Antony's Ethos In Julius Caesar

William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar is about Caesar's life, his assassination, and its aftermath. During his funeral both Mark Antony and Brutus give speeches with each using rhetorical devices to persuade the Roman audience, Brutus using more logos, and Antony using more pathos. In the end Antony’s speech was more persuasive than Brutus’ because of his appeal to the audience's emotions. While Brutus is opening up his speech he says “Censure me in your wisdom, and awake your senses, that you may the better judge” (3.2.16-17). In this line he appeals to the audience’s logic by telling them to judge him based on their wisdom, and to awaken more of their senses to more accurately judge him, and with this showing them that he trusts them to come to the correct conclusion with the knowledge he gives. A bit later into his speech, Brutus says “If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer: not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. Had you rather Caesar were living, and die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live all free

Brutus, throughout his speech, focuses too much on justifying his actions, while Antony focuses on angering the audience and turning them against the conspirators. Antony also is able to connect on a personal level with the audience by saying, “My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar” (3.2.106), rather than on a patriotic level like Brutus does. They both use repetition in different ways to prove something to the audience, Brutus repeats that he loves Caesar, and that he was a good man, trying to show that audience that he didn’t kill Caesar because he hated him. Antony however uses repetition to antagonize Brutus without saying it out right, by repeating that Brutus is an honorable man and changing the way he says it each time, it causes the audience to rethink their opinion on