Julius Caesar Rhetorical Analysis

In the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, an honorable man, Brutus, is planning to overthrow the soon to be king, Julius Caesar. Brutus is persuaded by Cassius that Caesar is a liar, too ambitious, weak, and not fit to be Rome’s king. Brutus soon believed Cassius, and they and the conspirators made a plan to kill Caesar. After Caesar’s death, Brutus planned to justify his actions of killing Caesar at his funeral in his speech to the people. After Brutus’s speech, the citizens of Rome were all in agreement that Brutus did the right thing for Rome. Brutus then decides to allow Caesar’s best friend, Antony, to speak in honor of Caesar. Antony speaks, and he convinces the citizens that Brutus’s actions were unjust and turned the people against Brutus.

In Julius Caesar, written by William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar defeats Pompey, the previous ruler of the Romans, and takes control of Rome. Many people object to it, including the conspirators who assassinate him. Marc Antony, an ally of Caesar, speaks at his funeral and turns the citizens of Rome against the conspirators which ultimately leads to the death of the majority of the assassins, including their unspoken leader, Brutus. A truly insightful glance is offered into the character Brutus in Act II, scene i, lines 120-146. At this point in the tragedy, conspirators led by Brutus are plotting the death of the tyrant of Rome, Julius Caesar, and moving on to the final stages of their planning stage, preparing

In the play Julius Caesar written by the whimsical, sophisticated William Shakespeare both beloved Brutus and noble Antony deliver their most thorough attempts to win over the delicate citizens of Rome into what they believed was correct. Brutus gave it a valiant effort in trying to convince the citizens that murdering the noble Caesar was the best thing to do for the people. In the end Brutus’ effort was not enough because Antony was able to turn every Roman against Brutus and the other deceitful conspirators during his speech with his extraordinary use of logos, pathos, and ethos.

Brutus misjudges and underestimates Antony’s abilities and his audience. When giving his speech, Brutus makes the subject on honor and abstract ideas using logos and ethos but no pathos. The mistake that Brutus makes is that he does not appeal to the crowd’s strong feelings over the death of Julius Caesar. Meanwhile, Antony easily overmatches Brutus because he does not overestimate his audience. Understanding the people, Antony begins in his eulogy appealing to the citizen’s feelings. Because of the lack of emotion in Brutus’s speech, Antony’s highly emotional and extemporaneous speech captures the minds and hearts of the crowd through use of pathos and causes them to become an angry mob that sought to scorn those that took part in the murder of

Brutus is one of the more complex character in Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. Shakespeare added a lot of complexity to Brutus through dialogue, monologue, and soliloquy. Shakespeare created opposing desires in Brutus and created both hesitation and doubt. His major back-and-forth conflict is him trying to give himself an honorable reason for killing Caesar. He is manipulated by Cassius and the other conspirators into assassinating Caesar, a life-long friend of Brutus. “The ultimate factor in persuading Brutus to join the conspiracy is his belief, a belief based on the the letters cast in at his window or conspicuously left for him in public places” (Shalvi 71). When Caesar was attacked by the conspirators, it had been Brutus’ blade and betrayal that had finally killed him. During the beginning and the end of the play, Brutus struggled to accept that killing Caesar was not what he wanted to do. In his head, Brutus is content that he killed Caesar for the good of Rome. In a speech to Romans after Caesar’s death he says, “Not that I loved Caesar less, but

He compares Caesar to a serpent in an egg which he must kill before it hatches. Brutus knows that Caesar is gaining too much power too quickly and it must come to an end. He shows his belief in a republic government by saying, “We all stand up against the spirit of Caesar / And in the spirit of men there is no blood" (II.i. 180-181). Cassius is a character who is jealous of Caesar’s power and also wants it to end. He forms a group of conspirators who are against Julius Caesar. He persuades Brutus to help him and the other conspirators to kill Caesar during the ides of March. Brutus joins but only due to his love for Rome and its people. He proves this by saying "Let us be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius." (II.i. 179). This also proves his love for Caesar because he wants to kill him with some sort of honor. Brutus wants the citizens to look at him not as a murderer but for someone who cares for his country. He expresses his ideas toward the stabbing by saying , “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" (III, ii, 17-19).

Brutus is honorable and practical, but his ethos fails to connect with the angry Roman mob. Logic is simply not enough to persuade the crowd, as proven by Antony’s pathetical appeal, with which he wins the crowd over. Antony connects to the audience by dismantling Brutus speech with logic, and then appealing to the audience through emotion and ration. Brutus’s speech is effective, however only until Antony speaks, as he uses emotion and reverence to guide the audience away from Brutus’s rationality. Antony recognizes the emotional fickleness human beings, and his power to easily persuade them. It is clear, proven by the effectiveness of Antony’s speech, that logic and ethics have greater validity in achieving their purpose, as the audience takes revenge upon the conspirators following Antony’s speech. Antony’s manipulation of specific rhetorical devices and appeals exemplifies the power of rhetoric and its ability to effectively persuade an

Antony says, “ He was my friend, faithful and just to me, (III, ii, 93).” This shows Antony had a close charitable relationship with Caesar, it also shows the crowd he was not such a selfish / ambitious person as Brutus claims. Antony continues with saying, “ When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept, (III, ii, 99).” Antony shows the people how genuine Caesar was and how deceitful Brutus is. Also revealing how ruthless the conspirators are. With an engrossed crowd, Antony says, “ You all did love him once, not without cause, (III, ii, 110).” People truly valued Caesar, this shows the crowd that what Brutus said, was to turn the people against Caesar. Antony uses pathos to show the people that Caesar was a positive influence and he was viciously

Throughout the play Julius Caesar Antony, Caesar’s loyal servant, has become a bigger and bigger factor in the play. He really breaks out in Act III. In Act III, Brutus and others have killed Caesar, but yet leaves Antony unharmed because he seems harmless. Antony wants to show the public Caesar’s body and say a funeral speech. Brutus, trusting Antony, allows him to do so, but under some certain terms. Antony must speak good of the conspirators and not blame them. Antony uses logos and ethos, irony, and finally establishes ethos to turn the crowd away from Brutus.

In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Mark Antony was known to be a noble man, but soon after he conveyed the speech to the plebians it all changed from there. Brutus and the conspirators killed Caesar because they felt if Caesar stayed leader he would bring Rome to a down fall. During Caesar’s funeral, Brutus made a mistake of letting Mark Antony speak at Caesar’s funeral. At this point, his mistake allowed Antony to turn on him and the conspirators and get the plebeians to turn on the conspirators. Mark Antony uses the word ¨honorable¨, the will, and the body of Caesar as a way to persuade the plebeians to turn against the conspirators.

In the story, "The Tragedy of Julius Caesar" leader of Rome, Julius Caesar, was assassinated by people who did not think that he was fit to be leader of Rome. Characters Cassius, Brutus, and Decius all decided to assassinate him, all for Rome's own good according to them. Caesar's friend Antony finds out and thinks that he should expose the real truth about what happened. Brutus gathered the town of Rome, and told everyone that Caesar has been executed and the reason for his execution. The crowd started to chant for Brutus because they didn't know the real truth.

Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar dramatizes the historical assassination of Caesar by conspiring senators. Brutus, a well-respected senator, famous for his honor and closeness to Caesar, is persuaded by the sly Cassius to join a conspiracy to kill Caesar. On Caesar’s way to the Senate, Brutus and the other Senators surround and kill Caesar. Shortly after the murder, Brutus and Cassius summon their armies and wage war against Mark Antony and Octavius, allies of Caesar, who laid claim to the throne. Brutus’ armies defeated, he commits suicide and the play ends.

During the speech, Brutus reminds the commoners that Caesar was his dear friend; but he killed Caesar for the public benefit. At the end, citizens are convinced and cheer for him. The next speaker is Anthony and he soon steps on

At the start of the timelessly classic play, Julius Caesar was in the final stages of parlaying his military prowess and growing cult of personality into enthronement as the long absent autocrat of Rome. His brother-in-arms, Marcus Brutus, after fighting at Caesar’s side for so long, was forced to weigh his loyalty to Caesar against his loyalty to Rome, setting the stage for the troubling events to come. As Caesar’s divine right to rule and infallibility were trumpeted throughout Rome, others were not so convinced of his purity and worthiness. Cassius, a dissident Senator, opened Brutus’ eyes to the circumstances unfolding before them and to what could be lost should Caesar take the throne. Cassius voiced his opposition strongly, saying: