Julius Caesar Rhetorical Analysis Essay

Antony uses an abundance of pathos in his speech. One example is: “Caesar was my friend and just to me” (III, ii, 86). Using pathos helps the audience make connections with him. He also reads Caesar’s will which makes the people feel guilty about turning against Caesar during Brutus’ speech. He shows them the stabs wounds on Caesar’s coat and names which conspirator stabbed him. The Roman people now feel pity and anger towards the conspirators. Overall, Antony was smart with his words and won over the Roman people better than

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

            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.

In Shakespeare's tragedy Julius Caesar, Portia uses repetition, rhetorical questions, and parallelism in order to persuade Brutus to tell his secret. Portia uses repetition to get Brutus’ attention and to show him how much she wants to know the secret. Pleading, Portia urges, “I should not need, if you were gentle Brutus. / Within the bond of marriage, tell me, Brutus” (2.1.301,302). By using repetition she gets Brutus’ attention so he knows she is talking to him. If Portia did not repeat his name, Brutus would not be as inclined to listen to her. With Portia stating his name more than once he is focused on her and knows that what she is saying is vital. In this part of Portia’s speech she uses pathos. She persuades Brutus by bringing up their

However, the most important use of a rhetorical question is in the last line where he challenges his audience if there “comes such another [Caesar]?”. Here the rhetorical question serves to summarize the greatness of Caesar and to pass the responsibility for future actions onto the listeners. As a result, the people will be more likely to act against the conspirators after they have realized there will not be anyone as good as Caesar.

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.

Antony also utilizes rhetorical devices, not only to support his own argument, but to passively challenge Brutus’s. Like Brutus, he uses rhetorical questions such as, “What cause withholds you then to mourn for him (Caesar)?” This gives the audience a chance to ponder the injustice of Caesar’s murder and realize that he was noble and undeserving of it. Antony also uses

Rhetorical questions are meant to sway audiences to the speaker or writers thoughts on a subject. Antony uses a rhetorical question to not only have the crowd think of Caesar, but also to have the crowd think of Brutus. Antony says, "He hath brought many captives home to Rome, / Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill, / Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?" (III.ii.16-18). This exhibits skillful use of a rhetorical question because Antony not only contradicts Brutus about Caesar's ambition, but also causes the crowd to support Caesar's character. This rhetorical question bears the contradiction of Brutus because Antony refutes that Caesar was ambitious. This causes the crowd to question what ambition means and what their idea of Caesar is. He tries to sway the crowd to support Caesar by having them rethink what ambition is and what Brutus said. Antony also has the crowd question their belief of Caesar and of authority. Antony uses a rhetorical question in, "And to your heirs for ever, common pleasures, / To walk abroad, and recreate yourselves. / Here was a Caesar! when comes such another?" (III.ii.178-180). Antony persuasively uses a rhetorical question because he causes the crowd to question their meaning of authority. He also causes the crowd to once again question their idea of Caesar. Antony tries to sway the audience to realize how good of a ruler Caesar was and how rare it is that such a good ruler exists. In addition, Antony causes the crowd to recognize all the good that Caesar did for them. By using this rhetorical question, Antony shows how great a ruler Caesar was and that there is no one that is greater than he was. Antony persuasively uses rhetorical question to cause the audience to sway their opinions to match

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,

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

Brutus uses a proud tone conveyed by many literary devices to convince the audience that Caesar's murder was justified. Brutus asks, "Would you rather, Caesar were living, and you all die slaves, than that Caesar were dead, so you all live freeman" (Shakespeare 3.2.20-22). Brutus tries to persuade the audience that Caesar's murder was justified through the use of a rhetorical question and a hyperbole. He tells the audience if Caesar was not killed, Caesar could have become a dictator, and the people would have been oppressed. This persuasive question gives the Roman citizens time to contemplate what Brutus is saying, and prompts them to visualize the

William Shakespeare’s use of Pathos in Mark Antony’s speech is clearly evident. In order to understand the concept and idea of Pathos, and for it to be effective, one must know what it is. The appeal of Pathos uses words or passages to activate emotions, and strike some sort of feeling in the audience’s body. If written effectively, the appeal of Pathos emits an emotional response from the audience. “My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, And I must pause till it come back to me” (3.2.106-107). Antony elicits both sadness and sympathy from his audience. The death of Julius Caesar, and the use of Pathos is very important in winning over the audience’s appeal. Antony is obviously very angry with what had happened to Julius Caesar, due to the fact that Antony was a good friend with him. “And Brutus Antony, there were an Antony Would

Antony repeats the word “honorable” several times in his speech. He is doing this in order to emphasize Brutus’ honorability, and make the citizens question it. Antony also repeats the word “ambitious” a signifacant amount of times. Through the repition of “ambitious”, Antony mocks Brutus trying to justify his actions by saying that Caesar was too ambitious. Every time he was that word, he describes an honorable trait of Caesar that contradicts Brutus’ accusation. For example, he mentions that Caesar refused the crown three times , and asks the citizens whether if that would be considered ambitious. “My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, and I must pause till it come back to me,”[He weeps](Shakspeare, III,ii 116-117). Antony uses pathos to draw emotions out of the citizens. This quote emphasizes how many Antony loved Caesar, and the sadness he is feeling now that he is dead. Antony’s grief makes the people of Rome sympathetic to him, which leads to them

The speeches given by both Brutus and Mark Antony in William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Julius Caesar are very persuasive to the audience that they are given to, but rhetorical devices were used in different ways in order for each to have an effect on the people of Rome. In Brutus’s speech, he uses devices such as rhetorical question and antithesis to convince the Romans that he and the conpirators did a good deed by killing Caesar. In Mark Antony’s speech, he sways them to believe that Caesar did not deserve to die, and that the conpirators were the real enemies by using rhetorical devices like rhetorical question and apostrophe. Both speeches were very