Compare And Contrast Brutus And Antony's Speech

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In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Mark Antony‘s eloquent and artful funeral speech, is able to persuade and sway the crowd of plebeians to revolt against the conspirators, through the use of a variety of oratory techniques. The speech nullifies the effect of Brutus’s earlier funeral speech, while bringing a culmination to the conspirators’ scheme of veiling their brutal act. Antony’s oration appeals to the crowd’s sense of pathos while also maintaining and focusing on their sense of ethos.
Mark Antony’s funeral speech is subterfuge expertly tailored through the manipulation of the plebeian’s emotions and pathos rhetoric. The emotional rhetoric and hatred in Antony’s speech plays on the emotions of the audience as he persuades them to overthrow
Comparing Brutus’s and Antony’s funeral speeches, it is evident that Antony’s oration appeals more to the ethos of the plebeians, while the underlying theme of Brutus’s speech is an appeal to the logos. Brutus’s eulogy is far less eloquent than that of Antony because he chooses to use prose. Antony’s speech begins with the memorable tricolon of “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!” The trochaic feel of this opening immediately commands attention. Antony’s use of the inclusive “friends” to address the plebeians, juxtaposes with the “Romans” used by Brutus, emphasising the emotional strength and theatrical nature of his invocations. The word “friends” shortens the distance between the Roman public and Antony, allowing Antony to penetrate the plebeian’s hearts with his status as a trustworthy man, appealing to their
Antony explains that he’s not gifted with the art of speech like Brutus is, and hence all he can do is speak plainly, as a man who loved Caesar, furthermore demonstrating his appeal to ethos. The phrase uses irony, as Antony tries to place himself as a commoner, in an attempt to incite the crowd to fight against Brutus and the conspirators. Through the use of ad hominem, Antony lowers Brutus’ ethos, causing the crowd to perceive Antony as a more reliable and trustworthy person. Antony targets the questionable character of Brutus as evident in the phrase “Brutus says he was ambitious, / And Brutus is an honourable man.” Antony describes Brutus as “honourable” throughout the oration, at first seeming to praise him, but each time, changing his tone to a more mocking and sarcastic one. The use of sarcasm and irony, undermines Brutus’s character and attacks his ethos, thus allowing Antony to persuade the crowd and this causes them to lose their faith in Brutus. Antony then sums up his speech stating “I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke.” outlining the irony used by Antony, allowing him to persuade the crowd against the conspirators without directly saying that the conspirators did anything

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