Ethos Pathos Logos In Julius Caesar

In the tragedy, Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, two men, Brutus and Antony, use many different techniques to manipulate the minds of the people. Some of these techniques included in their speeches are ethos, logos, and pathos. Both of them appeal to these three rhetorical strategies in their language, but indeed want exceedingly different outcomes.
To start off, Brutus applies ethos, the appeal to knowledge, to his speech when he says, “Believe me for mine honor, and have respect to mine honor, that you may believe” (III,ii. 14-15). He is gaining the trust of the people by making himself look credible even if he really isn’t. Brutus achieves this by saying how much honor he has and an honorable man should be respected for that. Antony,

Brutus clearly shows this when he states, “Had you rather Caesar were living, and die all slaves” (III,ii. 21). Brutus justifies his reasoning by reassuring that the people do sincerely want Caesar dead. He accomplishes this when he gives a non-fictional example to the people that will make them not regret Caesar’s death. In contrast, Antony desperately tries to persuade the people into feeling remorse for the killing of Caesar and possibly inspiring a rebellion against Brutus. He says, “I thrice presented him a kingly crown, which he did thrice refuse” (III,ii. 91-92). Antony is making Caesar seem like a noble and humble man by stating how many times he rejected the

Brutus first shows this when he says, “Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more… As Caesar loved me, I weep for him… but, as he was ambitious, I slew him” (III,ii. 20-24). Brutus wants to gain the support from the plebeians so he covers up his murder by justifying it and saying that Caesar was too ambitious and that he loved Rome more. On the other side, Antony is persistent in establishing a strong connection with the people in order to make them admire Caesar. He expresses this when he says, “And men have lost their reason. Bear with me; My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, and I must pause till it come back to me”(III,ii. 100-101). By appealing to ethos, Antony creates the appearance of being at the plebeians “level” in order to gain their support and trust from them because they all feel the same frustration and grief over Caesar’s