Julius Caesar Rhetorical Analysis

Is Shakespeare overrated? Is the mind behind the rhetorically brilliant pieces of art that have withstood over 400 years, nothing but smoke and mirrors? For every question there is, the answer lies within the work itself. Revolutions don’t come in a dozen, especially not in the magnitude of Shakespeare’s groundbreaking franchises. Speaking of such masterful work, one specific play written by him called, “The Tragedy of Julius Caesar” about the fictional portrayal of the Roman leader and a group of conspirators, holds within a lot of the traditional Shakespeare rhetoric that all people in the world of literature (and other worlds) have come to know and respect. The play began in the streets of Rome, focused on two tribunes named Flavius and

His utilization of rhetoric in this play is the finest that will be seen throughout this it’s entirety, and really flushes out his intentions in the speech. One example of a strategy that stands out is his use of pity against the audience or also known as pathos. Going on a tangent about how terribly sad he was about Caesar’s death, and how much it hurt him that the conspirators would do something like this, making the people feel bad for him and hate the conspirators even more for sending Caesar to his grave. This is a smart move on Antony’s part, because as seen in previous acts the people of Rome loved Caesar, and to play up that fact as the wounds of his death are still bleeding is a really smart way of becoming the voice of the people in the trial. He even threw shade at the conspirators when he said, “Who else must be let blood, who else is rank” implicably expressing hate against them but leaving the emotions to the jury. Antony decides to further twist the blade by referring to their swords they killed Caesar with and how they were, “made rich with the most noble blood of all this world” really making it known how they’ve wronged Rome instead of saving it with their devious crimes. Brutus is unevenly matched when it comes to Antony in this situation. With all that being said, Antony is good at putting thoughts and ideas into people’s

He took the strategy of pathos to a whole new level. Antony brought Caesar's will, and with it the gown he wore when he was stabbed. This was a hard hit to the audience. At this point Antony had their hearts in the palm of his hand. He began pointing out the holes the conspirators left in the gown, saying stuff like, “See what a rent the envious Casca made” and “Through this the well beloved Brutus stabbed” (III, iii, 172-173). The tides are starting to turn here. No longer is Antony hiding his feelings toward the gentleman. He stopped calling them honorable, and is now calling them out for what they have done. And the crowd is following suit. Once Antony turned, they turned as well. Like a barrel in a revolver they all turned at once. This might've been a visible plot point towards the beginning of the scene, in order to win the support of the people there's no better way then hitting them in the feels. Individuals in the audience begin crying out, “O piteous spectacle!” “O noble Caesar!” and most importantly, “O traitors, villains!” (III, iii, 195-198) Antony should be getting a lot of praise for how good of a job that was done, or Shakespeare