Brutus faces with the inner psychological drama, which is why his speech has two main goals. First, he tries to persuade the audience that the assassination of Caesar is the necessary action thats made in order to save Rome from trouble. Secondly, Brutus tries to persuade himself that he killed Caesar because this was his duty, not for his own purposes. The character begins his speech with the rhetorical device of antimetabole. He repeats the words in successive clauses while placing them in reverse grammatical
Brutus’s speech focused on ethos and pathos, As he is giving his speech brutus says “that my love for caesar was no less than his” implying that he is saddened by caesar's death. He continues on immediately afterwards saying “Not that I loved caesar less, it's that I love rome more!” Using ethics, brutus then says “Had you rather caesar live and die all slaves, than that caesar dead and live all three men?” using ethics. Later brutus says that “there is tears for his love: joy, for his fortune: honor, for his valor: and death for his ambition.” using both ethos and pathos.
In Julius Caesar written by William Shakespeare, several rhetorical devices are used inside this play to represent not only the speaker, but how it affects the people listening as well as the readers. In Act 2 Scene 1, Brutus speaks with Cassius and other fellow conspirators about the assassination of Caesar. Though Cassius was the one who plotted the entire coup, Brutus quickly takes control over the entire plan. The conversation between the two show who is really in command and whose words have more weight. Cassius and Brutus have only spoken briefly and Brutus just has been introduced to Casca, Decius, Cinna, Metellus, and Trebonius, and he carries more of an influence in decision making than Cassius does.
Sam Kim Mr. Kuszak Pre-AP English 10 1.8.16 The Power of Persuasion in Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Julius Caesar In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, a main concept of the play is persuasion. This appears all throughout this play, from Cassius persuading Brutus to kill off Caesar to Antony’s speech, persuading the people to be against Brutus. The power of persuasion is not only used by the characters in the play, but by Shakespeare himself.
There are three examples of how the characters in this play move the plot along, first through rhetoric, secondly propaganda, and thirdly the crowds reactions. Each of these things were demonstrated in speech. One can see that throughout this play there is a constant battle between what each person sees as truth. Truth is a universal thing yet is universally different. Speeches are a representation of the individual truth of the characters in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.
In his thoughtful and critical speech, Brutus, a senator of Rome who is friends with Caesar, utilizes rhetorical devices in order to persuade himself that killing Caesar is beneficial to the people. Toward the middle of the speech, Brutus uses Pathos in a metaphor to prove to himself “that lowliness is young ambition’s ladder” that but once one reaches the top of the ladder, he will “[scorn] the base degrees by which he did ascend” (II, i, 22 & 26-27). This metaphor is comparing humility to a ladder in which ambitious people use to climb to achieve great power. Although, once one reaches the power, the ladder is no longer any use for them and they will look down on the steps and people that had helped them get to this place in scornfulness.
Entrepreneur Jim Rohn once said, “Words do two major things: They provide food for the mind and create light for understanding and awareness.” This quote is relevant to the Tragedy of Julius Caesar because Brutus uses rhetoric to convince himself to join the conspiracy against Caesar. Throughout the story, Brutus’ compelling persuasion skills influence his decisions and sway others to follow his ideas. Joining the conspiracy and killing Caesar are justified by Brutus’ powerful arguments. One of Brutus’ major points for allying with the conspiracy is that Caesar could turn his back on the people when he reaches the top and is untouchable.
It is evident that many different aspects of rhetoric can be seen throughout Brutus’s strategy. For instance, the Aristotelian model can be observed through Brutus’s acknowledgement of the speaker, subject, and audience. Moreover, the Rogerian model can be depicted through Brutus’s statements of opposition, understanding, and position. Lastly, the Toulmin model can be illustrated through Brutus’s powerful claim. The ability to recognize that all three models can be found in Brutus’s speech, is what makes it unforgettable.
Act I, scene ii, lines 53-162 of Julius Caesar helps set the conspiracy to kill Caesar and the rest of the play into motion. Cassius attempts to convince Brutus that Caesar doesn’t deserve power because he is no stronger than them. This scene takes place around a holiday called Lupercal after Caesar has defeated Pompey and it appears that he may soon become king. Shakespeare uses metaphors, similes, and imagery to convince turn Brutus to the side of the conspiracy and prove that Caesar isn’t fit to hold power.
William Shakespeare, in his tragedy Julius Caesar, uses the rhetorical devices of a rhetorical question, repetition of the word “ambitious,” and a direct reference in Antony 's speech to persuade the plebeians to rebel against the conspirators. Antony allures to the pathos, ethos, and logos of the audience to get them to exile the conspirators. Shakespeare uses a rhetorical question in Antony’s speech to get the plebeians to notice the wrongdoings of the conspirators and excite them to revolt. Antony discusses the economic dominance and vigor that Caesar brought to Rome, and with sarcasm he states, “Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?” (3.2.99).
The conspirators killed caesar before the shocked senators and spectators. In brutus speech he claims that he didn 't love cesar any less by killing him he just loved rome more. Brutus begins building his credibility to the roman people by using rhetorical appeals that persuade the audience to believe that he did the right thing by killing caesar. His use of logical appeals weakened his credibility because it seemed like he was putting the blame on other people instead of taking responsibility for his own actions. Through Brutus 's piece, he uses ethos appeals to build his argument as to why he did the heinous act of helping murder caesar.
From his version of the funeral orations given by Brutus and Antony, and the response of the crowd to each, valuable lessons can be learned about persuading people. The first funeral oration for Caesar was given by Brutus. As one of Caesar’s murderers, he needed to accomplish a lot in his speech if he wanted to persuade the crowd. Brutus needed to re-establish his credibility, which had been tarnished by his actions, prove that Caesar was guilty of a crime worthy of death, and show that the actions of the murderers were just. To accomplish this, Brutus relied on appeals to ethos.
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.
Marc Antony’s Persuasiveness The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare is a play that explains the assassination of Julius Caesar and the civil war after his death through a tale of friendship and betrayal. In act III, scene ii of the play, Julius Caesar’s right-hand man, Marc Antony, is able to persuade the crowd at Caesar’s funeral to go against the conspirators and seek revenge for Caesar. Antony used great techniques to win over the crowd that was, moment earlier, all in favor of Brutus and were glad that he killed Caesar.
The power of rhetoric and oratory skills: Keywords: Rhetoric, regicide, the Elizabethan times, Mischief, , reverse psychology First Brutus speaks and then Antony, each with the aim of persuading the crowd to his side. We observe each speaker’s effect on the crowd and see the power that words can. Brutus speaks to the people in prose rather than in verse, trying to make his speech seem plain to keep himself on the level of the plebeians. He quickly convinces the people that Caesar had to die because he would have become a tyrant and brought suffering to them all.
