Persuasion is a rule of law, you're always tricked into it. The power of speech is used to influence people's actions. Persuasive arguments can be just as or more effective than legal arguments. Sway opinions, changing minds, and inspire new actions are used in the play Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare. To prove this Mark Antony manages to turn the pride of the conspirators who had murdered Caesar, against them. At the same time Antony noticed the Romans emotions and values. Brutus is seen as a leader to all the conspirators, and he is respected by all of them. He tried to keep it together but instead he explains his motivations on why Caesar was killed. Antony's speech persuades the Romans to rise against the conspirators by having the plebeians’ express feelings of …show more content…
Antony creates distrust in the conspirators by expressing pity for Caesar to show he only had good intentions through the use of antithesis, humility, and evidence. For instance, Antony uses antithesis to allure to the people's pathos when he states, “But yesterday the word of Caesar might / Have stood against the world; now lies he there” (3.2.110-111). Antithesis contrasts how Caesar was big and powerful but now he is dead on the floor where he thought he was safe. The audience feels the emotion of how Caesar is helpless, and he is vulnerable on the ground. The ground where he thought he couldn't be harmed is where he lays weak. Caesar's vulnerability is being taken advantage of but there is no stop to it now. In addition, Antony uses humility to ensure to the people's ethos when he states, “I will not do them wrong: I rather choose / To wrong the dead, to wrong such honorable men” (3.2.117-119). Humility is used to show the immeasurable power. The audience believes the trust of the conspirators is being broke. Not only that but, the plebeians think that Antony is a credible person because he states he won't do wrong. On the other hand, Antony is taking the
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
By painting a good picture of Caesar the plebeians are starting to question Brutus’ speech. They start to wonder if Rome would actually be better off without Caesar. Antony planted the seed for the plebeians to turn against the conspirators. Proving Caesar to not be ambitious convinced the Romans that Brutus and the rest of the conspirators were at fault and resulted in them rebelling against the conspirators who then fled from
At his funeral, Antony gives a speech in which addresses the mob siding with Brutus that is celebrating his death. In his speech, Antony uses a variety of appeals in order to convince the mob that Brutus should be held accountable for the death of Caesar. Antony’s
By asking this rhetorical question after instances of Caesar’s good doings for Rome, Antony perpetuates the idea that Caesar was not ambitious and his murder was unjust. By the end of his reasoning, Antony has supplied his audience with multiple counts of Caesar’s benevolence and ensured their agreement. This agreement is strengthened by Antony’s emotional appeals; he creates these through his utilization of both imagery and a visual aid. In utilizing imagery, Antony discusses the conspirators’ relationships with Caesar and notes that Brutus, their leader, was “Caesar’s angel” (Shakespeare). In mentioning this, Antony creates a visual of pureness and good in association to Brutus and then overturns it by discussing how Brutus brutally murdered Caesar, his closest friend.
Antony stated, “Therefore I took your hands; but was indeed swayed front the point by looking down on Caesar. Friends am I with you all, and love you all, upon this hope, that you shall give me reasons why and wherein Caesar was dangerous” (3.1.218-222). Antony was trying to prove Caesar meant no harm to the citizens of Rome. This made the crowd stop and wonder if killing Caesar was the right thing to do. The crowd didn’t know if Caesar was just misunderstood his whole life or if he was a bad person.
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
He presents the conspirators as selfish and power-hungry, saying "When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept; Ambition should be made of sterner stuff" (III.ii.106-107). He uses logical reasoning to show that the conspirators were motivated by their own desires rather than the good of Rome. Additionally, Antony uses logos by presenting Caesar as a noble and honorable man who was wrongfully killed. He does this by citing examples of Caesar's deeds and by using rhetorical questions to challenge the audience's assumptions about Caesar's
Using a rhetorical question, he plants fear into the mob’s minds and effortlessly influences them. On the other hand, Antony uses emotional appeal and imagery. He uses an emotional appeal when he says, “So are they all, all honorable men”, this shows how he shames the mob. He shames them because of how they believed that the conspirators were actually noble. Antony uses imagery when he shows Caesars’s body.
Antony’s manipulative mindset allows him to easily play mind games with the conspirators and emotionally manipulate plebeians to fall right into his traps. His manipulative mindset gives Antony a substantial upper hand against the conspirators. When encountering the conspirators with bloody hands near Caesar's dead body and listening to Brutus's explanation of why they had killed Caesar, Antony states that “[He] doubt[s] not of [the conspirators] wisdom. Let each man render [him] [their] bloody hand.” (III.i.183-184).
Antony wants to remind the Romans that he is credible for speaking of Caesar “that love my friend, and that they know full well, that gave me public leave to speak of him” (III.ii.215-216) Antony uses ethos after telling the Romans everything to convince them in being against that conspirators’ that he can speak of Caesar because he was a close friend of Caesar. Antony convinces the Romans to retribute the conspirators’ for what they have done “In every wound of Caesar that should move the stones of Rome to rise and mutiny” (III.ii.225-226) Antony wants revenge and is convincing the Romans to riot by using pathos. Antony wants the Romans to feel sorry about Caesar’s death “here was a Caesar! When comes such another?”
(3.2.180–87) This quote shows Antony trying to show the crowd the true brutality of the conspirators and show how in Caesar’s final moments of life he was betrayed by someone whom he thought loved him and supported him. Antony is trying make the crowd feel angered at the conspirators for betraying Caesar, and killing him. He uses these emotions to encourage the crowd to attack the conspirators, and make them pay for what they have done. To conclude, Antony utilizes Pathos in his argument in order to make the audience feel the need to go after the conspirators.
By refusing to read the will several times and admitting that what it contains will cause the people to have such a great love for Caesar that knowing he is now dead will be unbearable, Antony ignites curiosity in the people and furthermore, a subconscious feeling of respect and graciousness toward Caesar. Basically, Antony uses Caesar’s will to convince the people that Caesar was a selfless, kind-hearted man and those who killed him should be ashamed and punished for killing an innocent man. Through Antony’s use of paralipsis, he is able to plant a seed of admiration for Caesar and one of hate for the conspirators in the hearts of the plebeians. In his speech to the citizens, Antony also asks many rhetorical questions to cause his audience to pause and reflect on how they really feel, or how Antony wants them to feel, about certain people and events that have recently become important. In one instance.
Persuasion can cause crowds to riot, it can change someone's mind about anything because persuasion could possibly be one of the most powerful things in the World. In Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare gives us examples of why persuasion could be one of the most powerful things in the World. In Julius Caesar, Antony gives this wonderful speech about why these Conspirators are bad guys. Antony and Brutus both give two great speeches but Antony's speech is way more
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
His actions about burying Caesar bring out the villainous side of him. “My credit now stands on such slippery ground That one of two bad ways you must conceit me, Either a coward or a flatterer. That I did love thee, Caesar, O, ’tis true” (3.1.191-194). Antony is standing upon multiple people confessing to them that his credit is possibly no more. He tells the people to classify him in two negative ways because he knows and they know that Antony can be a villainous person.