Rhetoric is the art of using eloquent language in order to coax an audience. It is what gives writing or a speech a touch of elegance, to make it more believable and appealing as it is being addressed. In the play, Julius Caesar by Shakespeare, following Brutus’s speech about why Julius Caesar’s murder is justifiable, Mark Antony makes a speech on a very different account regarding this death of his good companion. In the speech, Antony repeats phrases to emphasize certain points, as well as breaking away from the audience to increase the idea’s emphatic effect still allowing for the audience to come to certain realizations on their own. Both speeches had varying effects on the audience, however, Antony’s speech was able to better sway the hearts of the audience with his strategic use of rhetoric. Looking more closely at the repetitive phrases Antony uses in his speech, it can be said that these repetitions serve as a tool to engrave his views into the citizen's heads. One idea that Antony tried to get across to the citizens is that Caesar is not as ambitious as they deem him to be. Antony starts off by stating the humble qualities of Caesar which includes, him bringing wealth to the country (89), Caesar’s empathy for the poor (91), and him refusing the crown three times (96-97). After stating each quality, Antony refers back to Caesar’s ambition. In two of the instances, he asks rhetorical questions, “Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?”(90) and “Was this ambition?” (97). This makes the audience question whether if Caesar is actually ambitious. His references to Caesar’s lack of ambition indicates a disagreement with Brutus who killed Caesar for this same ambition. To add onto the doubts the audience may have about Brutus already, Antony repeats “And Brutus is an honorable man” (94). This sets a sarcastic tone as he disproves just Brutus before saying it each time. This is used to point out that Brutus is not actually an “honorable man” because he murdered Caesar for his ambition, which according to Antony, that Caesar does not have.
Using such strong words to make his point, Antony has a break down on the stage where he stops giving his reasons and expresses his frustrations aloud. He yells, “ O
Antony uses an abundance of pathos in his speech. One example is: “Caesar was my friend and just to me” (III, ii, 86). Using pathos helps the audience make connections with him. He also reads Caesar’s will which makes the people feel guilty about turning against Caesar during Brutus’ speech. He shows them the stabs wounds on Caesar’s coat and names which conspirator stabbed him. The Roman people now feel pity and anger towards the conspirators. Overall, Antony was smart with his words and won over the Roman people better than
After Brutus finishes his speech, Antony speaks about his opinion on the issue; unlike Brutus, Antony acts slyly and communicates a very manipulative tone to persuade the Romans to rebel. Because of Antony's use of parallelism, he creates vivid reasoning for his speech. He states, “ I come here to bury Caesar, not to praise him” (III.ii.44). By using this device, he shows the people of Rome that he isn't praising Caesar, he is putting the leader to rest. This particular line creates a very manipulative tone, because his speech is all about what great this Caesar has done and how he wants to rebel against the conspirators. Further more, Antony uses a lot of irony to slyly get his point across. One example that he uses throughout the speech is “Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, and Brutus is a honorable man” (III.ii.44). Because of the repitition of this ironic statement, the meaning of it changes and intensifies. At first, his tone was sincere, but as the speech progresses, you can see his sarcastic tone increases. Antony does this because he has to use this device to surpass the regulations of Brutus, as well as make the romans listen. Lastly, he uses personification to give life and further meaning to a word. Early in the speech, Antony says, “The evil
Because Antony cannot speak negatively about the conspirators, he uses verbal irony and repetition in his speech to say one thing, but make the audience believe the opposite. The tone of voice he uses in his speech is one indication that he does not mean what he says. When Antony calls Brutus and Cassius "honorable men," he uses a sarcastic tone to show that they were actually not very honorable. Again and again he repeats the phrase "honorable men," and each time the irony is more powerful. Antony connects the audience's new belief that Cassius and Brutus were not honorable to his message that they should not mutiny. He says, "O masters, if I were disposed to stir/Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage,/I should do Brutus wrong and Cassius wrong,/Who (you all know) are honorable men" (III.ii.133-136). The crowd thinks that the conspirators were not honorable, therefore they believe that mutiny would be acceptable. To gain the full effect, Antony repeats that the crowd should not mutiny five times, so they lose the main point of his message, and only remember from the indignation in his voice that mutiny is a possible solution.
By keeping his listeners thoroughly engaged, Antony is able to further develop on his purpose by utilizing diverse rhetorical devices. Near the beginning, he makes effective use of parallelism to list Caesar’s selfless deeds, like “when that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept”, which gives the effect that the list is so long that Antony cannot describe it in unique detail. Additionally, his parallel repetition of “Brutus says he was ambitious and Brutus is an honorable man” serves as sarcasm. By repeating each good action with these two lines, Antony is getting the audience to contrast Caesar’s endless good deeds with Brutus’s repetitive and conflicting argument. Further on in the speech, Antony uses proslepsis somewhat obviously to reveal Caesar’s will to the people. He tells them that he found “a parchment with the seal of Caesar...tis his will”, yet quickly stops himself from telling anymore. Therefore, the audience is intrigued by the will and its mention reengages any listeners who
Brutus's speech was ineffective in giving them reasons for Caesar's ambition. This gave Antony a large gap to turn the people against Brutus. Brutus told the people to believe him for his honor , and to respect him for his honor, so that they may believe. He is telling them to believe him for his honor and not for the reasons he gives. Brutus repeated many times that Caesar was ambitious but never once said how or why. This left the people with a question in their mind.
He uses Caesar’s dead body to appeal to the emotions of the crowd and convince them that Caesar’s death was unjustified. Antony appeals to the citizens’ emotions, when he states, “If you have tears, prepare to shed them now…Here is himself, marred, as you see, with traitors” (III.ii.163-192). In this passage Antony focuses the crowd’s attention on Caesar’s body and tells them how his murder was a product of treason. In telling the romans that Caesar was killed by his friends, whom he trusted, Antony appeals to the emotions of the crowd. The citizens of Rome are clearly affected by Antony’s use of pathos when they respond with “O piteous spectacle” (III.ii.192), “O Woeful day” (III.ii.193) and “We will be revenged” (III.ii.195). The citizens realize it is a sad day and feel pity for Caesar indicating an effective appeal of pathos. Antony effectively appeals to the Roman’s emotions because they are starting to want revenge for Caesar’s unjustified
While Antony was talking, you could tell that he was hurting by the words he chose. The most emotional part of his whole speech was “Bear with me. My
What exemplifies a speech in which persuasive appeals and devices convey emotion and persuade audience members without using false information? Antony's speech in Act III of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare exemplifies a speech in which persuasive techniques work to achieve the speaker's goal. Mark Antony's speech consists of several persuasive techniques that amalgamate to form an effective piece of persuasive rhetoric. Antony's speech is an effective piece of persuasive rhetoric because he uses ethos, pathos, and rhetorical questions.
“The broad masses of a population are more amenable to the appeal of rhetoric than to any other force” according to Adolf Hitler, a master in rhetoric, who was able to sway the people of Germany into electing him as chancellor, and who was able to brain wash an army into creating the biggest mass genocide on the planet. This type of strategy is mimicked by Mark Antony in William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. Mark Antony’s extensive knowledge of rhetorical strategies, such as appeal to the emotions of the commoners, knowledge of topic and reputation, and syntactical devices eclipse Brutus’ reasoning for killing Julius Caesar and wins over the Roman commoners.
Antony felt that Brutus should not have killed Caesar. He does not feel that he did anything wrong at all for Brutus to have killed him. Within him knowing how the people of Roman feels about Caesar and trying to get their full attention after Brutus speech he starts off by saying “Friends,Roman, Countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Caesar,not to praise him. The evil that men do live after them; the good often interred with their bones; so let it be with Caesar.” That’s his way of saying I don’t expect you all to think about the good or at least all the good Caesar has did/done as much as you think about the bad. “He was my friend,faithful,and just to me: But Brutus says he was ambitious And Brutus is a honourable man”. Antony keeps saying over and over “Brutus says he was ambitious” but he does not feel Caesar was ambitious because “When that the poor have cried,Caesar hath wept:”. He then uses ethos and goes to try to discredit Brutus by saying “You all did see that on the Lupercal I thrice presented him a kingly crown,which he did thrice refuse: was this ambitious?”. Antony is saying why give a man credit for just now wanting to be king and do what is right for Roman now when he didn’t want to the first three times it was offered to him. He asks them a rhetorical question with logic to it “You all did love him once,not without cause: what cause withholds you then,to mourn for him?” I say the question has logic because how can you love someone
Brutus used repetition the most to influence the crowd. He states about Caesar’s “tears, love, and ambition.” Brutus also asked the audience rhetorical questions that they could not answer, and he would take their silence as if they were agreeing when in reality they were probably too scared to answer. Antony also used repetition to sway the crowd. He often pointed out that “Brutus was an honorable man” and he said it with more and more sarcasm each time. Antony also took advantage of the crowd and used reverse psychology on them. He used Caesar’s will as a tool to accomplish this. He told the crowd about Caesar’s will, telling them that they would think twice if they heard what was in the will, but he doesn’t read it to them. That made them beg for him to read it to them. Not only does this get them to do what he wants, it also give the crowd a false sense of authority over Antony. Also, he asks the crowd if he can come down and join them, saying they give him permission, again giving them that sense of authority. Antony, in addition to the will, used Caesar’s body as a prop in his speech. He created a sympathetic attitude towards Caesar. The other pathos appeal Antony used was the contrast that he showed between the beginning and end of his speech. He opened, saying he was only to “bury Caesar, not to praise him” yet towards the end he had accomplished his goal in making the crowd feel sorry for Caesar and wanting to
Mark Antony says, “Yet Brutus says he [Caesar] was ambitious.” This quote was used a grand total of three times in act 1 scene 2 on lines 95, 107, and 102. This excerpt is used to show that Caesar was not determined to take the crown and rule Rome. Each time this quote was used, Antony gave examples of how Caesar really wasn’t ambitious, such as when he says, “I thrice presented him the kingly crown, which he did thrice refuse” (3.2.105-106). This quote shows that if Caesar really was ambitious, then he would have taken the crown and become king, but instead he refused. Not only did he refuse once, but three times. These examples shows many examples as to why Caesar was not ambitious did not want to be king. Antony repeats the phrase, “And Brutus is an honorable man.” This quote was repeated in act one scene two in lines 96, 103, and 108. Each time this quote is said, Antony had recently described why Brutus is honorable, such as when he says, “He hath brought many captives home to Rome” (3.2.97). This quote paints Brutus as a hero for bringing Roman people held in foreign lands home. The quote also brings to question Brutus’s own motives, questioning if he performed these gallant acts because he himself is ambitious. The quote also questions why Brutus conspired against his best friend if he is so honorable. Antony talks a lot about “Honorable men” or “Honorable man.” He uses the quotes for a collective total of seven times. The quotes are used in act one scene two in lines 91, 92, 103, 108, 136, 149, 163. Antony was given a set of specific rules before giving his speech, one of which was that he can not talk bad about the conspirators. Antony uses the word honorable to make it seem as though the truthful and possibly bad things he says about the conspirators was not as bad since they were still honorable, but none the less, Antony got
In the tragic play Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, the ruler of Rome, Julius Caesar, is stabbed to death by some of his so-called friends. Brutus, one of Caesar's best friends, is approached by some of the other senators to join the conspiracy to kill Caesar. Brutus weighs his options and decides to join the conspirators for the good of Rome. At Caesars's funeral, Brutus gives a speech to convince the citizens that the conspirators were right to kill Caesar. In contrast, Antony gives a speech to convince the Romans that there was no real reason to kill Caesar. Both characters try to persuade the audience, but they achieve different tones using literary and rhetorical devices. The tone of Brutus' speech is prideful, while the tone of Antony's speech is dramatic and inflammatory.
Antony repeats the word “honorable” several times in his speech. He is doing this in order to emphasize Brutus’ honorability, and make the citizens question it. Antony also repeats the word “ambitious” a signifacant amount of times. Through the repition of “ambitious”, Antony mocks Brutus trying to justify his actions by saying that Caesar was too ambitious. Every time he was that word, he describes an honorable trait of Caesar that contradicts Brutus’ accusation. For example, he mentions that Caesar refused the crown three times , and asks the citizens whether if that would be considered ambitious. “My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, and I must pause till it come back to me,”[He weeps](Shakspeare, III,ii 116-117). Antony uses pathos to draw emotions out of the citizens. This quote emphasizes how many Antony loved Caesar, and the sadness he is feeling now that he is dead. Antony’s grief makes the people of Rome sympathetic to him, which leads to them
Cassius, Brutus, and Antony use rhetoric successfully in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, albeit each differently and for different causes. Each of these men uses his skills in rhetoric to convince each other and at some points the entire population of Rome to follow his beliefs. However, each of these men has different motivations to do so, as well as different characteristics and general worldviews.