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Political tragedy of julius caesar
Julius Caesar as a Shakespearean tragedy
Julius Caesar as a Shakespearean tragedy
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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.
Brutus’ approach to the Roman people suggest his extreme amount of self confidence. He attempts to relate to the people by speaking alike the plebians in prose. His constant use of ethos in his speech shows the audience how highly he thinks of himself. Brutus states
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that people should “believe [Brutus] for his honour”(III.ii.14). By stating this, the people listen to him because he is Brutus whom they already trust. In addition, Brutus uses logos to gain an extra edge by declaring, “[Caesar] was ambitious”(II.ii.23). Which in the end fails because of his lack of evidence. Even the people begin to believe him because of logos and ethos but with the help of Antony, the people realise the right side to join. Also, Brutus believes he butchered Caesar for the good of Rome because of his ambition and his potential danger. He expresses,” but that I loved Rome more”(III.ii.20). He is showing his love for Caesar like that of the audience. His love for Caesar connects him with the Roman people which gives him an extra edge. Antony takes advantage of the situation because of his use of pathos.
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
Caesar. The rhetorical strategies that have been around for centuries help speakers convince their audience by establishing connections. In Julius Caesar, Brutus attempts to gain the Roman peoples support by using these devices. Yet, Antony successfully defeated Brutus in a war of speeches which in turn, resulted in Brutus ending his own life and writing a new history for the dominating Rome.
In William Shakespeare's, Julius Caesar, rhetorical devices are used throughout Decius Brutus’s speech to Caesar to persuade him to attend the senate, and ultimately meet his demise. Decius Brutus uses repetition to directly play into Caesar’s ego and convince him to show at an event he was previously very unsure of. Decius first uses repetition to make Caesar feel as if he were an irreplaceable addition to the senate. He addresses Caesar as, “most mighty Caesar…” (2.2.74) multiple times throughout his oration. The repetition of “mighty” draws Caesar’s attention away from the fact that he really must not go to the senate and instead focuses on why he must. Caesar is known to be easily persuaded by the promise of attention or rewards. Decius
... Antony also mixes Logos and Pathos when he says that “when the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept” (873) to show that Caesar was a noble and caring leader of the public and would never try to hurt or harm their liberties. Unlike Brutus, Antony’s logo requires the people to think on what he says, which only helps in winning his argument. He continues this mix when he says that “[they] all did love him once, not without cause” (873) in order to put guilt on the crowd for switching sides on the man they loved and admired so dearly. Antony, with full support of the crowd, uses his sense of loss and anger to guilt the public says that “[his] heart is in there with Caesar”(873) and after reading the contents of Caesar will to the public which gives each citizen 70 drachmas and various other gifts he asks “when comes another [as great as Caesar]?”
Imagine yourself listening to a political debate, undecided as to which leader you agree with. One candidate begins to speak about unjust societal issues, such as the horrifying amount of people in the world that do not have food on their table. The candidate also begins to touch upon the topic of taxes and how he will lower them if he is elected. You find yourself being persuaded in the direction of emotions and morals. The power of language used to appeal others is not only present in the modern world, but also in the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, written by famous English playwright William Shakespeare. The Tragedy of Julius Caesar portrayed a story of how an aspiring leader, Julius Caesar, is assassinated by a group of schemers, lead by Marcus Brutus, who disagreed with Caesar’s decrees and ways of governing. Over the course of the text, it demonstrated the use of two rhetorical charms: ethos and pathos. While ethos refers to the moral and ethical appeal and pathos invokes to the emotional aspect, each one was evidently shown in the funeral speech for Caesar given by his best friend, Mark Antony. Prior to Antony’s speech, Brutus had given the plebeians a synopsis of what had occurred. However, Mark Antony knew that what Brutus had told the plebeians was false. In such manner, he allured the plebeians onto his side of the tragedy by touching upon ethical and emotional appeals.
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.
Brutus primarily uses the rhetorical appeal of ethos in his speech. Ethos is prevalent in his speech when he is speaking about his love for Rome,which ultimately is higher than his love for Caesar. He relies on defending himself and proving to the townspeople his actions were a sacrifice for Rome. Brutus states, “Believe me for mine honor,and have respect for mine honor, that/ you may believe” (JC III.ii.14-16).Brutus’s expectations for his speech were for people to respond reasonably and realize that what he did was the right thing. Brutus is very successful because he presents the political struct...
Through the whole of his spectacular speech, Mark Antony influences the crowd using his distinct diction. He is able to inculcate a fired up anti-Caesar mass of people, and he makes the populace believe that Julius Caesar’s death was a true tragedy. Antony gracefully applies his proficiency with ‘logos’ and ‘pathos’ to his speech and is able to adroitly gain followers. His strong reasoning and explanations allow the Romans to buy what he has to say. Antony’s ability to speak in a roundabout way is a key constituent of his speech. Withal, he is extremely humble and the way he plays down his prowess is impressive. Mark Antony puts all the parts of his remarkable rhetoric together, and the result is a speech for the ages.
“Rhetoric, the art of making life less believable.”- Ben Marcus. In light of conspirators assassinating Marc Antony’s long-time friend, Caesar, Antony vows to avenge Caesar’s death. In Antony’s speech at Caesars funeral oration, Antony used rhetoric techniques to manipulate and persuade the audience into believing the same ideas Antony believed in. The purpose behind his speech was to lead into rebellion; Antony achieves this by stepping down to the audience’s level, using theatrical actions, and raising the morale to rebel against conspirators in the audience by presenting Caesar’s will.
Without knowing it, we are very accustomed to the old saying "Save the best for last." In social events and sporting competitions, those in charge use their best to leave a greater impact on their opponents and their audience. We can also see this being used while watching a firework display and the most grand fireworks appear only at the end of the show. William Shakespeare's most famous tragedy, Julius Caesar, is a great example of the saying. In Act III, Scene II of the play, the city of Rome is in mourning after their leader was murdered by conspirators consisting of the city's own Senators. Romans gather near the Roman Senate House to hear Brutus and Marc Anthony's words. By the end of Brutus' speech, the crowd is supporting his actions and justifying him, but by the end of the scene, they are supporting Anthony. What exactly did Anthony say and do to convince the Romans to support his claims and oppose Brutus so much
In his play Julius Caesar, Shakespeare employs various rhetorical strategies such as direct address, repetition, and apostrophe in Antony’s eulogy to convince the crowd into believing that Caesar was a good ruler. His excellent use of rhetoric begins before he starts his speech through the establishment of familiarity. Before Antony begins his speech, he refers to the crowd as “friends, romans, [and] countrymen” to establish a personal connection, indicating the use of direct address (3.2.82). By referring to the crowd as “friends,” Antony removes any separation between him and the audience, establishing a close bond by choice. As it came first on his list, it emphasizes the importance of his friendship with the audience as friendship implies
Rhetoric is the art for when the writer tries to inform, persuade, or motivate it’s readers. The goal is to change the others point of view or to make others take action. Plato once stated,” Rhetoric, it seems, is a producer of persuasion for belief, not for instruction in the matter of right and wrong.” Therefore, rhetoric could also be using direct language in a specific way for effective communication. Aristotle became the first person to use a form of rhetoric in his works and writing. Aristotle created the three known elements of rhetoric; logos, ethos, pathos. Logos means to use some form of logic, or the facts, based on evidence and reason. Ethos means to use a form of ethics, image, and being based on someone's character and credibility.
Antony reminds the plebeians about the time when he, himself “presented [Caesar] a kingly crown, / Which [Caeasar] did thrice refuse” (III. ii. 97-98). Using logic and reasoning, Mark Antony explains to his crowd that the fallen Caesar couldn’t possibly have been ambitious if he had refused the ticket to become King multiple times. Immediately afterward, Antony made sure to remind the plebeians that Brutus is an honorable man. This use of logos with verbal irony proves to be extremely effective. Since Antony presented the crowd with a compelling fact supporting that Caesar was not ambitious, the phrase “Brutus is an honorable man,” would be even more effective in allowing his audience to realize that Brutus and the conspirators may not be honorable (III. ii. 83). According to Brutus, the conspirator's sole reason to kill Caesar was because they believed he was ambitious, Antony’s statement would then be incredibly useful to turn the crowd against Brutus and his people. The plebeians would start to realize that noble Brutus and his conspirators might not be honorable and could potentially have their own, personal reasons to assassinate Julius Caesar. Once the crowd realizes that Brutus and the conspirators could have murdered their leader for no valid reason, they would begin to feel anger which are the building steps to starting a rebellion just like how Antony
Brutus pushes the idea of Caesar‘s leadership leading to the enslavement of the Roman people without any events in between, nor any correlation between those events. Brutus’s speech fails to persuade the audience and pales in comparison to Antony’s due to Brutus’s loss of ethos and logical fallacies, undermining his
In the passionate play of Julius Caesar, full of betrayal, trials, and patriotism, one can find an incredibly good example of the power of rhetoric. This Shakespearean play, though titled Julius Caesar, does not revolve around said man but instead revolves around one of his murderers and once beloved friend, Brutus. After Caesar's murder, Brutus gives a speech to the citizens of Rome, explaining why he committed such an act and cleverly (attempts) to use rhetoric to change the angry minds of the Romans to side with him.
Brutus made his speech effective in persuading the people by using tone and rhetorical devices. Brutus was compassionate when referring to how he loved Caesar as much as Caesar`s friends of his speech. Brutus was showing compassion on lines18 - 20 when he said, "If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of Caesar's, to him I say that Brutus's love to Caesar was no less than his." Brutus said this to help the people understand the sorrow he felt for the loss of Caesar, but he felt he killed Caesar for the good of Rome. Brutus anticipated an objection by the people when he said he loved Caesar , so he went on to say on lines 20 - 23, "If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer: Not that I love Caesar less, but Rome more."Brutus manipulated the people with rhetorical questions. He asks them on lines 29 - 33, " who is so base, that they would be a bondman, who is so rude, that they would not be a Roman, and who is so vile, that will not love his country," the people do not want to be against their country nor do they want to be so base to be a slave....
Antony’s goal was to persuade the crowd of plebeians that the conspirators acted impetuously and Caesar did not need to be killed. He uses many rhetorical devices to strengthen his speech and gain the support of the crowd. From rhetorical questions to the use of pathos, Antony masters the art of persuasion. His speech moves the crowd from believing Brutus’ reasoning for killing Caesar, to understanding that Caesar did not have to die.