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Brutus The Power Of Rhetoric In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar

590 Words3 Pages

The power of rhetoric and oratory skills:
Keywords: Rhetoric, regicide, the Elizabethan times, Mischief, , reverse psychology

First Brutus speaks and then Antony, each with the aim of persuading the crowd to his side. We observe each speaker’s effect on the crowd and see the power that words can. Brutus speaks to the people in prose rather than in verse, trying to make his speech seem plain to keep himself on the level of the plebeians. He quickly convinces the people that Caesar had to die because he would have become a tyrant and brought suffering to them all. Antony’s speech is a rhetorical tour de force. Through using rhetorical strategies in his speech after Caesar’s death, Mark Antony successfully debunks Brutus’s assertion that Caesar died because he was too …show more content…

Then he uses kairos, or correct timing, in his speech. He allows Brutus to speak before him, which gives him the opportunity to rebut Brutus’s argument. Antony’s entire argument hinges on providing examples to contradicting Brutus’s initial claim that Caesar was ambitious. If we think of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech, and the repeated emphasis in that speech on one phrase. Antony does the same thing with the phrase "For Brutus is an honorable man, / So are they all, all honorable men" or "But Brutus says he was ambitious, / And Brutus is an honorable man." (3.2.84-85) The phrase is repeated four times, in slightly variant forms, allowing the crowd to question Brutus' honor simply by drawing so much attention to it. Then pausing to weep openly before the plebeians, he makes them feel pity for him and for his case. Further demonstrating his charisma, Antony descends from the pulpit—a more effective way of becoming one with the people than Brutus’s strategy of speaking in prose. He then reveals Caesar's wounds, as he is fully aware, that image speaks

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