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Shakespeare's influence on English literature
Shakespeare's influence on English literature
Shakespeare's influence on English literature
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Persuasion occurs daily in one's life. Techniques of persuasion include advertisements and speeches. Surprisingly speeches are not frequently used as now the world is bombarded with images. However well-written words can have an impact on the audience as shown in the play Julius Caesar by Shakespeare. The characters; Antony and Brutus are able to convince their audience by adopting a variety of rhetorical devices. They are similar in their use of repetition but different in rhetorical questions and irony. Ultimately Antony proves that he is more persuasive.
Antony and Brutus utilise repetition in a similar fashion. This literary device helps to emphasis the meaning of a point. In Antony's speech "honourable man" (Act 3 scene 2 line 81) is often repeated. The speaker wants to prove that the conspirators killed Caesar for selfish reasons. Moreover this phrase goes under the appeals of Ethos. The word 'honourable' sets the tone and level of vocabulary. As a repercussion, repeating words creates a rapport. The speaker establishes this relationship in order to turn his listeners against the murderers. Likewise, Brutus repeats the words 'mine honour' (Act 3 scene 2 line 15) and is trying to prove that killing Caesar was right. By repeating words, the audience feels respected therefore creates a similar rapport as Antony's which again falls under Ethos. These two performers use repetition for similar purposes; to persuade and portray their ideas to their audience. However Antony uses this technique with greater success by intriguing the audience throughout his speech. Brutus' repetition, on the other hand, is more self-centred asking the audience to accept his past. Repetition is a key factor for both performances. However the two s...
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...ontent with his reasons then they have let their country down. Ironically Brutus is actually showing that if the plebeians do not accept his past actions then the murderer has been betrayed. This quote is Pathos because it deals with the emotions of the conspirators and the audience. The irony of the speakers is different because Brutus aims to save his life whereas Antony explains the consequences of Caesar's death for the audience hence puts Rome and its people first. To conclude Antony and Brutus use repetition in a similar fashion but practice rhetorical questions and irony differently. Thus Antony is more persuasive.
However would these two speeches rendered by the characters still be as effective in the 21st century? According to Madeline Albright, "We live in an image society. Speeches are not what anybody cares about, what they care about is the picture."
Pathos: "This was the unkindest cut of them all". Antony creates an emotional connection with the crowd when he makes them look at the stab that Brutus and the conspirators had done to him , this makes the people angry because the conspirators had killed a great person ( in the people's eyes ) making the people starting to rebel the conspirators and wanting to kill all of
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 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.
By nature, the crowd of Romans will be more concerned with their personal safety than the death of their ruler. Antony appeals to his personal experiences and friendship with Caesar in a touching, personal, primarily pathetic argument; on the other hand, Brutus appeals to the Roman citizens directly by presenting himself as their protector against Caesar, a threat to their safety and liberty. Therefore, in terms of effectiveness, Brutus reaches his audience on a much more personal and convincing level with his argument than Antony was able to with his account of his friendship and life with
In Coercion, Douglas Rushkoff explains how easily people are easily coerced. For example, Rushkoff states that people are convinced by car salesman to pay more for a car than they wanted to. In Julius Caesar, Marc Antony asks to speak at the funeral of his dear friend, Julius Caesar, after one of the murderers, Brutus, speaks. Brutus convinces the Romans that Caesar would be a tyrant if he did not murder him, while Antony convinces the Romans that Caesar is not ambitious and there would never be another ruler like Caesar. The art of public speaking is important in the past and present.
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
Antony asks rhetorical questions and lets the audience answer for themselves. Brutus uses ethos by stating that he a noble man and that is why the people should believe him but infact Antony questions his nobility by saying what Brutus said,” Brutus is an honourable man”(III.ii.79). In a way, Antony states what Brutus states to convince the audience by using examples that Brutus is wrong. Antony himself knows what kind of man Brutus is but lets the people figure it out on their own. In addition, Brutus uses logos by expressing that fact that Caesar died because of his ambition. This argument is severely under supported because his reasons are invalid and simply observations. Antony uses “did this in Caesar seem ambitious” to question Brutus’ argument (III.ii.82). Antony gives examples backing his argument like when Caesar refused the crown thrice to prove his humbleness. The way Antony convinces the people to rebel is by using pathos. He brings the audience in by stepping down to their level and showing them the body of Caesar. While Antony talks at Caesar's funeral, he pauses because” heart us in the coffin there with Caesar “(III.ii.98). When Antony becomes emotional, he reminds the audience about what injust event happened to the much loved
This also helped get the crowd to listen to him, because they had just heard Brutus and were all fired up about the wonderful things he had said. So both the characters start off their speeches the same, gaining credibility, but because Antony had to work harder to gain it, he performed much better.... ... middle of paper ... ... Two times Antony called the people back from running away in anger and said another thing to deepen the seed he had planted in them.
...rence between these speeches is obviously that they had different views. As said earlier, Brutus was trying to approach that killing Caesar was a good deed for Rome, while Antony’s view is that Caesar did not deserve to die and that the conspirators were the real enemies. They also used their rhetorical devices in different ways to state their points, persuading different people in the audience.
Firstly, Antony says a general statement that, “the evil that men do lives after them” (III.ii.74), when in fact he is subtly and sneeringly referring to the conspirators actions. The Roman commoners don’t realize that this general statement is swaying them, but the rest of Antony’s speech further convinces them of the evil the conspirators have done. Later, Antony talks about Brutus says that “sure, [he] is an honourable man” (III.ii.98), emphasis on the sure. Because he uses a scornful tone while sarcastically saying this statement, he is really beginning to show the audience his true feelings on the situation. Knowing that even Antony bitterly disagrees with the choices of the conspirators, it further persuades the common people of Rome to turn against Brutus and the rest of Caesar’s murderers. These occasions show Antony’s sour tone, especially towards the conspirators, and Antony’s tone also riles up the Roman citizens. His tone helps to exasperate the commoners with Caesar’s murder, and therefore assists Antony in achieving his purpose to manipulate the audience to turn against
Shakespeare uses dramatic pathos, ethos, repetition and logos in the case of Antony to make his speech memorable in his effectiveness to sway the audience’s opinion. William’s use of Antony having the last word and subterfuge powerfully displayed a moment of literature memorable for the art of persuasion and manipulation. He veiled the true intent. The weaker written speech for Brutus had one effective point. The point that he killed Caesar for Rome. The breakdown of Brutus’s speech makes readers feel the tension and
Think if all of the sudden someone that you followed and respected died. It would be a tragedy for you. Now think if this was a well respected ruler of an empire. The book Julius Caesar shows an occurrence like this. Caesar is killed and it leads to two important speeches in the book. I’m talking about Brutus and Antony’s speeches. They both try to sway the crowd by using characteristics like Ethos, Pathos, or Logos in their speeches. Here are ways that Brutus and Antony try to sway the crowd.
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.
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.