Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

“A superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions“ -Confucius. This quote is relevant because in Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caesar, Brutus and Antony gave speeches after Caesar’s death. A speaker has to make connections with the audience, use creativity, and have passion. Antony was rhetoric, cunning, and used pathos to connect with the people of Rome. Brutus was also rhetoric, honorable, and used logos and ethos to influence the audience. Overall, Brutus did not influence the crowd like he hoped to. Antony knew how he was going to persuade the people before he gave his speech.

Julius Caesar is a play deeply concerned with the idea of rhetoric, or persuasion. The play is driven by persuasion. Cassius convinces Brutus that Caesar must die, setting the story in motion. The resolution of the plot is decided by Antony's speech to the plebeians. Shakespeare sees rhetoric as one of the most powerful forces in the world; able to topple kings and crown them. The play, Julius Caesar, examines what gives rhetoric its power by putting Brutus's speech against Mark Antony's. Shakespeare shows Antony's rhetoric to be superior by the effect he has on the plebeians.

In William Shakespeare's play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, two speeches are given to the people of Rome about Caesar's death. In Act 3, Scene 2 of this play Brutus and Antony both try to sway the minds of the Romans toward their views. Brutus tried to make the people believe he killed Caesar for a noble cause. Antony tried to persuade the people that the conspirators committed an act of brutality toward Caesar and were traitors. The effectiveness and ineffectiveness of both Antony's and Brutus's speech to the people are conveyed through tone and rhetorical devices.

Antony and Cassius, unlike Brutus, never separate their private affairs from their public actions while Brutus tries to prove himself by acting only with respect to honor and virtue, completely ignoring his personal concerns. For example, Cassius disliked the fact that Caesar became “godlike” in the eyes of the Romans, so he leads Brutus to believe that Caesar had become too powerful and must die by sending him forged letters claiming that the Roman people support the death of Caesar, ultimately converting Brutus to his cause. At last Brutus ends up murdering his good friend in an act he truly believed was honorable. Marc Antony, who also shares in Cassius’ selfish trait, persuaded the conspirators that he is on their side, therefore gaining their leniency. He proceeds to persuade the plebeians of the conspirators’ injustice and gains support of the masses.

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 Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Brutus and Antony attempt to persuade the audience of their position on the death of Caesar. While Brutus explains that his death was necessary, Antony claims that Caesar was not deserving of his demise. However, though Brutus does have ample credibility and taps into the emotional link with his audience to some extent, he does not convey as powerful of an argument as Antony, as he fails to provide sufficient factual evidence. Antony, on the other hand, utilizes logical argumentation with solid evidence, creates an emotional connection with his audience, and maintains credibility in order to support his own argument. Through this, it can be seen that Antony’s use of rhetorical appeals and devices is superior

After reading excerpts from Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, write an essay that compares Brutus’ speech with Marc Antony’s speech and argues the effectiveness of the rhetorical devices (ethos, pathos, logos) used in each. Be sure to support your position with evidence from the texts.

In Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, the dictator of Rome is assassinated by his senators. Among which was one of his closest advisors, Brutus. Another friend of Caesar, named Marc Antony, hears of this assassination and is grief-stricken. Together the two men speak to the citizens of Rome about their views of what is right. Firstly Brutus speaks, soon after Antony recites his side of the story. Although the crowd is swayed by both men, Antony is able to maintain the support of the people with his ideas and values. Antony was the better speech for a varying amount of rhetoric he used, among which are pathos and juxtaposition. Brutus uses these as well, but not as adequately.

Throughout the play Julius Caesar, Shakespeare uses a variety of rhetorical strategies to articulate the points of many characters. More explicitly the use of different rhetorical strategies can be seen after the death of Caesar. Preceding Caesar's death speeches were given by Mark Antony and Brutus. In these speeches Brutus tried to justify Ceaser death with vague answers, while Mark Antony came to the support of Caesar and questioned why he really had to die. Brutus and Mark Antony's use of logos, pathos and ethos, allowed them both to give effective speeches. Although Brutus gave a strong speech, Mark Antony exceptional use of pathos and ethos provided him a slight edge over Brutus.

The most predominate and important aspect In the play Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare are the speeches given to the Roman citizens by Brutus and Antony, the two main charaters, following the death of Caesar. Brutus and Antony both spoke to the crowd,using the same rhetorical devices to express their thoughts. Both speakers used the three classical appeals employed in the speeches: ethos, which is an appeal to credibility; pathos, which is an appeal to the emotion of the audience; and logos, which is an appeal to the content and arrangement of the argument itself. Even though both speeches have the same structure Antony’s speech is significantly more effective than Brutus’s.

In the tragic play Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, the ruler of Rome, Julius Caesar, is stabbed to death by some of his so-called friends. Brutus, one of Caesar's best friends, is approached by some of the other senators to join the conspiracy to kill Caesar. Brutus weighs his options and decides to join the conspirators for the good of Rome. At Caesars's funeral, Brutus gives a speech to convince the citizens that the conspirators were right to kill Caesar. In contrast, Antony gives a speech to convince the Romans that there was no real reason to kill Caesar. Both characters try to persuade the audience, but they achieve different tones using literary and rhetorical devices. The tone of Brutus' speech is prideful, while the tone of Antony's speech is dramatic and inflammatory.

Following Brutus’ speech at Caesar’s funeral, Antony ascends to the pulpit to speak to the plebeians. His eulogy effectively manipulates the crowd into rebelling against the conspirators, outraged by Caesar’s murder. In an attempt to refute Brutus’ claims regarding Caesar, Antony sways the crowd in a myriad of ways. In his speech, Brutus states that Caesar was ambitious, thus his death was necessary for the good of Rome.

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

Today i will be comparing and contrasting two speeches given by Brutus and Mark Antony in "The Tragedy of Julius Caesar". I will discuss the method each speaker used and how the structure of their speeches affects the overall way the message was conveyed to the audience. In Shakespeare's play "The Tragedy of Julius Caesar" Brutus makes a compelling speech in using persuasion to draw the people toward his beliefs. He does this through effective use of rhetorical devices and tone. Brutus appealed to pathos in the way that he was sympathetic when making reference to how he loved Caesar as much as Caesar's friends within his speech.

Cassius, Brutus, and Antony use rhetoric successfully in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, albeit each differently and for different causes. Each of these men uses his skills in rhetoric to convince each other and at some points the entire population of Rome to follow his beliefs. However, each of these men has different motivations to do so, as well as different characteristics and general worldviews.