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Shakespeare's influence on English literature
Shakespeare's influence on English literature
Shakespeare's influence on English literature
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Persuasion occurs daily in one's life. Techniques of persuasion include advertisements and speeches. Surprisingly speeches are not frequently used as now the world is bombarded with images. However well-written words can have an impact on the audience as shown in the play Julius Caesar by Shakespeare. The characters; Antony and Brutus are able to convince their audience by adopting a variety of rhetorical devices. They are similar in their use of repetition but different in rhetorical questions and irony. Ultimately Antony proves that he is more persuasive.
Antony and Brutus utilise repetition in a similar fashion. This literary device helps to emphasis the meaning of a point. In Antony's speech "honourable man" (Act 3 scene 2 line 81) is often repeated. The speaker wants to prove that the conspirators killed Caesar for selfish reasons. Moreover this phrase goes under the appeals of Ethos. The word 'honourable' sets the tone and level of vocabulary. As a repercussion, repeating words creates a rapport. The speaker establishes this relationship in order to turn his listeners against the murderers. Likewise, Brutus repeats the words 'mine honour' (Act 3 scene 2 line 15) and is trying to prove that killing Caesar was right. By repeating words, the audience feels respected therefore creates a similar rapport as Antony's which again falls under Ethos. These two performers use repetition for similar purposes; to persuade and portray their ideas to their audience. However Antony uses this technique with greater success by intriguing the audience throughout his speech. Brutus' repetition, on the other hand, is more self-centred asking the audience to accept his past. Repetition is a key factor for both performances. However the two s...
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...ontent with his reasons then they have let their country down. Ironically Brutus is actually showing that if the plebeians do not accept his past actions then the murderer has been betrayed. This quote is Pathos because it deals with the emotions of the conspirators and the audience. The irony of the speakers is different because Brutus aims to save his life whereas Antony explains the consequences of Caesar's death for the audience hence puts Rome and its people first. To conclude Antony and Brutus use repetition in a similar fashion but practice rhetorical questions and irony differently. Thus Antony is more persuasive.
However would these two speeches rendered by the characters still be as effective in the 21st century? According to Madeline Albright, "We live in an image society. Speeches are not what anybody cares about, what they care about is the picture."
Playwright, William Shakespeare, in the play Julius Caesar, utilizes many instances of rhetorical devices through the actions and speech of Caesar's right-hand man, Mark Antony. In the given excerpt, Antony demonstrates several of those rhetorical devices such as verbal irony, sarcasm, logos, ethos, and pathos which allows him to sway the plebeians. The central purpose of Mark Antony’s funeral speech is to persuade his audience into believing that Caesar had no ill intentions while manipulating the plebeians into starting a rebellion against their new enemies, Brutus and the conspirators.
In Julius Caesar two men, Antony and Brutus, make two different speeches but with the same concept of ethos, logos, and pathos at Caesar's funeral. Brutus claims that it is okay that he killed Caesar and makes a speech about it. Antony is the more persuasive speaker than Brutus because he uses ethos, pathos, and logos better than Brutus. Brutus has a way with the people. He is a politician, and he knows how to get the people on his side.
In Coercion, Douglas Rushkoff explains how easily people are easily coerced. For example, Rushkoff states that people are convinced by car salesman to pay more for a car than they wanted to. In Julius Caesar, Marc Antony asks to speak at the funeral of his dear friend, Julius Caesar, after one of the murderers, Brutus, speaks. Brutus convinces the Romans that Caesar would be a tyrant if he did not murder him, while Antony convinces the Romans that Caesar is not ambitious and there would never be another ruler like Caesar. The art of public speaking is important in the past and present.
Persuasion is a natural method many people use to influence a person's beliefs, attitudes, intentions, motivations, or behaviors in a situation. Many include, bribing parents to buy clothes to even lending someone money. Either way, people all over the world use words or phrases to convince or sway a person into believing them. Just as many people have used rhetorical appeals to persuade someone, Anthony also uses the rhetorical appeals; heartfelt pathos, questionable logos and evident ethos in William Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar to convince his audience that Caesar was not ambitious and that Caesar was innocent
Shakespeare uses literary devices to appeal to the audience and persuade them. In Brutus’s speech, he used pathos to appeal to the emotions. When he stated that he did not love ‘Caesar less, but that he loved Rome more, he gave a dramatic sense of patriotic pride. He is so loyal to his own country, he would sacrifice loved ones in order to protect it. It also gave an effect of pity towards him because he sacrificed his friend anyways for the better good. Shakespeare make him appear more sincere.
The central theme of Act III, Scene ii of “Julius Caesar” by William Shakespeare is the power of rhetoric because it shows the effect of two funeral orators’ on the crowd. In this scene, Antony and Brutus have similar purpose in talking to the public, which is to gain the support of the Plebeians according to their conflicting views about Caesar’s assassination. This essay focuses on comparing the orations of the two speakers in this part of the play according to Aristotle’s rhetoric system. According to Aristotle’s writings, Antony’s speech is more persuasive than Brutus’ speech, because he is able to provide logical, emotional and ethical appeals to his audience. Firstly, in comparison to Brutus’ logic, Antony provides more evidence to prove that Caesar was not ambitious. Secondly, Antony’s emotional acts and speech moved his audience more than Brutus. Finally, Antony acts more noble than Brutus does.
Think if all of the sudden someone that you followed and respected died. It would be a tragedy for you. Now think if this was a well respected ruler of an empire. The book Julius Caesar shows an occurrence like this. Caesar is killed and it leads to two important speeches in the book. I’m talking about Brutus and Antony’s speeches. They both try to sway the crowd by using characteristics like Ethos, Pathos, or Logos in their speeches. Here are ways that Brutus and Antony try to sway the crowd.
Persuasion is a very powerful weapon even against the most stoic of people. In the Tragedy, Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare Cassius, a high class politician with bad intentions persuades Brutus, an honorable, stoic high class politician and Casca to kill Caesar for the good of Rome, however, Cassius’ real goal is to get rid of Caesar because Caesar doesn’t like him. After killing Caesar, Brutus and Antony, Caesar closest friend, make speeches at his funeral in order to persuade the public. Cassius, Brutus and Antony’s use of Ethos, Logos, and Pathos in order to persuade the public, Casca, and Brutus shows that anyone can be persuaded by appealing to their emotions, motivations, and personalities.
By nature, the crowd of Romans will be more concerned with their personal safety than the death of their ruler. Antony appeals to his personal experiences and friendship with Caesar in a touching, personal, primarily pathetic argument; on the other hand, Brutus appeals to the Roman citizens directly by presenting himself as their protector against Caesar, a threat to their safety and liberty. Therefore, in terms of effectiveness, Brutus reaches his audience on a much more personal and convincing level with his argument than Antony was able to with his account of his friendship and life with
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.
Because Antony ingeniously uses a plethora of logical, emotional, and credible arguments, he outshines Brutus’s speech, which lacks in verifiable evidence. Antony also seizes the power of rhetorical devices in a more effective way than Brutus to convey his message. This battle between their speeches reflects in the outcome of their war, showing the superiority of Antony’s persuasive ability. While Brutus may have been an “honorable man,” it was Antony that proved to be the more effective one.
Firstly, Antony says a general statement that, “the evil that men do lives after them” (III.ii.74), when in fact he is subtly and sneeringly referring to the conspirators actions. The Roman commoners don’t realize that this general statement is swaying them, but the rest of Antony’s speech further convinces them of the evil the conspirators have done. Later, Antony talks about Brutus says that “sure, [he] is an honourable man” (III.ii.98), emphasis on the sure. Because he uses a scornful tone while sarcastically saying this statement, he is really beginning to show the audience his true feelings on the situation. Knowing that even Antony bitterly disagrees with the choices of the conspirators, it further persuades the common people of Rome to turn against Brutus and the rest of Caesar’s murderers. These occasions show Antony’s sour tone, especially towards the conspirators, and Antony’s tone also riles up the Roman citizens. His tone helps to exasperate the commoners with Caesar’s murder, and therefore assists Antony in achieving his purpose to manipulate the audience to turn against
...rence between these speeches is obviously that they had different views. As said earlier, Brutus was trying to approach that killing Caesar was a good deed for Rome, while Antony’s view is that Caesar did not deserve to die and that the conspirators were the real enemies. They also used their rhetorical devices in different ways to state their points, persuading different people in the audience.
Throughout his famous speech in the play Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, Mark Antony continuously propagandizes the crowd using his eloquence. From the very beginning of his speech, Antony is facing a crowd that is already not on his side. His unique elocution allows him to fairly easily brainwash the throng into submitting to his ideas about Julius Caesar’s death. Using rhetorical appeals such as logos and pathos, Mark Antony changes the mob’s mind in a timely manner. He uses plausible and convincing reasoning, rationale, and emotional appeal in order to indoctrinate the multitude of Romans into believing what he has to say. Antony’s exceptional mellifluousness helps him put it all together though, leading to the final product that is his acclaimed speech. Mark Antony possesses phenomenal enunciation and flaunts his rare skill admirably as he dexterously instills his views into the brains of the Romans.
“Julius Caesar” by William Shakespeare is the story of the assassination of Julius Caesar. Two speeches were made after his death, one being by Mark Antony. He uses many rhetorical devices in this speech to counter the previous speech and persuade the crowd that the conspirators who killed Caesar were wrong. Rhetoric is the art of persuasion and these many devices strengthen this by making points and highlighting flaws. Antony uses many rhetorical devices, all of which are used to persuade the crowd that the conspirators are wrong and Caesar did not need to be killed.