Derry Pinkston mrs. Tamayo American Literature 2/28/2017 More Power than weapons! People use emotions and logical manipulation: which allows manipulators to use words as weapons.
(3.2.101-4). His dramatics demonstrate to the crowd how they should feel, and they follow suit. Once the crowd feels sentimental about Caesar’s death, Antony commences his process of enraging them. While revealing Caesar’s dead body, Antony utilizes loaded language to demonize the actions of the conspirators, Brutus in particular. He claims, “Through this the well-beloved Brutus stabbed; /
Antony’s funeral oration is one of the most important speeches in Julius Caesar. Antony is the most skillful speaker because of his ability to turn a mass of uneducated plebeians once faithful towards the conspirators completely against them with emotional appeals. In Antony’s speech, one of his uses of emotional appeals is to create a kind and friendly relationship with plebeians. At the beginning of his discourse, he uses a synecdoche and asyndeton with his appeal.
Brutus uses the appeals of Ethos, Pathos, Logos to manipulate the thoughts and feelings of the plebeians to join Brutus’
Antony says, “look in this place ran Cassius’ dagger through… See what a rent the envious Casca made… Through this the well-beloved Brutus stabbed.” These images stir up emotion, Antony wants the people of Rome to be infuriated with Brutus and mentally paint a picture of what they did. Brutus takes a different approach and for a testimonial, “any dear friend Caesar’s, to him I say, that Brutus’ love Caesar was no less than his.” The similarity between the two speeches shows a goal both men wanted to achieve, which is to appeal to the heart and emotion.
Brutus uses rhetorical questions, faulty reasoning and hyperboles to create the tone of persuasion while convincing the Roman people to be on his side. To start off his funeral speech, he wants the citizens to trust and believe what he has to say about Caesar, Brutus announces; “Believe me for mine honor, and have respect for my honor, that you may believe me”(Shakespeare 42). In this case, faulty reasoning is shown because Brutus has done nothing to prove him honorable to the citizens. Given that, he has no evidence that he is trustworthy, Brutus still try’s to persuade the crowd to believe what he has to say about Caesar is true, which is
Caroline Craine 1/24/2023 English 9 Manipulation and Persuasion in Julius Caesar To influence Brutus, Portia and Cassius exploit their relationships with him to solidify their argument and control over him. Since Portia and Cassius both try to influence Brutus, they use similar tactics, but sometimes need to apply other techniques of either manipulation or persuasion to get their point across based on factors such as their background. To understand these influences, the matter of how manipulation and persuasion are similar, different, and applied comes into play. Both Portia and Cassius display manipulative and persuasive techniques with Brutus, as well as when they exploit their connections with him to support their arguments. But first,
Through this the well-belovèd Brutus stabbed. For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel. how dearly Caesar loved him! This was the most unkindest cut of all.” (3.2 186-195) Doing this made them emotional as it had felt like the conspirators had backstabbed him as Caesar was a good man and cared about his people according to his will.
(II.i.283-287). Portia questions Brutus already aware of the fact that he is not sick and he is hiding something from her. She knows that a person who is actually sick would not be walking around outside during the middle of the night, risking becoming more sick.
It is Antony's pathos with his emotion appeal against Brutus’ blunt logos with the
Brutus’s words emphasize his desperation for help in his death, “thou knowst that we two went to school together; Even for that our love of old, I prithee, Hold thou my sword whilst I run on it” further emphasizes that though they have been long friends who love each other Brutus’s need of not facing bondage leads him to his
Portia was a loyal wife, and very patience and trustworthy. She had been ‘asleep,’ throughout most the play, although she had known there was something going on that Brutus is not telling her. Portia begged Brutus to tell her his intentions, and upon refusing, she reveals a stab, in which she had done herself, to prove her patience, a keeper of secrets, and to convince Brutus. She is well-aware of how to prove her honor, which was to inflict harm on herself. Portia exclaims, “Portia is Brutus' harlot, not his wife,” (2.1.310) this is her saying that if she, Portia, can not learn of her husband’s aim, she is not a wife, but another prostitute.
Shakespeare’s language and choice of words portrays one of the most vital characters of the play, Portia, as a powerless woman to a large extent… but only in a certain way. Being ‘powerful’ has three meanings, one is “having great strength”, two is “having control over people and events”, and lastly three is “having a strong effect on people’s thoughts and feelings”. The two latter definitions are similar yet very different in this context. Making it possible for Portia to seem like a powerless woman, but surprisingly remain one of the most important characters.
In Cassius’s eloquent speech against Caesar, he primarily utilizes persuasion through tools such as pathos, rhetorical questions, and compare and contrast. Cassius uses pathos to begin his monologue when he claims, “I know that virtue be in you, Brutus, / As well as I do know your outward favor” (Shakespeare 1.2.95-96). By expressing that Brutus has “virtue” and “outward favor”, Cassius appeals to Brutus’s emotions, but not to an exaggerated extent. This emotional appeal is a persuasion technique because it is used in moderation and in pertinent locations. The context is appropriate since rather than using it as a tool to feed on Brutus’s emotions, Cassius only uses it to get Brutus’s attention as an appropriate hook.
Brutus’ emotional wound ultimately deals with his internal conflict of the decision to kill Caesar in order to better Rome. In addition, he deals with such difficulty over the decision since his reasoning to kill Caesar does not come out of hatred or jealousy, but due to his fear of life under Caesar’s rule. In Act I, scene ii, lines 39-40, Brutus says, “Merely upon myself. Vexéd I am / Of late passions of some difference” (Shakespeare 848).
