Antony’s Rhetoric In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, rhetoric plays a powerful role. One of the most powerful users of rhetoric is Mark Antony. At no other time is Antony’s knowledge of rhetoric unleashed than during his speech at Caesar’s funeral. During his speech, Antony uses many different rhetorical strategies to persuade an entire crowd of Romans to turn against Brutus, a person who they loved and respected, and drive him out of Rome.
And Brutus is an honorable man” (3.2.93-96). Antony makes it seem as if Brutus was lying when he said Caesar was ambitious, causing the crowd to turn against Brutus. Further into his speech, Antony reveals Caesar’s will to the crowd, but says, “And being men, hearing the will of Caesar/ It will inflame you, it will make you mad” (3.2.144-146). Antony is tricking the crowd, making them crave the will’s contents more and more. It is clear that Antony is manipulating the crowd; he makes the them disbelieve Brutus, and also convinces them to praise him as he has the power to read Caesar’s
Julius Caesar: Analysis of Tone in Funeral Speeches MLK, Jr. once said, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends” (Goodreads). In the play Julius Caesar written by William Shakespeare, actions and words are used and spoken against a friend and a rival contributing to the assassination of their fellow friend Caesar. Two people that were very close to Caesar speak out against each other during their funeral speeches. Brutus, who is a “friend” and also a conspirator against Caesar, and Antony who is a very loyal friend to Caesar, use several rhetorical and literary devices as they create tone of proud assertive and defiant manipulation to get the Roman citizens on their side.
In William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Brutus and Antony both used different techniques in order to capture the audience's attention and approval in their speeches about Caesar's death. They both include repetition, rhetorical strategies, dramatic pauses, and parallelism in order to get the crowd on their sides. Both men use different strategies by knowing the audience and they use this to their advantage. Brutus and Antony both choose the use of Pathos and Ethos specifically appeal to the audience and their love for their country.
Furthermore, in the speech antony says “ For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel: judge, o you gods, how dearly Caesar loved him.” Antony uses brutus like how girl describe relationships these day, that one moment you are bestfriends and each others guardian “angels” but things change and one person must decide they don’t like. But why did it happen? As a reader may read this their emotion may change as well because everyone has experienced losing a friend, either by a fight or backstabbing. In conclusion, Antony expresses his grief of caesar in hope that the plebeians would grieve with him to
Antony begins his speech by saying the he is only allowed to have a speech because of Brutus. Antony gave his speech by using emotional appeal. He then says that he doesn’t mean to praise Caesar and that when he’s buried, Caesar should be remembered by his faults. In Act III, Sc. 2 Antony says, “The noble Brutus Hath told you Caesar was a grievous fault, and grievously hath Caesar answered it.
In the text Antony starts with complementing Brutus and easing into the speech. In the text he says, “For Brutus is an honourable man” (Shakespeare 3.2. 84). The author uses this to show that Antony isn’t trying to be vile but to eventually explain that Brutus wrongly killed Caesar. This shows that Antony is the bigger person and doesn’t need to entirely focus on defending himself to get the audience on his side. Brutus uses the legacy he has to get the audience to hear him out.
He tells the crowd that he does not intend to discredit Brutus, but rather to speak facts,“I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke, / But here I am to speak what I do know” (3.2.97-98). Antony is clarifying to the audience that he intends to tell them only what he knows to be true. This makes the people of Rome inclined to believe that he will not lie to them about these important matters. Antony furthers this by bringing up his character and his relationship with his audience, “But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man / That love my friend; and that they know full well / That gave me public leave to speak of him.
While Brutus spoke well, but had no real factual standpoint, Antony gave many examples of Caesar’s achievements. In his speech he uses Pathos, Logos, Ethos, and Situational Irony to sway his audience. He uses Brutus’ and Cassius’ precious honor and Caesar’s achievements against them, saying, “When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept./ Ambition should be made of sterner stuff./ Yet Brutus says he was ambitious,/ And Brutus is an honorable man” (3.2.90-93). In this statement and many other statements following the same pattern Antony degrades the honor and the arguments of Caesar’s ambition that were made by Brutus and the other conspirators.
Within Antony’s speech to the Romans he uses anaphoric text to spike a whirl of rage towards Brutus. Repeatedly Antony states “Brutus is an honorable man” emphatically for the duration of his speech to contradict Brutus’s nobility ( March Antony, Lines 83,88,95 ). Before Antony begins his speech he is approached by the Romans with comments to not speak bad on Brutus’s name, which is why he utilized the anaphora to repeat that Brutus is an honorable man therefore allowing him to gain the Romans trust to speak. Antony does not say these lines truthfully but sarcastically to make the people of Rome feel furious against Brutus for taking Caesar to his mortal death.
Antony uses rhetorical appeals and techniques in his speech to turn the people of Rome against those conspiring against Caesar. As a result, the people see Antony as a persuasive and strong leader of Rome. Antony opens his speech at Caesar’s funeral by using ethos to present himself as a credible source and a friend of Caesar. Antony states his purpose in the beginning of his speech by starting with “I come to bury
In Act 3, Scene 2 of the tragedy of Julius Caesar written by Shakespeare, there are 2 very important speeches that shape the countrymen’s view on the death of Caesar. Marcus Brutus gives the first speech in an attempt to justify the murder he and his fellow conspirators just committed and the second speech is given by Mark Antony to open the citizen’s eyes to just how dishonorable and heinous the crime these men committed was. Both men use many rhetorical strategies in their speeches such as syntax to create juxtaposition and word choice to highlight the similarities and differences between the audience and the speaker in order to create an effect of either superiority or relatability to the audience. Each speech was effective in persuading the people to agree with a certain view, however in the end Mark Antony gave the speech that won the crowd.
Rhetoric in the Speeches of Brutus and Antony The death of Caesar is a controversial topic and was even more controversial at the time of his funeral when when senators were trying to benefit from his death by getting the Roman citizens on their side. At Caesar’s funeral, two senators gave speeches as an attempt to get the roman people on their side. Out of the two speeches, Marc Antony’s speech was more effective because of his use of appeals and biases, being 100% true and had a larger variety of rhetorical devices.
Marcus Junius Brutus and Mark Antony both deliver speeches to justify the death of Julius Caesar in 44 BCE and both use Logos and Ethos to convince the Roman citizens to join their sides. Both sides deliver their speeches with vehemence and start by elucidating why Brutus killed Caesar to begin with, why Antony’s desire for revenge is justified, and what the future of Rome will be because of his death. Antony teases the citizens of Rome with the will of Caesar that he holds in hand and claims it will dishonor Brutus and the other conspirators and is also one of his vital uses of Ethos in his speech. Most of the citizens, if not all of them side with Antony and will most likely help him accede to a great title of power in the future and also betray Brutus because of what Antony has them believe, i.e. an ignoble assassin. Brutus and Antony 's speeches were both compelling, although Antony´s speech was more successful, but it is because he was able to manipulate the people of Rome with
He successfully accomplishes his objective of convincing the mob that Brutus is a traitor and the conspirators are at fault. He played with emotions which was the right thing to do rather than applying logic. He used emotional phrases such as, "My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar" and "Oh judgment; thou art fled to brutish beasts". Which allows him to have a connect with the crowds feeling at the death of Caesar .Antony does not let the restriction of going against the conspirators hinder his speech. He begins not by attacking Brutus or the conspirators, but by praising Caesar.
