Julius Caesar Rhetoric Analysis

            Antony appeals to his audience's emotions: horror, sadness and anger, to persuade them to his view.  Antony enters with Caesar's body and shows his lamentation over his death, which reminds the plebeians what a horrible deed Brutus committed.

One of the rhetorical appeals that Antony used to sway the crowd against the conspirators was pathos. Pathos is an appeal using emotion. In line 20 Antony begins to use pathos when he states, “Did this in Caesar seem ambitious? When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept: Ambition should be made of sterner stuff.” This quote is able to sway the crowd against Brutus and Cassius by showing what kind of good person Caesar was. He was compassionate to people. This quote shows what kind of good leader by helping out the poor. He knew what they were going through so he cried along with them. This quote is able to sway the citizens of Rome because it shows the opposite of what Brutus said about Caesar. If he would

Antony felt that Brutus should not have killed Caesar. He does not feel that he did anything wrong at all for Brutus to have killed him. Within him knowing how the people of Roman feels about Caesar and trying to get their full attention after Brutus speech he starts off by saying “Friends,Roman, Countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Caesar,not to praise him. The evil that men do live after them; the good often interred with their bones; so let it be with Caesar.” That’s his way of saying I don’t expect you all to think about the good or at least all the good Caesar has did/done as much as you think about the bad. “He was my friend,faithful,and just to me: But Brutus says he was ambitious And Brutus is a honourable man”. Antony keeps saying over and over “Brutus says he was ambitious” but he does not feel Caesar was ambitious because “When that the poor have cried,Caesar hath wept:”. He then uses ethos and goes to try to discredit Brutus by saying “You all did see that on the Lupercal I thrice presented him a kingly crown,which he did thrice refuse: was this ambitious?”. Antony is saying why give a man credit for just now wanting to be king and do what is right for Roman now when he didn’t want to the first three times it was offered to him. He asks them a rhetorical question with logic to it “You all did love him once,not without cause: what cause withholds you then,to mourn for him?” I say the question has logic because how can you love someone

The rhetorical strategy he uses the most is pathos to touch the heartbroken citizens of Rome. In Antony speech, it repeats stating “yet Brutus says he was ambitious” making it sound like Brutus is also ambitious to convince the citizens of Rome. Another rhetorical strategy he uses is logos to tell the citizens “when the poor cried, Caesar hath wept” getting the citizens understand that Caesar know how they feel. The strongest rhetorical strategy Antony used was pathos by making the citizens wanting to know what Caesar's will

Brutus used repetition the most to influence the crowd. He states about Caesar’s “tears, love, and ambition.” Brutus also asked the audience rhetorical questions that they could not answer, and he would take their silence as if they were agreeing when in reality they were probably too scared to answer. Antony also used repetition to sway the crowd. He often pointed out that “Brutus was an honorable man” and he said it with more and more sarcasm each time. Antony also took advantage of the crowd and used reverse psychology on them. He used Caesar’s will as a tool to accomplish this. He told the crowd about Caesar’s will, telling them that they would think twice if they heard what was in the will, but he doesn’t read it to them. That made them beg for him to read it to them. Not only does this get them to do what he wants, it also give the crowd a false sense of authority over Antony. Also, he asks the crowd if he can come down and join them, saying they give him permission, again giving them that sense of authority. Antony, in addition to the will, used Caesar’s body as a prop in his speech. He created a sympathetic attitude towards Caesar. The other pathos appeal Antony used was the contrast that he showed between the beginning and end of his speech. He opened, saying he was only to “bury Caesar, not to praise him” yet towards the end he had accomplished his goal in making the crowd feel sorry for Caesar and wanting to

Antony uses pathos in his speech to make the people of Rome angry, furious, and sad, because Caesar did not deserve to die and he was an innocent man. Throughout his entire speech he uses verbal irony and repetition to get his point across. Antony tells the crowd that he is coming to give a speech about his beloved friend Caesar. As he continues with his speech he get more and more sarcastic. Before Anthony's speech, Anthony enters with Caesar's body so show how sad he is because of his death. Which makes the people of Rome realize what horrible thing Brutus did. In his speech he talks about how Caesar was a great leader. He tells them that Caesar cared about Rome and its citizens very deeply.

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.

O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts, And men have lost their reason. Bear with me; My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, And I must pause till it come back to me.” Antony also uses emotion by telling the gathered Romans that he understands (and Caesar understood) that the common people are people, not commodities “It is not meet you know how Caesar loved you. You are not wood, you are not stones, but men.”

As said by J. K. Rowling, “No story lives unless someone wants to listen.” In the same way, Shakespeare’s tragedy, Julius Caesar, portrays how one man can turn a crowd with the correct words. Both Brutus and Antony choose to continue Caesar’s legacy; by doing so, they rouse up the people to defend Antony and Brutus’s stories of Caesar’s death. Though Brutus’s flawless use of ethics seem the most influential on first glance, Antony’s use of pathos far surpasses Brutus’s oratory; Antony’s passionate description of his and Caesar’s friendship as well as his ability to indirectly blame Brutus for Caesar’s death ultimately allow Antony to construct a stronger argument.

Antony clearly loved Caesar, believing he was his “friend, faithful and just to” him. Due to this compassion, Antony could not stand idly as Brutus devastated the great idea the plebeians held of Caesar. This bond induces Antony to stress the most seemingly generous acts Caesar performed, rendering him as a man with a vast heart, for “when [that] the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept”. Furthermore, Antony speaks of Caesar refusing a “kingly crown” “thrice presented”, allowing all to view him as some sort of virtuous figure. It is almost as if Antony’s adoration for Caesar obligated him to avenge his friend’s death; fooling the plebeians “to mourn for him” by compelling them to believe they have “lost their reason”, while simultaneously tempting them to listen to the testament they allegedly aren’t intended to.

Unlike Brutus’ prose speech, Mark Antony’s speech is in blank verse, which is used in more passionate writing. Antony’s speech subtly disproves Brutus while heightening the crowd’s emotions to rage. Antony mentions times in which Caesar’s actions did not portray ambition, and then following each example, he says, “Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, / and Brutus is an honorable man” (86-88, 93-94, 98-99). This use of epimone subtly disproves Brutus, and starts to turn the crowd against him, because it not only shows Brutus in bad light, but also makes it seem like the people conclude this on their own, even though Antony’s manipulations are very much at play. Antony appeals to pathos when he addresses the crowd, saying: “hearing the will of Caesar, / It will inflame you; it will make you mad” (3.2.42-43). He then uses paralipsis when he “o’ersho[o]t[s] [him]self” (150) by saying “‘Tis good you know not that you are his heirs” (line 145), which escalates the crowd’s love for Caesar and hatred toward his assassinators: “[The conspirators] were villains, murderers!”(155). To heighten the rage against the conspirators even more, Antony shows the crowd of plebeians Caesar’s dead body, and Caesar’s famous cloak now run through by knives: “Look, in this place ran Cassius’ dagger through. / See what a rent the envious Casca made. / Through this the well-belovèd Brutus stabbed” (172-175). By mentioning the conspirators’ names, Antony creates a hatred of those men and their followers. Also, by showing the crowd Caesar’s cloak, which he obtained after conquering a tribe, Antony reminds the crowd both how great Caesar was and how horribly wrong it was that his greatness was shredded by the knives of traitors. Antony continues his expression of Caesar’s

What cause withholds you, then, to mourn for him?” (III,ii, 109-113). Antony, cleverly disguising his rallying cry, appeals to the audience’s emotions. He uses his language in attempt to draw the Romans’ love for Brutus back to

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

Mark Antony shows the he is vulnerable and gets the citizens attention by showing his emotions and crying. Antony says “ And men have lost their reason, Bear with me…” “And I must pause till it come back to me. (weeps)”(3.2.104,106), when Antony pauses and weeps, it shows his sadness, which causes the citizens

First and foremost, Antony uses language as a way of moving the crowd to his favor and likeness. Antony is very observant of what type of crowd he is dealing with after Brutus’s own speech at Julius Caesar’s funeral; He realizes he needs to pacify his audience. Antony opens his speech in a way that gains the trust of the Romans: “Friends, Romans, countrymen.../I came to bury Caesar, not to praise him” (912). Using the word “Friends” Antony creates a level of equality between the commoners and himself. He flatters them with his word choice, and thus creates a bond of trust. He is no longer being viewed as a politician, or above the common man. Antony also mentioning that he will not praise Caesar lowers the hostility of the crowd who now believe Antony will not offend them or speak ill of Brutus. In addition to his sincere tone to gain the loyalty of the crowd, he then switches to sarcasm to drive his listeners to look at Brutus in a