Caesar’s death divided the Roman Republic. Some citizens, like Brutus and Cassius, believed that Caesar’s death was for the good of the Republic. Other citizens, like Mark Antony, believed that Caesar had been murdered before he accomplished his greatest contributions to society. This difference in opinions, first expressed during the funeral orations for Caesar, spread throughout Roman society, leading to civil war and the end of the Republic. Hundreds of years later, Shakespeare dramatized the events around Caesar’s death. 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. Brutus gave the first funeral oration for Caesar. As …show more content…
This time he appealed to the character of the people. Roman citizens at that time disliked unchecked ambition. They recognized the dangers of a ruler with excessive ambition. After all, the Roman Republic had been founded in response to the lustful and power-hungry ways in which the last Roman kings ruled (In fact, this negative feeling toward kings caused Octavius to choose the title of emperor instead of king to avoid repercussions). If Brutus could prove that Caesar had attempted to gain kingship of Rome, then many, if not all, of his audience would agree with him that Caesar‘s murder was a just and necessary act. To this end, Brutus repeatedly stated that he honored and loved Caesar (3.2.26-28 and 3.2.29-30), and that Caesar’s death was solely due to his ambition (3.2.28 and 3.2.30). Brutus went on to ask parallel rhetorical questions asking the people who was willing to give up their freedom so that Caesar could rule (3.2.30-36). Brutus wrapped up his oration by saying that death should be the punishment for anyone ambitious, even Brutus himself (3.2.38-39). This made it clear that Brutus acted not out of jealousy or conceit, but solely out of concern for the good of …show more content…
He brought up Caesar’s will, which he claimed to have found in Caesar’s closet (3.2.140-141). Instead of reading it right away, he delayed, increasing the suspense and the curiosity of the crowd. As part of the delay, he emphasized how Caesar had been traitorously murdered by his friend (3.2.181-208), which aroused pity in the minds of his listeners. After the crowd begged Antony to read Caesar’s will multiple times, he finally agreed. Antony read the will, which gave 75 drachmas (3.2.256) to each citizen as well as Caesar’s private walks arbors, and orchards to the enjoyment of the people (3.2.261-265). Antony knew that reading this will would inflame the desires and emotions of the people, who would feel that they had been robbed of a generous benefactor. In this way, Antony subtly undermined Brutus’ appeal to ethos and appealed to the desires and passions of his
After Brutus finishes his speech, Antony speaks about his opinion on the issue; unlike Brutus, Antony acts slyly and communicates a very manipulative tone to persuade the Romans to rebel. Because of Antony's use of parallelism, he creates vivid reasoning for his speech. He states, “ I come here to bury Caesar, not to praise him” (III.ii.44). By using this device, he shows the people of Rome that he isn't praising Caesar, he is putting the leader to rest. This particular line creates a very manipulative tone, because his speech is all about what great this Caesar has done and how he wants to rebel against the conspirators. Further more, Antony uses a lot of irony to slyly get his point across. One example that he uses throughout the speech is “Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, and Brutus is a honorable man” (III.ii.44). Because of the repitition of this ironic statement, the meaning of it changes and intensifies. At first, his tone was sincere, but as the speech progresses, you can see his sarcastic tone increases. Antony does this because he has to use this device to surpass the regulations of Brutus, as well as make the romans listen. Lastly, he uses personification to give life and further meaning to a word. Early in the speech, Antony says, “The evil
By keeping his listeners thoroughly engaged, Antony is able to further develop on his purpose by utilizing diverse rhetorical devices. Near the beginning, he makes effective use of parallelism to list Caesar’s selfless deeds, like “when that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept”, which gives the effect that the list is so long that Antony cannot describe it in unique detail. Additionally, his parallel repetition of “Brutus says he was ambitious and Brutus is an honorable man” serves as sarcasm. By repeating each good action with these two lines, Antony is getting the audience to contrast Caesar’s endless good deeds with Brutus’s repetitive and conflicting argument. Further on in the speech, Antony uses proslepsis somewhat obviously to reveal Caesar’s will to the people. He tells them that he found “a parchment with the seal of Caesar...tis his will”, yet quickly stops himself from telling anymore. Therefore, the audience is intrigued by the will and its mention reengages any listeners who
In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, both Brutus and Mark Antony provide moving funeral speeches in hopes to sway the crowd towards their opinion. Brutus makes an attempt to assure the Roman people of his own innocence and justify the murder of Julius Caesar. Adversely, Mark Antony offers a speech to counter that of Brutus and act as the defense for Julius Caesar. While both speeches are sufficient in swaying their audience, Antony is able to use both pathos and antithesis more effectively and his use of the devices enables him to provide a far more compelling speech.
"This is a personal reason,because even though Brutus said he was ambitious,the commoners didn't see him as ambitious.There was no sign of ambition in Caesar as seen by the commoners,proving that,that was Brutus's personal opinion.There was also proof that Caesar was not ambitous,as described by Antony in his speech;when he pointed out that Caesar brought home captives and refused the crown three times,signs that are not of an ambitous man.To add,his killing of Caesar did not help Rome,it ended with the people going into havoc and war,hurting Rome.Also,would Caesar being in control,really would have sent Rome into a horrible state?Brutus states,"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?"However,this might have not happened.As proven by his will,when he states,"To every Roman citizen he gives—to every individual man—seventy-five drachmas."Is this the ruling of a horrible ruler?Brutus imagines all these harsh realities that might have occur if Caesar came into power,these things were not guaranteed to happen.But because of his fear,he murdered a man in cold blood.He never gave Caesar the chance to see whether or not he would be a good ruler.This shows that his reason for murdering Caesar was not
He states that Brutus is just as noble and worthy as Caesar. (Act 1, scene ii). He says that Brutus cannot see what everyone else does and recognize his worthiness. Cassius and the other senators do not want Caesar to be king because they would lose all their power. Cassius is slowly luring Brutus in to do his dirty work. He builds Brutus’s confidence up to make him thing that killing Caesar is the right thing to do. Cassius is basically playing with Brutus’s head because he knows Brutus will listen. So, Brutus joins the conspirators in killing Caesar. Cassius tells Brutus that it is for the good of Rome, and that he is saving them from a dictatorship. Cassius is going for Brutus’s weakest point, his care and concern for Rome. He knows that if Brutus believes the people distrust Caesar, then he will be convinced that Caesar must be thwarted. Brutus knew that if Caesar was crowned, he would never have a chance, and he was power hungry. This is what ultimately leads to the tragedy of Julius Caesar. After Brutus kills Caesar off, he starts to feel guilty for killing his friend, thus creating an internal conflict. Brutus was so confident that the plan would go exactly as planned that he fell apart when they encountered problems. If Brutus and the other conspirators had taken more time to think things through, they probably would have been more prepared for the situation that was handed to them.
Caesar’s words final were “Et tu Brute? Then fall, Caesar!,”which shows how hurt ,he was with Brutus’s actions. During Caesar’s deaths, many co-conspirators surrounded him and as each man stabbed him, he was not surprised by their actions until the very last person, Brutus came and stabbed him, seeing Brutus sent a pang of betrayal through him. Brutus was a person that Caesar had considered a friend and ally, so finding out that he was a part of his assassination plot, it shocked him and he felt deep betrayal that he gave up fighting and died. Although Caesar’s death was horrendous, it is important to remember that Brutus only killed Caesar, to save Rome. Between Cassius’s manipulative peer pressure informing him of the all the negatives that Caesar would bring Rome and the fake letters he received, convincing him to save Rome from the ruling of Caesar, Brutus only acted in the best interest for Rome and its people, which shows his loyalty and patriotism to
Julius Caesar, a tale of a great leader that was evidently taken down in the worst way. Julius Caesar was one of Shakespeare’s greatest plays; showing how a leader should present himself, and his people. It really is magnificent; except, Julius Caesar does have a dark side. Friends that Caesar trusted, with Brutus as the leader, stabbed Caesar to death and bathed in his blood. They went on to make sure that Caesar was determined, as Brutus says, “ambitious” (III.ii.24). Though, this play is not all sadness and woes. Marc Antony, a great friend of Caesar’s, turned the tables on his unjust death. When he goes to give his eulogy, he uses pathos, logos, and ethos, to persuade the people. By using these rhetorical strategies, he was able
Marcus Brutus was a reputable man to the people of Rome and to his friend Caesar. Brutus had good intentions for Rome’s people, which is why he did not think Caesar would be a good leader. Although Caesar was in shock to see Brutus included in the men that stabbed him, Brutus only did it for the good of the people. Brutus reveals his nobility to his people when he says in Act 3, scene 2, “…If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer: not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more”(126). Brutus’s statement explains that he had all the respect for Caesar as anyone else, but the love for his people and home was much more prized. He killed Caesar out of fear of what may happen to the beloved people of Rome. This proves that Brutus’s intentions were just as honorable as the man he was. In addition to both characters being honorable, their actions got the best of them and may have changed them for the worst.
Marc Antony’s eulogy wins the heart of his fellow Romans by undermining and destroying the conspiracy. The conspirators claim that it was necessary for the good of the republic to murder Caesar and convince the crowds of Romans to believe so. After he wins over the crowd, Brutus, a conspirator, allows Marc Antony to speak considering him as no threat to the conspiracy. However, Brutus is proven wrong when Antony’s oration manipulates the crowd into a mob thirsty for the blood of the conspirators. Marc Antony’s eulogy is more compelling to the crowd with his use of rhetorical appeals, ethos, pathos, and logos, compared to Brutus in the tragedy, Julius Caesar.
Indeed, Brutus was a honorable man. His honor was his greatest strength, but it was also his weakness. He murdered and betrayed his closest and only friend, due to the fact that he was so focused on doing the most honorable thing. Brutus focused more on principles, than the one person who truly cared about him. Consequently he also cared more about principle, than his own common sense. Therefore, his main focus was on honor and principle, which caused him to kill Caesar. He murdered Caesar because he thought it would solve the problem, but it only caused pandemonium.Consequently, his actions produced an angry mob, ready to avenge Caesar's death. If Brutus never took matters into his own hands, he would not have created a vicious crowd of citizens filled with hatred. He never solved the problem. When it got out of control, he resorted to killing himself. Cowardly, when things got tough, he ran away from it. He
After Julius Caesar’s death, the roman citizens were not sure what to think about his assassination. Mark Antony and Brutus took advantage of this at Caesar’s funeral by trying to persuade the citizens how each of them perceived the reason of Julius’s death. While Brutus is successful in instituting fear into the roman citizens, Antony appeals to the citizens and has a better argument. Throughout his speech, Antony persuades the audience that Brutus and the other senators were wrong in killing Caesar, by using pathos, repetition and rhetorical questions.
When the conspirators were discussing plan on how they should preceed on killing Caesar , Brutus made it very apparent on how the killing should go, stating “Let’s kill him boldly but not wrathfully. / Let’s carve him as a dish fit for gods, / Not hew him as a carcass fit for hounds.” This meant that Brutus loved Caesar enough to respect his remains and not have the murder perceived as gruesome but as essential for Rome to remain free, peaceful and have liberty. Brutus wanted his body to be in such pristine condition that it would be fit for the gods. He was keeping in mind that he was not killing Caesar out of his personal strife, but for greater well-being of Rome. This way of thinking would affect the murder from being seen as savage to humane, only doing what was necessary to kill him. However this would mind-set would change if Brutus hated Caesar. Brutus would not care to respect a body of a man he hated, he would want to kill him wrathfully, and try to cause the most pain he possibly could.
In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Caesar had just returning to Rome from a great victory against Pompey. As Caesar was traveling down the roads of Rome, other senators were starting to get nervous about his growing power. The jealousy throughout lead up to the death of Caesar. This brought conflict between Brutus and Antony. During the funeral Brutus and Antony gave really convincing speeches. During the speeches the men both used great examples of ethos, logos, and pathos.
Brutus, a conflicted senator obsessed with his civic duty, convinces the people of Rome that his motives in killing Caesar were just and noble by rhetoric. Brutus is the only conspirator to have impersonal motives in killing Caesar. In fact, his motives are trying to find the best solution for Rome, and in the end, he must make the hard choice of killing his best friend for his homeland. As early as Brutus’ conversation with Cassius in Act I, Brutus exhibits this deep love and respect for Rome and how this love is conflicting with his love for his friend, Caesar: “[P]oor Brutus, with himself at war, / Forgets the shows of love to other men” (I.ii.51-52). Brutus brings up this internal conflict again when he tells the crowds that although he did love Caesar, he loved Rome and its people more. After Brutus’ murder of Caesar, he realizes that the issue of the public opinion of Rome is of the utmost importance. Because of this love for Rome, Brutus uses rhetoric to persuade these plebeians to approve of him and his cause. When Cassius warns Brutus about “how much the people will be moved / By that which [Marc Antony] will utter[!]” (III.i.252-253), Brutus tells Cassius that letting Marc Antony speak “shall advantage us more than do us wrong” (III.i.261). In these cases, Brutus demonstrates his awareness of