Rhetorical Appeals In Julius Caesar

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Julius Caesar Research Assignment Rough Draft Some wars can be won with words alone. In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, two men make their pleas to the people of Rome using a variety of rhetorical appeals. One man seals his fate as the leader of Rome and the other man seals his fate to death. Mark Antony and Brutus both win the support of the people, but Antony wins the day because of his use of pathos to sway the people. Brutus speaks to the people first, desiring to explain himself to the people of Rome and then he allows Mark Antony to address the people. Brutus comes to the people already having a very powerful tool: ethos. The people of Rome consider Brutus the most honourable man in Rome and the crowd does …show more content…
He shifts from focusing on his honor alone to logically explaining his actions. He states “ had you rather Caesar were living and die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live all free men,” explaining that he believed Caesar posed a threat to the Democratic Republic of Rome(3.2.23-25). The people value this freedom so while this is logos and ethos one could argue for pathos as well. Brutus believes that Caesar was too ambitious and says “ as he was ambitious I slew him,” giving this as a reason for slaying him(3.2.27-28). He then makes another emotional appeal to the people asking them to speak if he has offended them, he then uses aposiopesis and waits for a reply. Antony also undergoes a shift in the middle portion of his speech. He begins to drive home the point, the men are not honourable for killing Caesar and uses pathos to do so. Antony plants the seed for mutiny, rage, and the will early, and he continues to water it so it blooms later on in the play. He uses paralipsis when he states “ if I were disposed to stir your hearts to mutiny and rage I should do Brutus and Cassius wrong”(3.2.113-115). Antony solely focuses on moving the people's emotions by appealing to their pathos. He ends the middle portion with a metaphor and the showing of Caesar’s body and says, “Look you here,/ Here is himself, marr’d, as you see, with traitors”(3.2.173-174). Brutus adds new …show more content…
Brutus comes to the end of his speech and it seems as if he has won the crowd. He tells the people he has “the same dagger for (himself), that it may please (his) country need (his) death,” and the people go wild(3.2.47-48). Then, Brutus messes up in a big way, he asks “for my sake stay here with Antony,” which turns out to be a catastrophic mistake. William Fleming says ‘Brutus, conscious of his own purity and nobility of motive, is blind to the peril (and) he assents to the request,” giving Antony the opportunity to speak to the people and show them the body(Fleming 32). Brutus ends up using his own ethos to ask the people to stay and listen to Antony call him a traitor to the very country he acted for. He wins the day with his ethos and logos but ultimately loses it before it has even started. In contrast, Antony uses the end of his speech to convince the people to rise to mutiny. Antony states “Here was Caesar! When comes such another,” to end his speech(3.2.208). After this line, the people rise to mutiny and seek to kill the traitors. Antony has accomplished his goal and can see the power he will have in the future coming into fruition. It is ultimately Antony’s pathos that wins the people over and convinces them to do what he asks them to do. Both men use a variety of rhetorical appeals in their funeral speech. Krystyna
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