After the assassination of Julius Caesar in the play Julius Caesar by Shakespeare, the people of Rome were left wondering why the conspirators killed Caesar. During the funeral, Brutus and Marc Antony were given chances to speak to the people. Brutus represented the conspirators and tried to justify the murder of Caesar, claiming that if Caesar was kept alive, the republic would be ruled by a tyrannical leader that would assume total control over the entire nation. On the other hand, Antony questioned the actions of conspirators and wanted the people to realize the consequences of the conspirators actions. Marc Antony makes the stronger argument because he uses questions, irony, and ethos to prove that the conspirators were wrong to kill Caesar. …show more content…
Antony counters this claim by providing an example of Caesar helping and benefiting the country. He claims that “[Caesar] hath brought many captives home to Rome, whose ransoms did the general coffers fill” (Shakespeare III.ii.97-98). Antony reminds the people of the money Caesar brought to Rome. Then, he asks if this makes “Caesar seem ambitious” (III.ii.99). By providing an example of Caesar showing the opposite of ambition, it completely counters Brutus’s argument. Antony asks another similar question. Antony reminds the audience of when he offered Caesar the crown 3 times and Caesar rejected the crown 3 times. Antony asks the people again if “this [was] ambition” (III.ii.106). By asking the question again, it strengthens his argument further and makes Brutus’s claim of ambition seem unrealistic and false. Along with the use of questions, Antony also uses irony to support his claim. In his speech, Antony claims that “When the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept” (III.ii.100). He then follows up by stating that “Brutus [said] he was ambitious, and Brutus is an honorable man” (III.ii.102-103). He continues to use this structure throughout his
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
In speechcraft, orators have reverted to three basic concepts to persuade an audience; ethics, logic or emotion. All views are powerful, the path of emotion, or pathos, has stirred men to riots, the path of ethics, or ethos, has reminded people of the basest of their knowing and the path of logic, or logos, has calmed the savagest of beasts to men. No matter how human's develop, they retain the remnants of their not so distant cousins, animals. This is apparent when one takes note in the brain's ability to overcome human speech with basic emotions, to ‘render one speechless’ if you will. In these cases, much like animals, humans are propelled into action, leaving behind civilized concepts,
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 book Julius Caesar is full of happiness, conspiracy, power, and betrayal. The people of Rome deeply loved julius Caesar and wished to make him their king. A group of senators however were not so fond of this idea and formed a conspiracy. The leader of this group was a man by the name of Cassius. In order to make sure that his scheme of killing Caesar would work and would look honorable he had to convince a senator by the name of Brutus to help. After being convinced that they had to kill Caesar to protect Rome from a tyrant Brutus joined the conspiracy and soon became the principal conspirator.On the day in which Caesar was to be crowned king he was on the way to the senate when he was stabbed by all the conspirators panic ensued and to convince Rome of their honorable intentions Brutus gave a funeral speech. Mark Antony, a very close friend of Caesar, gave his speech after Brutus had given his. Mark Antony’s speech is more persuasive to the Roman people because of his outstanding use of pathos, sarcasm, and logos.
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 this day and age, persuasion can be seen on almost any screen. The average American views thousands of advertisements every week. Most ads are simply pushed out of a person’s mind, but the successful advertisements are the ones that resonate with people. Some forms of ads are very annoying to those who put up with them constantly. Online pop-up ads, for example, are proven to do worse for products and business than no advertising at all! This is because this form of advertising does nothing to convince or persuade the person viewing the ad, and no effort is put into actually put into proving what it’s worth to make a point. Pop-ads make zero use of something known as “rhetorical devices”. In Julius Caesar, Brutus and Mark Antony both try to convey their point of view to a large audience of Roman citizens. One had a better speech than the other since he used “rhetorical devices” more effectively. Logos (logical; what makes sense), Ethos (ethics and morals; portraying similar beliefs and values), and Pathos (emotions; natural feelings that can be counterintuitive to logos) are the rhetorical devices that Aristotle
in his speech mark antony uses a rhetorical question to make the crowd question brutus’s motives. he says to the audience at caesar's funeral “did this in caesar seem ambitious?”. he uses this rhetorical question to make the audience question if brutus actually killed caesar for being “ambitious”. Antony includes another rhetorical question in his speech questioning brutus's motives for he asks the crowd “was this ambition?” Antony uses this rhetorical question to further shake their belief of what brutus earlier told them in his speech. Antony expertly uses these rhetorical question to make the audience at caesar's funeral question everything brutus had told them about caesar and why he had to kill him. he adds rhetorical questions to make the audience question themselves if caesar was ambitious and if that's the reason brutus was murdered.
Rhetorical devices can be seen being used in history, such as William Shakespeare’s dramatic play “Julius Caesar”. In Shakespeare’s play Brutus and Antony conspire to lead a group to assassinate Caesar. Rome is in a panic as they find out that their first emperor Octavian who went by the name Julius Caesar has been stabbed to death. Brutus and Antony in an effort to achieve Rome’s support use rhetorical devices to try to receive support for their actions. You can see how they use ethos, pathos, and logos to eventually achieve their goal of persuading the citizens of Rome.
Antony asks many rhetorical questions to indirectly manipulate the meaning of the term “ambitious” which also sways the crowd against Brutus and the conspirators. Initially, Brutus accuses Caesar of being ambitious to explain one of the reasons for assassinating him. He assures the people that Caesar had, “tears for his love, joy for his fortune, honor for his valor, and death for his ambition.”(3.2.29-30) Brutus clearly establishes that he believed Caesar was hungry for power; this sets the stage up for Antony to easily oppose Brutus later in order to make Brutus look bad. The meaning of ambitious here is having a thirst of power, Caesar was killed because he was claimed to be ambitious. Considering this, Antony contradicts Brutus’s claim and causes the crowd to question Caesar’s motives and Brutus’s accuracy due to his kind actions. Antony tells the people that Caesar “hath brought many captives home to Rome/whose ransoms did the general coffers fill: Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?”(3.2.97-99) Antony makes Brutus look like a liar by verifying that Caesar did good things instead of being hungry for power. He successfully changes the meaning of ambitious from a power-thirs...
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
Draft Eight In Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, the climactic, bloody battle between the forces of Brutus and Cassius and those of Antony and Octavius is preceded and precipitated by the verbal battle between Antony and Brutus at Caesar’s funeral. As the first to address the public at Caesar’s funeral, Brutus justifies Caesar’s murder on the grounds of ambition and despite the admiration the public held for Caesar in life, they are quickly swayed by Brutus’ rhetoric and accept his justifications. Aware that he has neither the support of the people nor nobility, in his response, Antony implicitly argues that Caesar was unjustly slain by disparaging Brutus’ honor and discrediting his assertion that Caesar was ambitious. Despite skillfully employing rhetorical
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.
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
In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, persuasion and rhetoric play a crucial role in a myriad of events and outcomes that occur. In Act one Cassius is trying to convince Brutus to turn against Caesar and join the conspiracy. Later, in Act three, Brutus and Antony speak at Caesar’s funeral. Brutus convinces the Roman people that what he and the conspirators did was for the good of Rome. Antony then persuades the plebeians that the conspirators had no reasonable judgement to kill Caesar and that all Caesar’s future plans were to help Rome. Though many characters appear to be rhetorical, Antony could be considered as the most. Persuasion and rhetoric are used throughout Julius Caesar when Cassius is trying to coax Brutus to join the conspiracy, and when Brutus and Antony convince the crowd at Caesar’s funeral.