ipl-logo

Julius Caesar Rhetorical Analysis Essay

870 Words4 Pages

"It is the bright day that brings forth the adder" (5 IIi). This proves to be especially true for the most powerful man in Rome, Julius Caesar. In Shakespeare's play "Julius Caesar", Julius Caesar was assassinated by members of the Roman senate during the reign of the Roman Republic. Among these senators was Marcus Brutus, who was one of the leaders in the plot. Brutus had a close relationship with Caesar as they worked alongside each other and even married Caesar's daughter. After the killing of Caesar, Brutus went out to speak to the Roman pulpit about why they had just murdered the most popular man in Rome. Following his speech, Marc Antony stepped up to speak before the gathering of Romans. Marc Antony ran a marathon in honor of Caesar, …show more content…

Both speakers are appealing to the audience's sense of reason through their questions. "Who here is so base that would be a/ bondman? " (Brutus 20-21 IIIii). Brutus is conveying that if Caesar were to live that he would have so much power that every other Roman would be a slave under Caesar, and by killing Caesar, this enslavement would have been avoided. He is attempting to convince the Roman public that they should have feared Caesar and that they were imbecilic if they did not. "I thrice presented him a kingly crown, / which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?" (Antony 24-25 IIIii). Marc Antony says Caesar rejected a position of power on multiple occasions which portrays his lack of a desire to gain authority. By doing so, Marc Antony makes the audience realize that Caesar had no hunger for power. Marc Antony had a more effective argument because it was backed up by evidence in the event that had happened. Brutus' argument was totally based off a hypothetical …show more content…

Brutus appeals to the audience's ethics and judgement of character. "...any dear friend of/ Caesar's, to him I say, that Brutus' love to Caesar was no less than his" (Brutus 7-9 IIIii). By explaining that he had a friendship with Caesar, Brutus portrays that he had to have had a just reason for killing Caesar since he would not want to kill a friend otherwise. "You all did love him once, not without cause" (Antony 33 IIIii). By reminding the Roman people of their previous love for Caesar, Antony incites guilt into his audience, because they were calling Caesar a tyrant, yet only one day before, they all loved Caesar. Antony's argument was more effective than Brutus' was because Antony's argument sparked emotion in the spectators, and it exposed the hypocrisy that the pulpit was exhibiting. All Brutus said is that Caesar was his friend. This hints that there may be a reasonable cause for Caesar's murder, but does not place such a strong emotion in the audience as Antony

Show More
Related

  • Ethos Pathos Logos In Julius Caesar

    166 Words  | 1 Pages

    In Brutus' speech he uses logos to try to reason with the crowd whilst Antony uses pathos to control their emotions. Brutus explains that for the betterment of Rome Caesar had to die or else he would ruin the country and destroy the great empire. He at first has everyone on his side, that is of course until Antony speaks. When Antony speaks he gives examples of how Caesar wasn't going to ruin Rome and in fact how he was the best leader they had ever had. He says that Brutus and Cassius are murderers and that's all they are.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Ethos In Julius Caesar

    552 Words  | 3 Pages

    . . " and that "as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it"(act 3, scene 2, 2). He humanizes himself to the crowd and swears that he loved Caesar just as they did. He also builds upon his existing reputation of honesty and nobility. Antony appeals to his own credibility by reminding the crowd of Caesars, reminding them of when "[he] thrice" offered to Caesar a crown and that "thrice [Caesar] refused" (Act 3, Scene 2, 4).

    Read More

  • Julius Caesar Rhetorical Analysis Essay

    921 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout Brutus’ speech, he uses both scesis onomaton and rhetorical questions to help resonate his actions to the Roman citizens. In the beginning of his speech, Brutus says, “Romans, countrymen, and lovers” to appeal to everyone (III, ii, 14). He wants all the citizens to be involved and although scesis onomaton is repetition of two or more words that have the same meaning and are repeated in the same sentence, he wants the citizens to believe that he is talking to different people. When in reality, countrymen and lovers are both referring to Romans, because throughout his speech, Brutus tries to explain that he loves Rome and that he killed Caesar for Rome because it was the right thing to do. He also asks them to, “Censure [him] in [their] wisdom . . .

    Read More

  • Antony's Speech Using Rhetorical Appeals In Julius Caesar

    949 Words  | 4 Pages

    Antony’s Speech Using Rhetorical Appeals In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, after Caesar’s death, the Romans are conflicted about what should be done. After Brutus’ speech the Romans are ready to crown Brutus king and be on the conspirators’ side. Though Brutus then leaves the crowd while Antony delivers his speech, the crowd realizes what should be done of Caesar’s murder and Antony prevents the conspirators from getting away with the murder of Caesar.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of Cassius Speech Against Caesar

    381 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Cassius’s eloquent speech against Caesar, he primarily utilizes persuasion through tools such as pathos, rhetorical questions, and compare and contrast. Cassius uses pathos to begin his monologue when he claims, “I know that virtue be in you, Brutus, / As well as I do know your outward favor” (Shakespeare 1.2.95-96). By expressing that Brutus has “virtue” and “outward favor”, Cassius appeals to Brutus’s emotions, but not to an exaggerated extent. This emotional appeal is a persuasion technique because it is used in moderation and in pertinent locations. The context is appropriate since rather than using it as a tool to feed on Brutus’s emotions, Cassius only uses it to get Brutus’s attention as an appropriate hook.

    Read More

  • Julius Caesar Rhetorical Analysis Essay

    833 Words  | 4 Pages

    Antony is refuting Brutus’ argument that Caesar was too ambitious and that is why he needed to be assassinated. He brings up the time when Caesar denied the crown several times and asks the audience, “Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?”

    Read More

  • A Rhetorical Analysis Of Marc Antony's Speech

    617 Words  | 3 Pages

    Antony wanted people to be patient with him. He also says, “When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept: Ambition should be made of sterner stuff” (3.2. 100-101). Antony says this to show that Caesar was a good man who cared about the people. It was also to show that Brutus was wrong when he stated that Caesar was ambitious. Antony makes the citizens feel that the conspirators murder was

    Read More

  • The Rhetorical Questions In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar

    789 Words  | 4 Pages

    William Shakespeare, in his tragedy Julius Caesar, uses the rhetorical devices of a rhetorical question, repetition of the word “ambitious,” and a direct reference in Antony 's speech to persuade the plebeians to rebel against the conspirators. Antony appeals to the pathos, ethos, and logos of the audience to get them to exile the conspirators. Shakespeare uses a rhetorical question in Antony’s speech to get the plebeians to notice the wrongdoings of the conspirators and excite them to revolt. Antony discusses the economic dominance and vigor that Caesar brought to Rome, and with sarcasm he states, “Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?” (3.2.99).

    Read More

  • Essay Of Julius Caesar

    1380 Words  | 6 Pages

    Some viewed Caesar as a triumphant leader while others viewed his reign as the re-establishment of a monarchy that threatened the republican values of Rome. On March 14, 44 BC (the Ides of March), a daring group of senators assassinated Caesar, stating that his tyrannical reign must be ended. Following the death of Caesar, war broke out within Rome between two members of Caesar's family, Antony and Octavian (Blackboard 2013 p6). The conflict ended with Octavian becoming the first emperor of

    Read More

  • Brutus Funeral Speech Essay

    848 Words  | 4 Pages

    Antony told the people about him trying to make Caesar king. He told the plebeians that he “thrice presented him a kingly crown,/ which he thrice refused” (3.2 105-106). This was saying that Caesar did not take the crown after three times and he maybe did not want to be king. Maybe Caesar really wanted what was best for Caesars funeral. Caesar could have not been ambitious and really had some good views for Rome future.

    Read More

  • Ethical Appeal In Julius Caesar

    818 Words  | 4 Pages

    Brutus wants to make the crowd feel like he is in a way the victim. In order to do that he says "As Caesar loved me I weep for him" so in a way the people feel bad for him. This emotional appeal did not persuade the audience considering the fact that he was if he truly did love Caesar as much as he said he would, then he would have tried to find a different route in getting rid of Caesar as emperor. Antony goes with the approach of making the people of Rome feel guilty. He tells the citizens "You all love him once not without cause what cause withholds you then to mourn for him" so they could reflect on their attitude towards his death.

    Read More

  • Essay On Rhetorical Devices In Julius Caesar

    704 Words  | 3 Pages

    This pulls on the pathos of the audience because the rhetorical question pulls on their conscience. Their conscience is questioning whether the murder of Caesar is justifiable, since he was not all the ambitious according to Antony. This allows for Antony to take advantage of the easily pliable minds in the audience and flip their introspections to vanquish the conspirators. Shakespeare uses the repetition of the word ambitious in Antony’s speech to instigate the plebeians, and fill their minds with enough doubts to get them to rebel against the conspirators. Talking about how Caesar refused the crown three times at the Luperical, Antony proclaims, “Which he did thrice refuse; was this ambition. /Yet

    Read More

  • Why Is Julius Caesar Important

    266 Words  | 2 Pages

    In this scene, Brutus allows Marc Antony (Caesar good friend) to speak for Caesar's death to the Romans. Marc Antony makes the Romans believe him over Brutus. Because to them Brutus was in the right, Until Antony Spoke the truth saying how Caesar was not ambitious. He feels Brutus is wrong for what he did to Caesar.

    Read More

  • Renaissance Humanism In 'The Praise Of Folly'

    1629 Words  | 7 Pages

    Erasmus, a Renaissance humanist, portrays folly as a character named so in The Praise of Folly to show his appreciation for the role foolishness plays in the human life. For all earthly existence, Erasmus’s Folly states that “you'll find nothing frolic or fortunate that it owes not to me [folly]” (The Praise of Folly, 14). Moreover, she states that “fools are so vastly pleasing to God; the reason being, I suggest, that just as great princes look suspiciously on men who are too clever, and hate them – as Julius Caesar suspected and hated Brutus and Cassius while he did not fear drunken Antony at all…they take delight in duller and simpler souls” (Folly, 115). Folly, indeed, plays a major role in determining the fate of Antony and Brutus after

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Brutus And Antony's Speech

    884 Words  | 4 Pages

    Marcus Junius Brutus and Mark Antony both deliver speeches to justify the death of Julius Caesar in 44 BCE and both use Logos and Ethos to convince the Roman citizens to join their sides. Both sides deliver their speeches with vehemence and start by elucidating why Brutus killed Caesar to begin with, why Antony’s desire for revenge is justified, and what the future of Rome will be because of his death. Antony teases the citizens of Rome with the will of Caesar that he holds in hand and claims it will dishonor Brutus and the other conspirators and is also one of his vital uses of Ethos in his speech. Most of the citizens, if not all of them side with Antony and will most likely help him accede to a great title of power in the future and also betray Brutus because of what Antony has them believe, i.e. an ignoble assassin. Brutus and Antony 's speeches were both compelling, although Antony´s speech was more successful, but it is because he was able to manipulate the people of Rome with

    Read More

More about Julius Caesar Rhetorical Analysis Essay

Open Document