Comparison Of Brutus And Antony's Speech

Can one really justify killing a fellow human being? I’m not sure anyone can, but between the two very convincing speeches of Brutus and Antony I would say Antony’s speech was more powerful or convincing. Antony used logos to refute Brutus’ claim, that Caesar was ambitious and therefore had to be killed, and used pathos to spark emotion in the audience of Plebeians and convince them he was right. During Brutus’ speech he convinced the crowd that Caesar was ambitious, too ambitious, to the point where he should be killed, but Anthony did not agree. Anthony used logos by provided a few examples of when Caesar was not as Brutus’ described him one being that, “he that brought many captives home to Rome/ Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:/

Did this in Caesar see ambitious?”(3.2.86-88). Another example is stated later in his speech it went as followed, “when that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:/ Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:/ Yet Brutus says he was ambitious” (3.2.89-91). Antony explains that Caesar help many people that were captured back to their homeland, Rome, and when the poor wept, Caesar was empathetic and cried with them and if he were ambitious he would never have done these things. Beside using logos, Antony used pathos in his speech in order to spark emotion in the audience. He made people feel sorry for he by saying, “he was my friend, faithful, and just to me,”(3.2.83) and, “My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,/ And I must pause till it come back to me”(3.2.104-105). He wanted the crowd to feel the same pain he was feeling about the death of his friend Caesar to get everyone to agree that Brutus’ justification of killing Caesar was wrong. Because of the fact that he was able to sway all of the Plebeians opinion after Brutus already instilled his opinion in them and the way he used logos and pathos to persuade the Plebeians that he was right, Antony’s speech was more powerful and convincing than Brutus’ speech had been.