Rhetoric and Betrayal in Julius Caeser Play

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William Shakespeare’s famous play Julius Caesar utilizes the literary element of rhetoric multiple times throughout to show the true power that words can hold. The rhetoric in Caesar accompanies the play’s themes of betrayal, deception, and exaggeration. Brutus uses rhetoric to persuade the crowd of plebeians that the murdering of Caesar was positive and beneficial to all of Rome, winning their support and causing them to join his cause. Soon after, Mark Antony gives a terrifically-persuasive speech that he claims to be a funeral oration for Caesar, but is truly a cleverly-shrouded undermining to Brutus’s speech. Antony’s speech is able to not only gain him the crowd’s support, but causes the crowd to completely disregard what Brutus had said only moments earlier. The persuasion and manipulation used by the characters throughout this piece of literature, shows how rhetorical modes of persuasion, rhetorical devices, and cultural experiences can combine to forward the point of view and purpose of the play.

The speech that Brutus gives to the plebeians convinces the angry crowd at first, but fails to do so permanently. His experience and reputation as a skillful orator causes the crowd to want to listen to what he is saying, even if they disagree with what he has done. Brutus uses two of the main forms of rhetoric in the lines at the beginning of his funeral speech:

Romans, countrymen, and lovers! Hear me for my cause, and be silent, that you may hear: believe me for mine honour, and have respect to mine honour, that you may believe: censure me in your wisdom, and awake your senses, that you may the better judge . . . (3.2.13–17)

Brutus uses ethos ...

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... May 2014. .

Shakespeare, William, and Henry N. Hudson, LL.D. "The New Hudson Shakespeare Julius Cæsar." Project Gutenberg. Ed. Ebenezer C. Black, LL.D. Project Gutenberg. Web. 8 May 2014. .

"What Is the General Theme of Julius Caesar?is "est Qui Tu Brutus" the General Theme or Does It Play a Significant... - Homework Help - ENotes.com." Enotes.com. Enotes.com. Web. 08 May 2014. .

"What Role Do the Plebeians Play in the Play? And How Do the Contribute toward the over All Development of the Plot? Do... - Homework Help - ENotes.com." Enotes.com. Enotes.com, 4 Nov. 2011. Web. 08 May 2014. .

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