Figurative Language In Julius Caesar

152 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Use of rhetoric in julius caesar

The theme of William Shakespeare’s work Julius Caesar is the effect that one’s words have on others through misinterpretation and the misconstruing of words. The power one has to change the mindset of another is done through persuasion in which actors such as Mark Antony and Cassius use throughout the play. Speech is an important factor in the plot developments of Julius Caesar. For instance, in Act III, Scene 1, Cassius convinces Brutus into killing Caesar, although Brutus did not want to be involved in the conspiracy against Caesar.

In Act III, Scene 2, the two greatly opposing speeches of Brutus and Antony swayed the citizens into different viewpoints. In turn, Antony’s speech caused an uproar in the streets of Rome. Also, his speech

Show More
Related

  • Brutus vs Antony

    1056 Words  | 3 Pages

    The most predominate and important aspect In the play Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare are the speeches given to the Roman citizens by Brutus and Antony, the two main charaters, following the death of Caesar. Brutus and Antony both spoke to the crowd,using the same rhetorical devices to express their thoughts. Both speakers used the three classical appeals employed in the speeches: ethos, which is an appeal to credibility; pathos, which is an appeal to the emotion of the audience; and logos, which is an appeal to the content and arrangement of the argument itself. Even though both speeches have the same structure Antony’s speech is significantly more effective than Brutus’s.

    Read More

  • Ethos Pathos Logos In Julius Caesar

    905 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare is a historic tragedy about the brutal murder of the Roman senator, Julius Caesar. Within the play, Caesar has two close friends—Brutus and Antony. Antony is a loyal friend, supporting Caesar and encouraging him in his climb to kingship; Brutus is a king-fearing traitor who leads the plot to murder Caesar. After Caesar is murdered, both friends make speeches—Brutus to justify his actions and Antony to passive-aggressively disprove his claims. In the speeches, they use three rhetorical literary devices: ethos, the appeal to gain the crowd’s trust; pathos, stirring the crowd’s emotions to influence behavior; and logos, the use of logic to reason with the crowd. By comparing the use of ethos, pathos, and logos in each speech and by

    Read More

  • Mark Antony’s Remarkable Rhetoric

    696 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Diction Of Mark Antony In William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar

    741 Words  | 2 Pages

    In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Mark Antony—a loyal friend to Julius Caesar, the former emperor of Rome—gives a speech to the Roman commoners in order to persuade them to turn against Brutus, for Brutus and the conspirators had slain Caesar. Antony’s uses rough and sharp diction, a scornful tone, and honest anecdotes in order to achieve his purpose of manipulating the common people to take his side.

    Read More

  • How Does Mark Antony Use Figurative Language In Julius Caesar

    607 Words  | 2 Pages

    Leaders during times of great unrest would give their people hope through well written, poetic speeches. Those who were truly gifted with amazing speaking skills could turn entire groups against their enemies. Mark Antony in The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by Shakespeare is a wonderful example of someone who is not only a gifted speaker but is also a very poetic speaker. The best example of Mark Antony’s skills is during his monolog at Caesar’s funeral. In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by Shakespeare, Mark Antony used to structure, diction, figurative language, and imagery to sway the crowd to believe that Julius Caesar was innocent.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis

    823 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout literature and history itself, the powerful language strategy of rhetoric has been applied to both good and evil. Even the most loyal and honorable of men can be led astray by rhetoric, if used successfully. In Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, the character Cassius, a conniving and jealous man, successfully uses the “dark side” of rhetoric to beguile Brutus, a friend of Julius Caesar, to conspire against Caesar along side of him. Cassius and a group of other men feel if Caesar is to acquire power and rule Rome, it would destroy the Roman Empire. They believe the only way to ensure that does not happen is to murder Caesar. Cassius uses ethical fallacies such as flattery to persuade Brutus even more. Even though Brutus is loyal, Cassius’ attempts are effective, so he believes he is doing this for the good of Rome and its people. With his correct usage of the art of seduction, Cassius is successful and appeals to Brutus’ pride, honor, and emotion.

    Read More

  • Exploring The Cause Of Brutus In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar

    617 Words  | 2 Pages

    Though relatively general, Brutus’s monologue includes authentic use of rhetorical strategies, including targeting on the audience's patriotism and passion. His insightful use of language underlines the importance of his reasons, through his diction and organization, successfully swaying the Romans. Though many readers perceive Brutus as the antagonist of Julius Caesar, Shakespeare sets him as the idol through his plausible language. And such influential language argues for fitting title of the play.

    Read More

  • Julius Caesar Rhetorical Analysis

    984 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Comparison of the Two Speeches in Julius Caesar

    888 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis of Mark Antony in Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

    816 Words  | 2 Pages

    “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.

    Read More

  • Mark Antony's Speech Analysis

    853 Words  | 2 Pages

    In William Shakespeare play Julius Caesar, Caesar is assassinated, and the city of Rome becomes enraged, demanding the death of the conspirators that murdered him. Brutus, one of the main assassins, talks to the mob and persuades them to understand that they are at an advantage without Caesar, the tyrant, as the dictator of Rome. He then leaves Mark Antony, who has meticulous orders to not try to pin the murder on the conspirators’ selfishness, but can speak numerous praises about his superior. Mark Antony then speaks to the persuaded crowd about Caesar’s endeavors and the benefits that Caesar gave to the kingdom, giving everything that was necessary and more. Mark Antony’s speech riles the citizens of Rome to mutiny without actually revealing his personal intentions of wishing to do so. In William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, Mark Antony’s speech is more persuasive that Brutus’ speech

    Read More

  • Marc Antony Hints To The Crowd

    698 Words  | 2 Pages

    Act III, scene ii, lines 74-148 of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare show Marc Antony’s cunning and genius persuasion skills, as well as how appealing to emotions can change the opinion of a crowd, even if the new opinion does not seem logical. In this speech Marc Antony begins to persuade the citizens of Rome to join him in rising up against a group of conspirators in the senate. The group of conspirators led by Brutus and Cassius had just recently killed Marc Antony's friend Caesar, who was about to become the emperor of Rome. Before Marc Antony spoke, Brutus had given a speech to the public using logic and reason to explain why they needed to kill Caesar. He then, using very poor judgement, allowed Marc Antony to address the crowds.

    Read More

  • Arcite And Palamon Essay

    691 Words  | 2 Pages

    Chaucer uses Arcite and Palamon to identify himself as a “liberal humanist” by using love against the two characters. Emphasizing on love he demonstrates that love is powerful than war and violence. He unravels the story with love because the emotions can bring human down to their knees. Arcite and Palamon are no longer knights of war or sympathizer of violence but are prisoners of love. Individuals of nobility, peasantry, or religion who do not understand love will say is a distraction for the knights because it clouds the mind of other issues that is deemed more important than to win over Emelye.

    Read More

  • The Power of Rhetoric in Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare

    943 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... been a totally different story. Cassius tries to turn brutus against Caesar and does turn out to be successful. Later, Brutus and Antony speak at Caesar’s funeral. Brutus appeals to logic and the crowd is initially on his side. Antony appeals more to emotion, and the crowd consents with him much more than Brutus. This leads to havoc and a mutiny against the conspirators. It is conspicuous that Antony is the most convincing character in the play because of his use of appealing to the mental state of others. He is also humble, yet deceptive. To conclude, persuasion and rhetoric are essential factors in the death of Julius Caesar and the events that trail the tragedy.

    Read More

  • The Speech of Marcus Antonius in Julius Caesar

    962 Words  | 2 Pages

    The speech made by Marcus Antonius, called Antony, in Act Three, Scene Two of Julius Caesar shows that despite being considered a sportsman above all else, he is highly skilled with the art of oratory as well. In the play by William Shakespeare, this speech is made at the funeral of Caesar after he is killed by Brutus and the other conspirators. Brutus claimed earlier, in his own funeral speech, that the killing of Caesar was justified. He felt that Caesar was a threat, and too ambitious to be allowed as ruler. Much of this sentiment, however, was developed by the treacherous Cassius. Antony, on the other hand, felt that the conspirators were traitors to Rome and should be dealt with. This speech used a variety of methods to gradually bring the crowd to his side, yet maintain his side of the deal with Brutus. This deal was that he, “shall not in your funeral speech blame us...” (3.1.245) for the death of Caesar. Antony holds his end of the deal for the majority of the speech, yet by doing so convinces the crowd of Brutus' and the others' disloyalty. In many ways, this speech can be seen as the ultimate rhetoric, and it includes all three of Aristotle's methods of persuasion. This are the appeal to credibility, called ethos, the appeal to emotions, called pathos, and the appeal to logic, called logos. All three of these devices are used to great effect during the speech of Marcus Antonius.

    Read More

More about Figurative Language In Julius Caesar

Open Document