The Power Of Speech In Julius Caesar

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

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.

Brutus allows for Caesar’s good deeds to be buried, while Antony tries to bring them back to life. Antony mentions: “He hath brought many captives home to Rome, Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill: Did this in Caesar seem ambitious? When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept; Ambition should be made of sterner stuff” (III.ii.89-93). Though Antony is successful in his persuasion, the audience is never allowed to forget the conspirator’s outlook on the ordeal, and they are heavily influenced by dramatic irony (Crowther, Crystal).

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

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

Mark Antony’s use of emotional appeal is one of his strongest uses of rhetoric. First, he puts himself on the same level as the commoners and then begins to attack the sentiments of the Roman people. Antony uses a plain folks appeal to put himself on common ground with the commoners, “Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears;” (3.2. 74). This is an important strategy because in this period of time aristocrats would not dare speak to commoners yet alone call them a friend. To show the commoners how much Antony actually adored Caesar he says, “My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar” (3.2. 107). This makes the commoners have a

Plato once wrote that, “Rhetoric is the art of ruling the minds of men.” Rhetoric is the foundation of any solid argument, and any good speaker must learn to use it effectively. Creating a strong argument is a difficult task for any speaker, but Mark Antony’s eulogy for Caesar shows us that it can be done with the use of rhetorical strategies and arguments. Antony argues that Caesar was killed unfairly, and wants tells rome to revolt. He accomplishes this argument by using a combination of appeals to the audience's emotions, logic and facts, as well as reasoning and humility.

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

Mark Antony says, “Yet Brutus says he [Caesar] was ambitious.” This quote was used a grand total of three times in act 1 scene 2 on lines 95, 107, and 102. This excerpt is used to show that Caesar was not determined to take the crown and rule Rome. Each time this quote was used, Antony gave examples of how Caesar really wasn’t ambitious, such as when he says, “I thrice presented him the kingly crown, which he did thrice refuse” (3.2.105-106). This quote shows that if Caesar really was ambitious, then he would have taken the crown and become king, but instead he refused. Not only did he refuse once, but three times. These examples shows many examples as to why Caesar was not ambitious did not want to be king. Antony repeats the phrase, “And Brutus is an honorable man.” This quote was repeated in act one scene two in lines 96, 103, and 108. Each time this quote is said, Antony had recently described why Brutus is honorable, such as when he says, “He hath brought many captives home to Rome” (3.2.97). This quote paints Brutus as a hero for bringing Roman people held in foreign lands home. The quote also brings to question Brutus’s own motives, questioning if he performed these gallant acts because he himself is ambitious. The quote also questions why Brutus conspired against his best friend if he is so honorable. Antony talks a lot about “Honorable men” or “Honorable man.” He uses the quotes for a collective total of seven times. The quotes are used in act one scene two in lines 91, 92, 103, 108, 136, 149, 163. Antony was given a set of specific rules before giving his speech, one of which was that he can not talk bad about the conspirators. Antony uses the word honorable to make it seem as though the truthful and possibly bad things he says about the conspirators was not as bad since they were still honorable, but none the less, Antony got

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.

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

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.

William Shakespeare, one of the most profound writers in all of history, skillfully used the character of Mark Antony in his play, Julius Caesar, in order to verify true the theme that loyalty and respect are two of the most extremely convincing tactics. He demonstrates the power of speech as he is manipulating words in order to prove a certain point in the speaker’s favor, whoever that may be. Mark Antony was a man who enjoyed spending the majority of his time at extravagant parties and receiving everything he wanted at his sudden demand. Shakespeare created Antony to be an expert in speech manipulation, which ended up making Julius Caesar to be what