Ethos Pathos Logos In Julius Caesar

Appealing to what an individual trusts, sees, and feels is the staple method of persuasion. These senses forge security within an individual. Ethos gains trust, logos provides visible facts, and pathos creates empathy in the audience. Throughout The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, each character applies the three rhetorical appeals of ethos, logos, and pathos to manipulate others. In Antony’s transformative speech to the crowd, Antony argues for Caesar’s innocence with the application of ethos, logos, and pathos. Doing so forces his audience into sympathizing with Caesar and regarding Caesar’s death with a perspective that the conspirators had not exhibited.
First, Antony establishes his honor and trustworthiness with ethos.

After gaining the crowds' trust, Antony disassembles the arguments that Brutus used prior. Brutus’ main argument is that Caesar was ambitious and tyrannus, so Antony has to prove this untrue. Antony states, “He hath brought many captives home to Rome / Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill: / Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?” (3.2.85-87). His example of Caesar’s generosity and unambition directly contradicts what Brutus had divulged. Moreover, Antony refers to a second example of this behavior. He continues, “You all did see that on the Lupercal / I thrice presented him a kingly crown, / Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition?” (3.2.92-94). By adding a second direct contradiction, Antony dismantles all that Brutus had said before him. To further his already strong evidence, he lastly presents Caesar’s will. In the will, he reads, “Here is the will, and under Caesar’s seal. / To every Roman citizen he gives, / … seventy five drachmas” (3.2.236-38). Through the grand display of Caesar’s altruism, Antony secures his argument and the crowd’s opinions. Ultimately, with the persuasion technique of logos, Antony disproves Brutus’ speech and compels the audience to his

Brutus’ speech makes the crowd apathetic towards Caesar’s death, and in order to restore the crowd’s empathy, Antony must display vulnerability. Antony halts his speech to lament, “O judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts, / And men have lost their reason! Bear with me, / My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, / And I must pause till it come back to me.” (3.2.101-4). His dramatics demonstrate to the crowd how they should feel, and they follow suit. Once the crowd feels sentimental about Caesar’s death, Antony commences his process of enraging them. While revealing Caesar’s dead body, Antony utilizes loaded language to demonize the actions of the conspirators, Brutus in particular. He claims, “Through this the well-beloved Brutus stabbed; / And as he plucked his cursed steel away, / Mark how the blood of Caesar followed it, / As rushing out of doors to be resolved / If Brutus so unkindly knocked or no; / For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar’s angel. / Judge, O you gods, how dearly Caesar loved him! / This was the most unkindest cut of all;” (3.2.173-180). At this moment, Antony is not aware of where Brutus stabbed Caesar, but still says all these things to stir the crowd to anger. His story of Caesar’s death riles up the crowd, but not enough to satisfy his desire for chaos. Antony furthers the crowd's emotions by comparing the crowd’s current actions to what Brutus’s would be in the same