How Does Brutus Use Ethos In Julius Caesar

Shakespeare exposes the cutthroat politics of Rome through the speeches of Brutus and Antony in his play Julius Caesar. This play epitomizes the benefits of using rhetorical devices in a persuasive speech. Antony applies the modes ethos, logos, and pathos to establish credibility, provide evidence, and evoke emotion throughout his eulogy to Caesar. Preceding Antony’s speech was that of the senator, and friend of Caesar, Brutus. Conclusively, Antony’s use of rhetorical devices surpasses Brutus’s; Antony successfully persuades the crowd that Brutus’s speech posed as a clever ruse to justify his cold-blooded murder.

After Brutus murders Julius Caesar, in Act 3 scene 2, he begins to justify his actions to the citizens using logos. He exemplifies his use of logos when he questions the citizens, “Had you rather Caesar were living and die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live all free men?” (Shakespeare 3, 2, 12-14). Brutus asks this to prove that it was the right thing to kill Caesar. If Caesar had lived, he would have became a dictator and enslaved every Roman citizen.

“Julius Caesar,” by William Shakespeares is based on the killing of Julius Caesar and the events that follow his death. After Julius Caesar was killed by a group of men, which included Marcus Brutus and Cassius, two speeches were recited. One by Marc Antony and the other by Marcus Brutus. Both men gave reasonable speeches concerning their side of the situation. The question that has surfaced now is, “How were the speeches similar, but different?”

​In 1599, William Shakespeare wrote a play, ​The Tragedy of Julius Caesar ​ . The play was first performed on September 21, 1599. It consists of three main characters; Julius Caesar, Marcus Brutus and Mark Antony. In Shakespeare’s ​The Tragedy of Julius Caesar ​ , Brutus delivers a more persuasive funeral speech due to his extraordinary use of ethos, pathos and logos.

The Play Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare centered around the murder of the roman senator Julius Caesar by a group of his fellow senators. After Caesar's murder many opinions surfaced about if it was morally right for Brutus, Cassius, and a few other roman senators to rise up and assassinate Caeser. The conspirators all tried to persuade the public that what they had done was for the good of rome. Other senators such as Antony thought that Caesar was just, kind, and fair, and therefor should not have been killed, he then tried to persuade the public that Caesar did not deserve to be murdered and that the conspirators were the ones in the wrong not Caesar. They all used forms of persuasive appeals, logos, facts and examples; pathos, storytelling and emotions; and ethos, ethics and empathy.

In Julius Caesar, Brutus delivered a more persuasive speech compared to Marc Antony. He uses certain rhetorical techniques to make the audience understand where he’s coming from. He uses pathos to target emotion in his feelings towards caesar. He says, ” I did love Caesar, but I loved Rome more”. His love for his best friend was not like it should be.

The Persuasive Methods of Antony and Brutus In the play Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare Act III Scene ii, both Antony and Brutus appeal to ethos, pathos, and logos when they present their speeches at Caesar’s funeral. Brutus appeals to ethos, pathos, and logos to convince the plebeians that he killed Caesar for the good of Rome and the people. Antony appeals to ethos, pathos, and logos to convince the plebeians that the conspirators were wrong in killing Caesar. Though they both use these persuasive methods; they appeal to them with a different purpose in mind.

Cassius shows Brutus that it is simple ethics to be recognized for your good service. He says to Brutus that he is blind and cannot see his own potential. Cassius does this to show Brutus that he is being controlled by Caesar and how Caesar does not appreciate the things Brutus or any of the politicians do for him. He tells him: ‘Well, Brutus, thou art noble. Yet I see Thy honorable mettle may be wrought From that it is disposed.

In their introductory scene a discussion is taking place about Caesar's claim to the throne. Through this discussion the audience learns a lot about Cassius and Brutus’s values . It is revealed that Brutus is an honorable man who believes in the general good of mankind. He states,  (1.2 84-89)“ What is it that you would impart to me?/ If it be aught toward the general good, / Set honour in one eye and death

This rational method of comparing Brutus and Caesar serves to emphasize Cassius’s argument through a logical method of persuasion. As evidenced by the techniques of pathos, rhetorical questions, and compare and contrast, Cassius uses persuasion in a skillful way in order to convince Brutus to overthrow

Not only does Cassius explain that his conflict is not meaningless, but he also holds himself to Brutus’s own judgment. Cassius powerfully has Brutus evaluate whether he is trustworthy instead of feeding Brutus credentials. Once his trust is bought, Cassius began to contrive doubt into Brutus’s mind about Caesar. Furthermore, ethos was used to ignite Brutus’s flame within. Cassius elegantly builds an allusion to a former founder of Rome, Brutus, who “ would have

Ethos is used through reasoning; logos is used to understand human character and their morals; pathos is defined as a person or audience’s emotions. Aristotle depicts emotions as a temporary state of mind rather than part of a character’s attribute.

After reading excerpts from Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, write an essay that compares Brutus’ speech with Marc Antony’s speech and argues the effectiveness of the rhetorical devices (ethos, pathos, logos) used in each. Be sure to support your position with evidence from the texts. William Shakespeare writes a play about Julius Caesar’s assassination and the speeches his friends gave at his funeral. In the play, Brutus assassinated Caesar because he thought he was protecting Rome. He was saying that if Caesar got all the power he would most likely become vicious and make everyone his slaves.

Pathos control the emotions of an audience and evoke a certain feeling to persuade the crowd in this case. Finally, logos convince an audience using reasoning and logic. Antony expresses a variety of persuasive techniques throughout his entire speech and change the mindset of the commoners using ethos, pathos, and logos. In Marc Antony’s speech, he used to persuasive technique known as ethos.

Brutus finds Cassius speech to be convincing with pathos, allusion, and irony. Cassius is trying to convince Brutus that Caesar is not fit to rule Rome as a king. Cassius specifies that their fathers would say, "There was a Brutus once that would have brook'd Th' eternal devil to keep his state in Rome As easily as a king" (Shakespeare). This use of an allusion helps infer to Brutus that his ancestors would have tolerated a devil while they were ruling Rome, before letting a king rule. Cassius use of irony when speaking to Brutus is to convince Brutus that he is saying Caesar should not be king for the right purposes.