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Shakespeare exposes the cutthroat politics of Rome through the speeches of Brutus and Antony in his play Julius Caesar. This play epitomizes the benefits of using rhetorical devices in a persuasive speech. Antony applies the modes ethos, logos, and pathos to establish credibility, provide evidence, and evoke emotion throughout his eulogy to Caesar. Preceding Antony’s speech was that of the senator, and friend of Caesar, Brutus. Conclusively, Antony’s use of rhetorical devices surpasses Brutus’s; Antony successfully persuades the crowd that Brutus’s speech posed as a clever ruse to justify his cold-blooded murder.
In Act I, Scene ii, Cassius primarily employs ethos to gain Brutus's attention, logos to contest Caesar's power, and pathos to arouse Brutus’s passion. The use of ethos drove Brutus to listen and become a conspirator. Lines such as “ were I a common laughter, or did use / To stale with ordinary oaths my love to every protester …, then hold me dangerous” (I, ii, 72 - 78) instantly buys Brutus’s trust.
Marcus Brutus Junior, the protagonist of the play “Julius Caesar”, made one of the toughest decisions in the history of the Roman Empire: To, or not to, assassinate his longtime friend Julius Caesar, who would turn the Roman government into a dictatorship? Perhaps one of the turning points of this inner conflict came when Gaius Cassius Longinus, Brutus’ brother-in-law, gave a fiery speech to encourage Brutus to backstab Caesar. Cassius’ use of the three3 rhetorical strategies - logos, pathos, and ethos - would eventually persuade Brutus to participate in one of the most famous murder conspiracies in history. First, Cassius starts off by calming the fears and doubts in Brutus about his influence in Rome; Brutus’ fears of his lack of self-worthiness were soothed by Cassius using pathos. Notably in the passage, Cassius makes Brutus feel respected even by Caesar, the most influential man in Rome, with the words “Immortal Caesar, speaking of Brutus...have wish’d that noble Brutus had his eyes (I, ii, 60)”.
Despite Marc Antony’s and Brutus’s funeral speeches both being convincing to the plebians. Br.utus does better than Marc Antony by moving the pleabians opinion to support the killing of Julius Caesar. In Brutus’s speech he uses many rhetorical strategies to engage the public to sway to his motive. Brutus also appeals to the whole crowd, gives reasons to why he killed Caesar, and appeals to the emotions, reasoning, and presents himself as a higher status to the plebeians.
In Brutus’s famous funeral speech he announced, “Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.” Caesar has just come back from defeating the ruler of Rome, Pompey; he is now the head of Rome. Not everyone in the city adores him as a commander. Brutus and a group of citizens form a plot to murder him at the base of Pompey’s statue. These men are now wanted for the death of Caesar.
He first starts out by saying "You gentle Romans-". (Act 3.2) He wants to come off friendly and kind so that he can have their attention. He says later on in his speech "I speak not to disapprove what Brutus spoke, but I am here to speak what I do know. You all did love him once, not without cause.
Brutus’s speech focused on ethos and pathos, As he is giving his speech brutus says “that my love for caesar was no less than his” implying that he is saddened by caesar's death. He continues on immediately afterwards saying “Not that I loved caesar less, it's that I love rome more!” Using ethics, brutus then says “Had you rather caesar live and die all slaves, than that caesar dead and live all three men?” using ethics. Later brutus says that “there is tears for his love: joy, for his fortune: honor, for his valor: and death for his ambition.” using both ethos and pathos.
Caesar killed while running for king. Brutus and Caesar were good friends. However, Brutus persuaded the audience that he did not want Caesar to become king so he had to slew him. They both had some role in Caesar’s death it is just a matter of how much and how they played into it. Antony is the reason why everyone was turning Against Brutus.
In the play “Julius Caesar” two critical speeches are given one after another. The results of these speeches would in essence sentence one of the givers to death. Persuasion was the key to gathering the people in their favor. The question is was Brutus’ or Antony’s speech more persuasive. To provide a conclusion we will look at the speeches through Aristotle’s rhetorical triangle spending time in Pathos, Ethos, and finally Logos.
Brutus's speech to persuade the people of Rome was a very well-thought-out speech that worked very well, It worked well because it used so many rhetorical devices that planted thoughts in the audience's heads. For background information, Brutus had to kill caesar in order for it to be a noble act, instead of a murder. He was the last one to stab caesar, and that is why caesar gave up trying to survive. In the first part of the speech he successfully calms them down enough to listen to what he has to say, “ Be patient till the last. Romans, countrymen, and lovers, hear me for my cause and be silent, that you may hear.
After the death of Julius Caesar, the people of Rome demanded an answer. An audience gathered to hear both the speeches of Brutus and Mark Antony, since Brutus allowed Antony to speak. Brutus went first, trying to persuade the crowd to realize this was a necessary evil. Mark Antony went after Brutus and took a different approach. He used pathos, which means he appealed to the audiences emotions and feelings.
In Brutus’s speech he used ethos and logos to try and control the people of Rome. He was stoic and blinded of what Antony was capable of. He wanted to change their minds about the conspiracy and the murder of Caesar. Brutus says “Had you rather Caesar were living, and die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live all free men” (III, i, 23-24).
The second way Antony gave an excellent speech was he followed all of Brutus's rules. Antony was only able to speak at Caesar's funeral under three strict conditions. First of all he is not allowed to blame the conspirators Antony follows this rule by calling all of the conspirators honorable men but sarcastically. His second rule was that Brutus must speak first. Brutus speaks first but makes the poor decision of leaving after his speech and not listening to Antony.
With a strong voice one can change the entire outcome of a conflict and history as it is known. Speeches have been around for centuries and influences the growth and decline of countries, populations, and species. In many of William Shakespeare 's writings, he is able to emphasize the meaning of a persuasive speech which sets the basis for future orators. In one of Shakespeare 's most famous plays, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Marcus Brutus and Marc Antony both attempts to move the people with similar but also very different tactics. Their words reveal their true intentions and thoughts, although it may be heard differently by others.
One may try simply using only ethos, pathos, or logos solely in their speech to try to sway their audience, but as seen in the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, using only one mode can be detrimental to the success of a speech. Comparing the two funeral speeches in The Tragedy Of Julius Caesar to the funeral speech given by Lyndon B. Johnson, there is a striking similarity in the deliverance of Johnson’s speech and that of Marc Antony’s in that they both combine all three modes of persuasion while Brutus overwhelmingly uses one. All in all, the effectiveness, motivation, and approach of a speech or written work is dependent on the combined use of pathos, logos, and
