William Shakespeare’s play “Julius Caesar” is a political drama that explores the power of persuasion in the aftermath of Caesar's assassination. Two of the main characters, Marcus Brutus and Marc Antony have very different approaches to convince the people of Rome to support their ideals. While Brutus appeals to the audience's honor and patriotism, Antony manipulates the emotions of the audience through irony and appeals to their grief and greed. Throughout his speech Marc Antony manipulates and appeals to the grief and greed of the Roman people. Antony ironically calls Brutus and Cassius “Honorable men” (III,ii,85) throughout his speech in order to make the audience think he respects Brutus and Cassius. Another example of Antony appealing …show more content…
In his speech he appeals to the crowd's sense of duty to their country asking “Is anyone here so vile that they will not love his country?” (III,ii,34) In saying this Brutus fills the audience with a nationalistic pride. In addition to appealing to the patriotism of the people he also appeals to their sense of honor. Brutus describes how Caesar's ambition led to his death, saying “I honor him but as he was ambitious, I slew him” (III,ii,27-28) He justifies his actions in saying, “Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more” (III,ii,22-23). Brutus' appeal to patriotism and honor prove to be an effective approach. In comparison to Antony’s approach, Brutus’s speech relies much more on the rationality and intellect of the crowd, Brutus presents a logical argument and appeals to the people's sense of responsibility and duty. The success of Brutus' speech is seen in the crowd shouting “Live Brutus! Live, live!/ Let him be Caesar.” (III,ii,50/54) However Brutus' speech can also be seen as manipulative. While patriotism and honor are noble ideals, those same ideals can be used to justify immoral or unjustifiable
Brutus has a hero complex; this is his Achilles heel. The way he justifies his actions makes it sound like he is taking credit for the great deed of murder. Antony uncovers this and uses it to expose Brutus’s hypocrisy. Ethos, logos, and pathos add substantial potency to Antony’s persuasiveness. No matter the motive, the crowd was bound to see the flaws of Brutus’s defense.
One of the most well-known instances of rhetorical persuasion in literature is Mark Antony’s speech in “Julius Caesar”. Antony is able to turn the Roman populace against the assassins of Caesar and rouse them to violence through the use of persuasive words. His speech is a brilliant illustration of the ability of language to influence people’s opinions and serves as a reminder of the value of clear communication in both politics and daily life. With a disarming tone, Antony informs the audience that his purpose in giving the speech is to bury Caesar rather than to honor him. Due to this opening, Antony is able to win over the Roman populace’s initial skepticism over his intentions.
" This is telling everyone that if Caesar was to have gained that power that all of them would have probably been slaves because of the tyrant that Caesar would've been. It also lets everyone know what type of person Caesar really was. Brutus also stated "his glory not extenuated, where in he was worthy, nor his offences enforced, for which he suffered death." Which is stating how Brutus knew he had to kill Caesar and was at peace with it. Brutus's speech was seen by the crowd as really good and won some people over to his
Brutus uses ethos the most in his speech, he was considered very honorable by the Romans. Since he was very honorable everyone believed that anything that came out of his mouth had to be true. Brutus had an easier time to win over the people of Rome. Antony is constantly questioning Brutus. Antony targets the credibility and character of Brutus when he says; “And Brutus is an honourable man.”
By emphasizing certain words such as "honorable" in his speech, Antony manages to create a persuasive effect that leads the audience to view Caesar and his supporters as victims deserving of justice. In Act III, Scene II, Antony alludes to Brutus and his co-conspirators as "honorable men," yet continuously undermines their honor. He highlights their betrayal of Caesar and their disregard for Caesar's loyalty to Rome, ultimately leading the crowd to question their true intentions. This use of charged language and deliberate emphasis is a crucial factor in Antony's ability to sway the opinions of
I. Introduction In the wake of perusing Julius Caesar by Shakespeare there are numerous verbal confrontations on regardless of whether Brutus was a loyalist or a double-crosser. He did everything possible to secure his nation. He indicated genuine fearlessness and grit when his companion was yielded for what he thought was more note worthy’s benefit of society. Truly, Brutus was a nationalist.
Danyck Belanger ELA (B30) Ms. Obrigewitsch May 3, 2023 The Noble Brutus: Examining the characters virtues and flaws Brutus is known as a noble man and an honorable through sarcasm sometimes, but none the less even through history and time he is seen by a noble man. Brutus is said by many to be an honorable, but why is he labeled as a noble and honorable man after killing the most liked figured in Rome Julius Caesar. This topic was very interesting because it is the thought on how the man that helped killed Julius Caesar how virtually did not do anything was then killed because people thought if he was king, he would burn Rome to the ground. In the play Julius Caesar Shakespeare made Brutus a important person who moved the plot forward and
In Act 3 Scene 2 Brutus said during his speech, “If that friend then demands to know why Brutus turned against Caesar, this is my answer: Not because I cared for Caesar less, but because I cared for Rome more”. Brutus had courage to kill Caesar, not because he wanted to, but for the good of Rome and its people. During the entirety of the story, Brutus
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.
However, Brutus was honorable in a way because he let Marc Antony speak
In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Antony’s speech is more effective than Brutus’s because Antony appeals to the emotions of the commoners
If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of Caesar’s, to him I say that Brutus’s love to Caesar was no less than his. If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer: not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.” This comment by Brutus can clearly show us how he felt Rome was more important than Caesar. With the help of rhetorical appeals and strong language, he can convey his feelings to the audience and convince the audience that his thought process was right. Despite his actions being wrong and unjust, he just wanted the best for Rome as a country and for the citizens.
Brutus 's speech: Brutus speaks to the people of rome why he killed caesar so they will not turn on him. He talked about how he didnt kill him because he didn 't love him but because it was for the better of rome. He also tells the people of rome that letting caesar become king would mean the government type would change and all the wars and hard work his family had put into the government would go away. He also states, for the welfare of rome that he would die for rome if rome demands his death Rhetorical devices: Brutus used questions, logos, parallelism, and pathos to stir the people of rhome. Question-
As Caesar loved me, I weep for him; // as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; // as he was valiant, I honour him: // but, as he was ambitious, I slew him” (JC, 3.2.20-30), leaves the mob more disturbed and bitter than ever before they succumb to Antony’s appeal to emotion as he continues to exploit their self-love. Brutus’s naïve belief that he has successfully justified his actions in the eyes of the Romans with such a short speech lacking any self-love is a sign of his naivety – a form of foolishness that lacks folly. On the other hand, Antony’s long speech is brave and fearless – a sign of a fool who embodies folly. According to Folly, “I [folly] is also the champion of prudence” (Folly, 27) as prudence is derived from experience, and men who lack
Brutus delivers his speech in a laudatory manner by conveying Caesar’s deeds and claiming he was ambitious, although Antony contradicts Brutus’ claims and says Caesar spurned the crown with the intent to merely rule as a de facto dictator. Brutus’ speech reveals his motives were truly for the benefit of Rome given his nationalistic tone and Antony’s speech was merely used to obscure his true motives, which was to embroil Rome in a series of civil wars to attain power. Brutus and Antony’s speeches consisted predominantly of Pathos and Ethos, but it is Antony who ultimately it is Antony who prevails because of his almost disingenuous attitude and even use of Logos which is seen when claims that reading Caesar’s will would dishonor his compeers and even Caesar