How Does Shakespeare Use Ethos In Julius Caesar

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In William Shakespeares, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, oOf all the characters, the character that uses their credibility and persuasion in the most malice manner is Decius Brutus; Shakespeare develops this through his use of Pathos, Ethos, Imagery, and Rhetorical question. Calphurnia, Caesar's wife, explains a vision she had bared witness to in her dreams. This vision included Caesar meeting his untimely death as blood pours out of a sculpture of him and the citizens of Rome smile as they dip their hands into the blood. Caesar, listening to his wife's vision, decides to call off his arrival at the Senate House. When Decius hears of Caesar's planned absence, he decides to help persuade him by telling Caesar,; “Your statue spouting blood in …show more content…

Decius knows that to get Caesar to the Senate house to finish their plans of executing Caesar, Decius has to get under his skin. Decius uses Caesar's fear of being seen as weak or a coward by the people of Rome against him. By provoking this emotion out of Caesar, he uses pa Pathos appeal to get Caesar on his side. By involving the pPathos of and evoking fear, causing Caesar to ultimately break down, hand be convinces himd that the best thing to do is go to the capital, even though Caesar has no idea what awaits him. Likewise, Shakespeare’s use of eEthos adopts Decius’ credibility as a loyal companion of Caesar whoto weighs such a heavy influence on himCaesar. If Decius had not had his status as leverage he would not have been able to convince Caesar that not showing would depict his character as cowardly. Using the Literary device of Rhetorical Question helped to provoke Caesar and ultimately changed his mind. When Decius states that the people will ask “Lo Caesar is afraid?” He is using his credibility along with emotion to manipulate Caesar into changing his