How does being a leader affect friendship? Friendship and leadership were two key themes visible in the play, Julius Caesar. In Act 3, Brutus presented the argument to plebeians that Caesar had become too powerful and tried to justify murdering Caesar. In contrast, Antony gave reasoning that Caesar was a true friend and his leadership was for the good of all citizens. This essay will examine the persuasive arguments of Brutus and Antony, shining a light on the rhetorical devices used and highlight the modes of persuasion: Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. The honorable Brutus, leader of the conspirators, believed no good could come from Caesar’s ambition. When presenting his argument to the people, Brutus included Ethos, a mode of persuasion technique that shows the audience he is a credible, unbiased, source worth listening to. In Act 3 Lines 16-17, Brutus addresses the crowd with the statement that follows, “ If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of Caesar’s, to him I say that Brutus' love to Caesar was no less than his.”. This statement was included in Brutus's speech to ensure the crowd that there was …show more content…
Logos is a mode of persuasion that convinces the audience by the use of logic, facts, and reasoning. Brutus used the analogy “Would you rather that Caesar were living and we would all go to our graves as slaves, or that Caesar were dead and we all live as free men?” (Act 3 lines 20-21) to stress and convince the crowd that killing Caesar was the only logical way to extricate Rome from future destruction. To give the speech momentum and reinforce concepts, Brutus uses parallelism and repetition in sentence structures that started with “who here is so…” and ends with “for it is he whom I have offended.” These techniques were very effective in ways that persuaded the crowd in agreeance with Brutus, resulting in them acclaiming and lionizing Brutus for his