The Theme of The Play Julius Caesar
By: Ky’lexius Gwynn
The theme of Julius Caesar is persuasion. The definition of persuasion is the process of changing a person’s attitude or behavior toward some event, object, other person’s, or idea, by using spoken words, written words, and body language. Persuasion is one of the most powerful techniques a person can use to get what they want or need in life. Persuasion is structured by what the person is trying to effect. For example, if a little boy is trying to persuade his mom to buy him brand new Jordans shoes, he might tell her he has done all his chores and made A-honor roll. Moms enjoy having a clean home and being able to brag about their kids' intelligence. So, the mom decides to buy the shoes. The kid knew what his mother likes, he used these things to persuade her into buying him shoes. Persuasive power can be used for the good or the bad.
The technique of persuasion begins in “Act 2, scene 1”. To begin, Cassius strongly persuaded Brutus into killing Caesar. Brutus had once
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I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke, But here I am to speak what I do know. You all did love him once, not without cause:”.
In this piece, Antony shows that he was a firm supporter and lover of Caesar. It is obvious that his loyalty was not to Brutus and the conspirators, but he never said that to the citizens. Antony bashed Brutus in the most respectful way he could have; he stated the greater things Caesar has done. The use of Antonys wordplay led to comments from the crowd such as:
“They were traitors: honourable men!” and “Room for Antony, most noble Antony.” The mood change in the crowd was persuaded by Mark Antony.
The power of persuasion in Julius Caesar caused death, betrayal, success, failure, and so many more outcomings. Wordplay and manipulation were two very prominent skills used throughout this tragedy. Even in present times, persuasion is extremely
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's 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. In the beginning of the Book Cassius uses anecdotes of Caesar’s weakness and faults, argumentum ad antiquatum, and ethos on Brutus to persuade him to join the conspiracy to kill Caesar, this works on Brutus and shows that anyone, even people as stoic as Brutus, can be persuaded by appealing to their motivations.
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
Rhetorical devices have been around for many centuries, and they are used to convince and persuade people to believe in their cause. These strategies exploit individuals by influencing them to feel sympathy or trust the speaker. In Julius Caesar, a historic tragedy written by the prominent Shakespeare, Antony’s brilliant rhetorical strategies are used to trump Brutus and prompt the Roman people to unite with his rebellion against the unjust butcher of the beloved Julius Caesar.
In William Shakespeare's tragic play Julius Caesar, an under appreciated factor of flattery and persuasion plays an important role in the choices of the leaders. Cassius uses flattery with Brutus. Decius uses flattery with Caesar, and Antony uses flattery with Brutus.
...ve in his cause rather than Brutus's. Finally, while the crowd is in awe of Brutus's raw power and booming authority, Antony uses sarcasm to rip down any respect the Roman people may have built for Brutus and the conspirators. In his funeral oration, Antony insults Brutus ten times by stating that he is "an honorable man" (Act III, scene ii, line 84) in a tone of biting mockery, therefore questioning Brutus's credibility.
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.
“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.
Yet, in Antony’s speech, he takes a different approach than Brutus. Pathos, otherwise known as emotional appeal, is something Antony uses non-stop in his speech, in which Brutus barely used it at all. Antony opens his speech by addressing everyone as his friends, speaking about how Caesar was an honourable man, an honest man, all he had ever done was for the benefit of Rome. He says in his speech, “You all did see that on the Lupercal I thrice presented him a kingly crown, which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition? Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; and sure he is an honourable man. (Act III, Scene 2- line 1639-1643)” Mark Antony is showing people how great Caesar was, and that he wasn 't ambitious. He repeats the words “Brutus is an honourable man,” over and over again, almost like a mock or a dare. He 's attempting to make the people see that Brutus isn’t honourable, that he killed their leader who they loved, which is not an act one would say about an honourable man. Mark Antony also goes on to slowly convince the people that the conspirators were nothing but murderers. Then he states this, “good friends, sweet friends, let me not stir you up to such a sudden flood of mutiny…(Act III, Scene 2- line 1754-1755) Now Antony has put the idea of mutiny into their heads, using the word ‘mutiny’ in just the right places to cause the people to do exactly that:
By manipulating Brutus into thinking the people have a certain view of Caesar, Cassius is able to convince him to do what he did not consider as an option earlier. If it had not been for Cassius leading him with the words of the Romans, Brutus may never have approved of Caesar’s death or joined the conspirators, as they wanted him to. transition. Antony’s successful rebellion is a product of manipulation. He is able to turn a large crowd that was opposing him and bend them to his will.
Cassius, an envious and ambitious man, did not approve of what Caesar was doing as ruler and believed that he had too much power over the senate and the people. To put an end to what he considered to be conspiracy, he fabricated a plan to eradicate Caesar. He attempted to persuade Brutus, one of Caesar’s good friends, to join their plot, but Brutus declined. Cassius, speaking of the decision Brutus made not to unite with them, told the other conspirators in the senate, “for who so firm that cannot be seduced?” He wanted to manipulate Brutus into joining their cause, therefore he and the other conspirators threw letters they wrote, pretending to be citizens, into Brutus’ window. (Shakespeare 12) When Brutus read these, he thought they were from citizens and was deceived into uniting with Cassius and the conspiring senators. Little did he know that the letters were not from the citizens, but were forgeries. He was only joining Cassius because he wanted to give the people what they wanted. This was a prime example of manipulation through both friends and documents. Brutus' friends used letters or do...
Throughout Antony’s speech, Antony calls Brutus “honorable” (Shakespeare 142) repeatedly, but with a sarcastic tone. Furthermore, even though he had accomplished numerous things for the Romans, Antony calls Caesar “ambitious” (Shakespeare 142) in the same sarcastic tone implying that he was not an ambitious leader.. This technique helped Antony manipulate the Plebeians’ opinion of Caesar. In another dramatic monologue, Brutus uses Flag Waving to justify the assassination of the beloved Julius Caesar. Flag Waving is described as a display of being patriotic or nationalistic towards one’s country. Brutus says Caesar must be killed because his insidious actions will bring Rome to ruin (Shakespeare 138). He tells the Romans that Caesar is too powerful and egoistic. As a result, the Plebeians are easily influenced by Brutus’s words and turn against Caesar. Finally, a propaganda technique used by Portia, Brutus’s wife, persuades Brutus to reveal his secret. Portia discovers that Brutus has been keeping something from her and is frantic to find out what it is. She uses the technique of Emotional Appeal to persuade Brutus. The technique of Emotional Appeal attempts to make an
Antony faces a bias crowd when presenting his speech to the Romans. The use of appeal, verbal irony, rhetorical questions, repetition and anaphora is frequently seen throughout Antony’s speech. He uses those English techniques to convince the crowd in his favor. Furthermore, Antony’s tone makes his speech convincing to the Romans who were in favor of the conspirators. Throughout this essay, it will be evident to see how Antony uses verbal irony and other figures of speech to sway the crowd.
Mark Antony's Speech from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar Mark Antony’s funeral oration over the body of Julius Caesar in act three, scene two is the most important speech in the play and effects the development of the play as a whole in many ways. Firstly this speech falls in the play where we have seen Antony’s distraught reaction to the murder of Caesar and his letter vowing allegiance to Brutus in return for being able to live. Act three, scene one prepares us for Antony’s rhetoric as here he states that ‘Brutus is noble, wise, valiant and honest’ which fits in with him repeatedly stating ‘Brutus is an honourable man’. It becomes evident in this scene that Antony has an ulterior motive for forming this allegiance and asking to do the funeral oration when he is ‘swayed from the point by looking down on Caesar’ and then states that ‘friends am I with you all, and love you all’ but still wants to know ‘why and wherein Caesar was dangerous’. Thus we the audience are aware that Antony is not being honest with the conspirators especially when he speaks in a soliloquy of the anarchy he will create when he states ‘blood and destruction shall be so in use…that mothers shall but smile when they behold/
The first major theme seen throughout Julius Caesar is on how easily a crowd can be swayed by an effective speaker. From the beginning, persuading and convincing was used to flip the ordinary minds of Rome.