Manipulation In Julius Caesar

Brutus and the Art of Ruling the Minds of Men
In Shakespeare's famous play, Julius Caesar, we are predominately shown people who are hierarchical to the citizens of Rome using manipulation and persuasion to their advantage. These rhetorical skills are mainly shown between two great powers: Brutus, a nobleman who is well respected in Rome and a companion of Caesar; and Antony, a man who is not seen as respected as Brutus among the people, but instead he is seen with great power, as he is Caesar’s faithful lieutenant. Leading up to the climax of Caesar’s demise, Brutus is faced with a heavy predicament: either side with a radical conspiracy, or a forming dictatorship. The noble Brutus, due to his love for the republic of Rome, chooses to join the conspiracy unto which is constructed to murder the “ambitious” tyrant, Caesar. Thus, Caesar is murdered in the name of preserving a republican Rome, Brutus is now faced with the challenge of defending his nobility by explaining his

reasoning to the bewildered Roman citizens.
Brutus at Caesar’s funeral, is given the opportunity to sway his audience through a patriotic and noble speech. This speech given by Brutus brilliantly utilizes ethos, pathos, and logos through an abundance of rhetorical devices to persuade his audience that he has done no wrong. Beginning his speech, Brutus -- being the noble man he is -- starts out with a strong ethos. “Believe me for mine honor” (III, II, 14-15), Brutus stated, allowing him to use the well known potency of his ancestral and personal dignity to not yet only captivate his audience's attention, but also to establish himself as a credible source.
Furthermore, Brutus continues to win the hearts of the audience by striking at their emotions through his brilliantly used parallel structure and pathos through patriotism, “...not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more” (III, II, 21 - 22), Brutus says. Through this, the audience is now able to make a patriotic connection with Brutus (they both share the same love for the same country).
Brutus then reaches the climax of his speech by bringing out his main argument, “As he was valiant, I honor him.

But, as he was ambitious, I slew him” (III, II, 3-5), Brutus proclaims. This main argument of Brutus fully allows the audience to comprehend the reasoning for their valiant leader’s murder, by applying to logos: effectively turning the audience’s favor towards Brutus’s morales. Brutus closes his argument with a series of rhetorical questions, “Who is here so base that would be a bondman? If any, speak—for him have I offended. Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman? If any, speak—for him have I offended. Who is here so vile that will not love his country?” (III, II, 10-14) Through his brilliant composition, Brutus was able to persuade and somewhat manipulate his audience to the point where they attempt to replace Caesar with Brutus, “Let him be Caesar!” (III, II, 2), a lone Plebeian stated. Nonetheless, we soon learn of a fault in this seemingly perfect speech of

Brutus’s.
Despite his great use of pathos and ethos, Brutus has only one main claim which fuels his reasoning, which in its most simplistic form is, ‘Caesar was ambitious and therefore a tyrant, so I slew him.’ This claim, though it may not necessarily be false, is just an inaccurate accusation and therefore is weak. It is through an exploitation of Brutus’s weakness that Antony is able to prevail in his funeral speech allowing for him to turn the audience in his favor. In the end, this exploitation of power and contention that the unruly Antony abused to rival up crowds ultimately resulted in the demise of the republic and the rise of a new dictatorship. “Rhetoric is the art of ruling the minds of men,” the great Greek philosopher Plato once said, we can see that both Brutus and Antony have indeed mastered this skill of rhetoric, effectively making them two of the greatest influences in ancient Rome.