Julius Caesar Rhetoric

”(III.i.148-150). When encountering Caesar's dead body on the ground, Antony was filled with many mixed emotions, but rage exceeded them all. Furthermore, when faced with speaking at Caesar's funeral, Antony says “My heart is in my coffin there with Caesar, And I must pause till it come back to me”(III.ii.105-106). Antony is heartbroken from the loss of his best friend when speaking at the funeral, he also realizes that this is a perfect opportunity to begin his master plan of bringing Rome a rightful

Brutus tries to impress the crowd by saying that Caesar was going to become a dictator. “Had you rather Caesar were living and die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live all free men?” (ii. III.L 22-24). Brutus gives this reason to make the people think this murderous act was honorable.

In the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar one of the main characters Caesar is killed in Scene 3 act 2.Then Brutus and Antony both give speeches about how bad they feel. Brutus gives a good speech by using all three of the rhetorical appeals to persuade the crowd to want to listen to what he say by using logos,ethos,pathos to his advantage. Brutus gives a better speech that draws the audience attention,Antony not as much. Therefor here are some very valid points on why Brutus’s speech used the Rhetorical Appeals better.

In Antony’s speech to the people, he speaks about Caesar over his dead body. His words make the commoners feel something, as opposed to Brutus,

After reading excerpts from Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, write an essay that compares Brutus’ speech with Marc Antony’s speech and argues the effectiveness of the rhetorical devices (ethos, pathos, logos) used in each. Be sure to support your position with evidence from the texts. William Shakespeare writes a play about Julius Caesar’s assassination and the speeches his friends gave at his funeral. In the play, Brutus assassinated Caesar because he thought he was protecting Rome. He was saying that if Caesar got all the power he would most likely become vicious and make everyone his slaves.

By refusing to read the will several times and admitting that what it contains will cause the people to have such a great love for Caesar that knowing he is now dead will be unbearable, Antony ignites curiosity in the people and furthermore, a subconscious feeling of respect and graciousness toward Caesar. Basically, Antony uses Caesar’s will to convince the people that Caesar was a selfless, kind-hearted man and those who killed him should be ashamed and punished for killing an innocent man. Through Antony’s use of paralipsis, he is able to plant a seed of admiration for Caesar and one of hate for the conspirators in the hearts of the plebeians. In his speech to the citizens, Antony also asks many rhetorical questions to cause his audience to pause and reflect on how they really feel, or how Antony wants them to feel, about certain people and events that have recently become important. In one instance.

Brutus believes that Caesar will do more harm than good to the people, and reap benefits for himself. Brutus has already said this, but had said it in his own words, (II, i, 12-14). He has no clue if Caesar will use his power for the good and betterment for the people, or use it for his own needs and other

The Tragedy of Julius Caesar- Rhetorical Analysis In the novel, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by Shakespeare, after Brutus brutally executes Caesar in Act 3 Scene 2, Antony is allowed to give a speech to the people of Rome whom have seen witnessed this fatal tragedy in Scene 3. Antony uses anaphora, connotative diction and details throughout his speech to persuade the Romans to change their perspective of Caesar and Brutus. The way Antony speaks about both Caesar & Brutus are a dispute of what he is actually trying to announce to the Romans. At the end of his speech, Antony hopes to reach the Romans emotionally (pathos) by enraging them against Brutus’s false statements against Caesar.

Brutus uses rhetorical questions, faulty reasoning and hyperboles to create the tone of persuasion while convincing the Roman people to be on his side. To start off his funeral speech, he wants the citizens to trust and believe what he has to say about Caesar, Brutus announces; “Believe me for mine honor, and have respect for my honor, that you may believe me”(Shakespeare 42). In this case, faulty reasoning is shown because Brutus has done nothing to prove him honorable to the citizens. Given that, he has no evidence that he is trustworthy, Brutus still try’s to persuade the crowd to believe what he has to say about Caesar is true, which is

Antony wants to remind the Romans that he is credible for speaking of Caesar “that love my friend, and that they know full well, that gave me public leave to speak of him” (III.ii.215-216) Antony uses ethos after telling the Romans everything to convince them in being against that conspirators’ that he can speak of Caesar because he was a close friend of Caesar. Antony convinces the Romans to retribute the conspirators’ for what they have done “In every wound of Caesar that should move the stones of Rome to rise and mutiny” (III.ii.225-226) Antony wants revenge and is convincing the Romans to riot by using pathos. Antony wants the Romans to feel sorry about Caesar’s death “here was a Caesar! When comes such another?”

(III, I, 90-91). This is Brutus trying to comfort the people and get them to listen to what they had to say about murdering him. The conspirators feared tyranny and they were willing to do anything to be free of it. But, they wouldn’t know how the people would react so they were giving them a reason to a

Some playwrights choose to write plays about historical events, among them there is The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, a play that describes the downfall of the rule of Julius Caesar, but is also a play that is not as truthful as it first impressionably is, a complete truthful account of Julius Caesar’s assassination and the events leading up to it. In order to greater attract the audience, Shakespeare, along with other playwrights, relied on adding historical inaccuracies to add the necessary suspense. Thus, Shakespeare strayed away from historical events occurring during Caesar’s lifetime, implementing inaccuracy into the story. Shakespeare based one of his most well-known plays, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, on historical events that includes

Brutus, According to Shakespeare The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, a Shakespearean play and representation of the assassination of Caesar, is a well written and developed story in which the build up of the characters is very well done. As a matter of fact, the developing of Brutus, the tragic hero on the play, is one of the most important characters and therefore one of the better explained and exposed. Brutus is a character that is marked with three traits that allow him to be the one responsible for Caesar's assassination. Indeed, Brutus is naive, well-intended and hypocrite, as seen when the conspirators convince him to be part of it, and be one of the most important figures in it.

These statements mixed with examples counteractive to Brutus’ argument create an antithesis that results in the plebeians not only doubting the argument of Brutus but beginning to believe that Caesar’s death was unjust. By restating the statements over and over again by to the point that the true intention of the conspirators is a rhetorical question for the plebeians. Antony’s use of this device not only affects the logos of the people by giving them a rhetorical question as to what is happening, but also affects their ethos by causing them to doubt the credibility of Brutus’ argument. Lastly, Antony begins to finish his speech and win the plebeians over by orating “.O masters, if I were disposed to stir your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage, I should do Brutus wrong, and Cassius wrong— who, you all know, are honorable men” (Shakespeare 3.2.120-123). Antony by turning Brutus and Cassius into villains.

There are two reasons why Antony gave this speech. The first was to get back at Brutus for murdering his beloved friend, and making him pay for it. The main reason Antony gave this speech is because he had a greed for power. He thought that if he could get all the plebeians on his side, that they would attack the conspirators and trust Antony, therefore making it easy to take on the spot for power. “Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius, To cut the head off and then hack the limbs, Like wrath in death and envy afterwards, For Antony is but a limb of Caesar.