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Brutus Vs Antony's Speech Essay

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In William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Brutus and Antony gave successful speeches at Caesar’s funeral. Caesar was ambitious to be king which would change Rome from a republic to a monarchy. Because of his urge to be king a conspiracy formed to stop Caesar’s takeover of the government. Brutus was put in charge of the conspiracy, and then helps to kill Caesar. After Caesar’s death Antony promises revenge, and then asks to speak after Brutus at Caesar's funeral. Antony’s speech was more effective than Brutus’s speech because of his use of Pathos, Repetition, and Irony. Antony’s speech at Caesar’s funeral was more successful because of his use of Pathos. He started by telling them “If you have tears, prepare to shed them now” …show more content…

At the same time he is using the repetition of that phrase to show what Caesar has actually done that was not ambitious. The use of repetition was used to turn the crowd against the conspirators. The final reason that Antony’s speech was more successful than Brutus’s speech was the use of irony. He used irony when he said “For Brutus is an honorable man, so are they all, all honorable men” (3. 2. 83-84). He said this to please Brutus, but he actually meant to say that they may have claimed to be honorable men, but they killed the most honorable of them all. The irony in this sentence is that he is trying to make the plebeians very angry with the conspirators, while at the same time sticking to Brutus’s requirement to not say anything bad about the conspirators. Because of Antony's use of pathos, repetition, and irony, his speech was more successful than Brutus’s speech. He got to the emotions of the people and made them very angry with the conspirators (pathos). He then uses repetition to show the people that Caesar was not ambitious. And finally he used irony to remain within Brutus’s requirements to not say anything against the conspirators. This is why Antony’s speech was more successful than Brutus’s

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