Julius Caesar Rhetorical Analysis Essay

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Antony uses his ethos to manipulate the crowd to trust him over the conspirators. In the speech, he uses credibility so he can get his point by without telling the conspirators his plan. To throw off the conspirators on his plan, Antony said “I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him”. 3.2.83) Antony is tricking the conspirators on his trustworthiness to them and their reasons for killing Caesar. Antony was also strategic in his speech to have the plebeians turn on the conspirators without hinting at what he was doing. He said “I only speak right on”, to show that he is credible and a good person. (3.2.234) Saying what he did made people trust him more than the people who killed a praised man. That is how Antony manipulates the crowd to trust him over the conspirators using his ethos. …show more content…

He begins to talk about Caesar to make the plebeians think the conspirators are in the wrong. Antony told the people that “[Caesar] hath brought many captives home to Rome”. (3.2.97) He is telling the people that Caesar is a good guy and despite what Brutus and the others say, he should have not been killed. Antony used the fact that Caesar did good for Rome, to turn the crowd on the conspirators. As the speech continues, Antony talks about the killing of Caesar and how all the conspirators stabbed him. He said he looked at Brutus, “For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar’s angel”, for help but then Brutus too, stabbed him. (3.2.193) Antony used the reality that Caesar trusted Brutus, but Brutus turned on him. Antony was making the plebeians not trust Brutus because Brutus turned on someone who trusted him and he might do the same to Rome. Antony strategically turned the crowd on Brutus by using the facts of what happened and turned it against Brutus. The use of emotion in Antony’s speech made the crowd get manipulated into turning on the

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