Rhetorical And Literary Devices In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar

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In many writings, rhetorical and literary devices can be found to make a statement stronger to readers. In Julius Caesar, one of many tragedies written by William Shakespeare, Caesar returns from war after killing Pompey and, many begin to argue over whether Caesar is considered a hero or a dictator. The people of Rome praised Caesar so Brutus, a friend of Caesar that believes he was using his power to hurt Roman, gathered conspirators and stabbed Caesar to death twenty-three times. Brutus then explains to Rome why he has murdered Caesar and Antony, a good friend of Caesar, also gives a speech to tell Rome that Caesar was not the horrible man that they assumed he was. In Brutus’ and Antony’s speech at Caesar’s funeral, both characters used many rhetorical and literary devices to persuade the Roman citizens. In one of Shakespeare’s famous novels, Julius Caesar, Brutus convinces the people of Rome that killing Caesar was for the better by using pathos, logos, and parallelism in his speech. The Roman citizens become chaotic after hearing Caesar has been …show more content…

Although both men use a tremendous variety of literary devices, Antony allures the crowd’s attention by appealing more to emotion while Brutus appeals to reason and logic. Another way these speeches are similar is that their purpose is to persuade Rome. On the other hand, Brutus wants to persuade the people that Caesar was ambitious and had to be killed for the good of Rome as to Antony tells the listeners that Caesar did nothing wrong, so there is no reason to hate him. Despite the ways that these two characters are the same, Antony portrays a stronger argument because he attracts to people’s emotions instead of using logic and reasoning. Appealing to emotions are a more effective argument because it touches the audience’s heart and has them react based on their feelings rather than reacting based on someone’s reason and

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