Throughout history, massive change has occurred not only by force of power, but also because of great speakers or politicians who used their words as weapons. Influential leaders manipulated their audiences to do their bidding with the use of rhetoric and appeals instead of swords and violence. In William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Mark Antony does just that. Antony confronts an unruly Roman crowd and delivers a powerful speech at Caesar’s funeral. With clarity and power, Antony uses numerous literary devices and all three of Aristotle’s appeals to captivate and persuade the Romans to rise up and seek revenge against the conspirators. In Antony’s eulogy, he strives to build credibility with the Roman citizens through an oratory. …show more content…
Understanding the crowd is uneducated and extremely emotional, Antony employs rhetoric to evoke pity, anger and sympathy from the Romans. Overcome with grief, Antony uses an aposiopesis, “My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,/ And I must pause till it come back to me.” (3.2. 106-107). Antony utilizes this device to encourage the crowd to join him in mourning Caesar. The commoners begin to sympathize with Antony during his dramatic pause. To compound upon their pity, Antony graphically describes the stabbings the conspirators inflicted upon Caesar. While the Romans are gathered around Caesar’s body, Antony uses dramatic irony, “This was the most unkindest cut of all;/ For when the noble Caesar saw him stab,/ Ingratitude, more strong than the traitors’ arms,/ Quite vanquished him. Then burst his mighty heart;” (3.2. 183-186). Antony’s rage against the conspirators incites anger and grief within the mourning crowd. The use of this dramatic irony effectively draws out powerful emotional responses from the Roman people, bringing many to tears. Antony masterfully manipulates the crowd’s emotions, giving the Romans no choice but to side with