used reverse psychology by referring to the conspirators as “honorable men,” (3.2.82-117) when he meant the opposite. He took his fate into his own hands and made sure that the conspirators paid for what they did. Cassius also has an internal locus of control because when he was trying to persuade Brutus into joining the conspiracy he concludes that, “ Men at some time are masters of their fates. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.” (1.2.146-148) Cassius is telling Brutus that they have to do something to stop Caesar from being king and that they control their own fate.
Throughout the play Iago tries to ruin Othello to steal Othello’s job and gain more power. Since Iago’s lies have gotten the attention of Othello, there has been changes in Othello’s behavior that makes Lodovico question, “Is this the noble Moor whom our full senate/ Call all in all sufficient? Is this the nature/ Whom passion could not shake? Whose solid virtue/ The shot of accident nor dart of chance/ Could neither graze nor pierce?” (4.1.259-263). Due to Lodovico questioning Othello’s behavior, Shakespeare shows how Iago has gotten Othello stuck with only one side of the story changed Othello’s behavior that some are questioning whether Othello should rule or not.
Conversely, the senator mislead his king into believing that he could be trusted. Brutus betrayed Caesar by deceiving him with false loyalty until he had a chance to kill the monarch, thus breaking the sacred vow of trust that came with their friendship. To begin, some may argue that Brutus killed Caesar for Rome’s well-being. In theory, this could have been true. Brutus may have thought that killing a potentially tyrannical dictator could have been a good thing for Rome.