Comparing Brutus Funeral Speeches In William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar

By making the Romans think about this topic, Brutus gains support and the audience feels like the death of Caesar is justified.

Brutus's speech was ineffective in giving them reasons for Caesar's ambition. This gave Antony a large gap to turn the people against Brutus. Brutus told the people to believe him for his honor , and to respect him for his honor, so that they may believe. He is telling them to believe him for his honor and not for the reasons he gives. Brutus repeated many times that Caesar was ambitious but never once said how or why. This left the people with a question in their mind.

Brutus attempts to use pathos to stir the crowd and develop empathy. In his speech, Brutus declares, “As Caesar loved me, I weep for him”. Brutus’ use of this strategy was less effective than Antony’s because he focuses too much on his own emotions than trying to manipulate his fellow Romans’ emotions. His lack of focus on the others’ emotions prevented him from using this device effectively. Though Brutus makes an attempt to gain his audience’s sympathy, he fails to do so.

Throughout the two men’s speeches, both try to invoke emotions in the people of Rome. Brutus attempts this first and is ultimately less effective than the pathos Antony uses throughout his speech. Brutus states, “ If there’s anyone in this assembly, any dear friend of Caesar’s, I say to him that my love for Caesar was no less than his. If, then, that friend demands to know why I rose up against Caesar, this is my answer: it’s not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.” In this statement, Brutus is directing the emotion towards himself instead of the people. He isn’t allowing the people to feel for themselves; this is not an compelling way of using pathos. Antony uses a different method that creates a bigger rise out of the crowd. He does this by saying,

In Brutus’ speech he uses many kinds of rhetorical strategies to convince the audience of Rome he did it for them. One of the types of rhetorical strategies he uses is ethos. Brutus states that if Caesar was still alive, they would have lost their freedom. Brutus states, “believe me for mine honor, have respect for my honor, that you may believe” then after he admits that he was one of the killers and the did it for Rome and the citizens. He also talks about how Caesar was becoming a king like figure and how he killed Caesar for Rome and if his death is needed he to is willing to die for Rome.Another strategie Brutus uses is pathos to touch the angry emotion of the citizen by stating, ¨Mark Antony,who thought he had no hand in his death, shall receive the benefits”and “a place in the commonwealth; as which you shall not.”

Brutus's speech was a lot different from Antony's speech since he used the appeal to logos in his speech which meant he decided to use logic and reasoning to prove his point. "...it’s not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more"(Shakespeare). This quote from the play made by Brutus was a clear example of how he chose to rely on logic rather than emotions as protecting Rome rather than his friend is more of a logical appeal. "Would you rather that Caesar were living and we would all go to our graves as slaves, or that Caesar were dead and we all lived as free men?(Shakespeare)". This quote explains that Brutus is trying to show everybody that it is logical to think to get rid

Brutus has a noble reputation throughout Rome, as it was Brutus’s ancestor who vanquished tyranny in Rome. Brutus is also very idealistic and he loves his honor more than he fears death. So, Brutus gives the speech as a satisfactory explanation for Caesar’s death and he completely expects the crowd to support and agree with his reasoning, as he knows that his credibility and good reputation will help him persuade the audience. In his speech, Brutus even uses the logical fallacy either/or, a fallacy that presents two situations when in reality there are more, by asking the crowd if they would rather that Caesar were dead and they live free or that Caesar were alive, and they all die slaves. Brutus mostly uses the Aristotelian appeal of logos, or logic to persuade the audience. However, Brutus’s argument is vague, as he does not qualify the word ‘ambition’ and this gives Antony a chance to contradict some of Brutus’s statements and prove him wrong. The crowd approves Brutus’s speech, and cheers for him wildly. Brutus is not surprised by this reaction, as he knows that it is easy for him to persuade the audience because of his credibility. After his speech, Brutus introduces the crowd to Antony, and then he leaves. Brutus is confident that the crowd will believe him, and he is also the one who gave Antony the permission to speak at the funeral, and so he is sure that Antony will not contradict

This showed that he had his heart set on protecting Rome from Caesar no matter what it took. Because of this, he was honored for his nobility. Brutus was willing to give his life to better Rome. He knew that if he killed Caesar, (someone who was popular with the people), he would be hunted down if he couldn’t convince the people that what he was doing was for the best. Brutus ended up using logos in his speech, which was overpowered by Antony’s speech that included pathos.

At the beginning of Caesar's funeral Brutus said the people of Rome a speech which was an attempt to villainize Caesar, who he said was going to become evil and corrupted with power. Brutus also stated that Caesar would take away the romans freedom and said that he killed Caesar so that the reality he feared Caesar would become would not come to haunt Rome. A direct quote from Brutus was that "He had not killed Caesar because he loved him less, but because he loved Rome more." He had stated in so many words that Caesar was unfit to be the king of Rome and would become mad with power. However after Brutus gave his speech to the people attempting to convince them that Caesar was evil and ambitious Anthony then gave his speech to the people.

He tells them that he did it because Caesar was ambitious and for the good of Rome. The crowd is into what he says. They call him “noble Brutus” (III, ii, 11) and even say on the next page “let Brutus be Caesar” (III, ii, 47) just like they had said about Marc Antony. In the end there was something different with Marc Antony's speech that put him over the top, and it was that he lead the crowd towards rioting. As stated earlier in the paper the crowd wanted to kill Brutus and burn his house and all this bad stuff to do to him and the conspirators but, none of that was said about Marc Antony during Brutus’s

They both give their speech to mourn for Caesar's death; however, it confuses me why Brutus would do it because he killed him all because for the good of Rome. And if Brutus said he "weep[s] for him", why didn't he show any emotion for Caesar's death like Antony did? Mark Antony's speech is different because he states reasons why Caesar didn't deserve to be assassinated. He includes how Caesar was his friend, faithful and just to him to show that Caesar could have been a trustworthy person to be around with.

He concludes his speech by inciting the crowd to vengeance against the conspirators for Caesar’s death. He uses the body by pointing to each dagger wound and telling the crowd each conspirator’s name, and telling them that Caesar was “[marred]...by traitors,” where he had previously only referred to the conspirators as honorable men. He also brings out a paper and says that “[Caesar] gives-/to every [single] man- seventy-five drachmas… [and] left [them] all his walks” (3.2.233-37). These props convinced the crowd that Caesar had loved them, which was one of the main goals of Antony’s speech.[transition,3rd claim].

Brutus said in his speech during Act II, Sc. 2, “If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of Caesar’s, to him I say that Brutus’ love for Caesar was no less than his” (ln. 16-18). When Brutus says that, he pretty much tells the ROman citizens that, despite his previous actions against Caesar, he still loved and worshipped him like so many of his fellow Romans did. In Brutus’s speech he continually says that he loved Caesar. When Brutus keeps saying this he gets the people thinking that Brutus did what he thought was truly best for them. In Brutus’s speech he apologized to those that he offended by killing Caesar. BY doing this he makes the people think he had their best interest in mind when he killed

In Brutus's speech his main goal is to justify his murder of Caesar and convince the people of Rome that would he did was an honorable thing. Brutus Translation- Romans,Countrymen, and friends, be silent and hear why I killed Caesar. You should believe and listen to me because of my honor and respect, and if you respect my honor then you will believe me. Judge me using reasoning and wisdom so that you may judge correctly.