Rhetoric in Julius Caesar

Humanity has become the most dominant species on Earth due to our high intelligence and communication skills but our communication can also be used to easily manipulate and convince. This manipulation is shown when, Mark Antony delivered a deeply passionate and articulate speech at Caesar’s funeral, altering the political dynamics of the Rome in William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar. Antony uses his words to influence the Roman people. He effectively uses rhetorical devices to prove his point and gain the support of the citizens. Antony also uses the rhetorical device of Pathos to invoke emotion in the crowd and Ethos to use Brutus’ and the conspirator’s reputation against them.

In Act 3, Scene 2, 22, he also says “ Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more”. In this quote Brutus uses uses pathos. He’s arguing that he loved Caesar but he made the right choice by killing him since he loved Rome more. For the audience to believe Brutus he had to use pathos and

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

He uses Caesar’s dead body to appeal to the emotions of the crowd and convince them that Caesar’s death was unjustified. Antony appeals to the citizens’ emotions, when he states, “If you have tears, prepare to shed them now…Here is himself, marred, as you see, with traitors” (III.ii.163-192). In this passage Antony focuses the crowd’s attention on Caesar’s body and tells them how his murder was a product of treason. In telling the romans that Caesar was killed by his friends, whom he trusted, Antony appeals to the emotions of the crowd. The citizens of Rome are clearly affected by Antony’s use of pathos when they respond with “O piteous spectacle” (III.ii.192), “O Woeful day” (III.ii.193) and “We will be revenged” (III.ii.195). The citizens realize it is a sad day and feel pity for Caesar indicating an effective appeal of pathos. Antony effectively appeals to the Roman’s emotions because they are starting to want revenge for Caesar’s unjustified

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

“The broad masses of a population are more amenable to the appeal of rhetoric than to any other force” according to Adolf Hitler, a master in rhetoric, who was able to sway the people of Germany into electing him as chancellor, and who was able to brain wash an army into creating the biggest mass genocide on the planet. This type of strategy is mimicked by Mark Antony in William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. Mark Antony’s extensive knowledge of rhetorical strategies, such as appeal to the emotions of the commoners, knowledge of topic and reputation, and syntactical devices eclipse Brutus’ reasoning for killing Julius Caesar and wins over the Roman commoners.

Julius Caesar, a play by William Shakespeare, has many instances of great rhetoric in the speech of its characters. Marc Antony, a main character and a pupil of the great Julius Caesar, has a speech that shows many uses of rhetorical appeal and devices. He is able to sway the citizens easily because of how strong his rhetoric is and how persuasive he is. Antony uses devices like dramatic irony, appeals (ethos, logos, pathos), and repetition to make the citizens believe in him and Caesar to disregard the conspirators argument.

Antony was the more persuasive using ethos. As he was talking to the crowd about his beloved Caesar, instead of trashing Brutus and the senators involved, he praised them. For example, in (III,II,LXXX) Antony says "For Brutus is an honorable man." This tactic made the crowd believe him more because he was saying how he loved and honored both of them. Brutus was opposite and only worried about what the citizens thought of him. In (III,II,XIV) Brutus says, "Believe me for mine honor, and have respect to mine honor that you may believe. Censure me in your wisdom, and awake your senses

Mark Antony and Marcus Brutus from the play of “Julius Caesar” written by William Shakespeare, both try to persuade their audience if Julius Caesar is ambitious or a noble man. They both use rhetorical devices and persuasion very well, but unlike Brutus, Mark Antony is more persuasive in convincing his audience because he appeals to the audience’s emotions by embedding rhetorical questions, physically displaying emotions and sympathy, and capitalizing on his relations with Caesar throughout his funeral speech.

Rhetoric is the language designed to persuade and impress the audience using figurative speech and other techniques. In act 3 of “Julius Caesar” by William Shakespeare, both Antony and Brutus made powerful speeches at Caesar’s funeral to persuade and inform the people about their point of view on Caesar’s death. After the fall of Caesar, Brutus convinces the people by saying how Caesar should be killed due to his ambition and for the future of Rome and its people. However, although Antony repeats how all the conspirators are honorable men, he was being sarcastic and his main purpose was to have people rethink about this claim on his way to oppose it by providing evidence about how Caesar’s not ambitious. In Antony’s speech, confirmatio, where

Antony’s speech tells the citizens that they should not disapprove of Brutus and his actions, however they still should remember Caesar for the great leader and war hero that he was. He thought that Caesar had no wrongdoings and they didn’t give him a chance. The crowds reaction was to immediately go and kill the conspirators. Inside Antony’s speech, he uses three different examples of rhetorical devices. He uses repetition, pathos, and ethos.

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

In the play, Tragedy of Julius Caesar, a lot of things tragic things happened. Cassius was jealous of Caesar becoming king. Cassius didn’t want Caesar to be king because, he thought he was too weak and was just the same as everyone else. Because of his jealousy, he persuaded Brutus that he could be a better king than Caesar. Brutus thought he needed to kill Caesar for the better of Rome. He also thought that Caesar was too ambitious and prideful of his power. Brutus thought Caesar was going to use power wrongfully and make bad decisions. All of the conspirators helped him. Antony watched them kill Caesar, and was very upset. At the funeral Brutus and Antony spoke.

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.