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Julius Caesar Rhetorical Analysis Essay

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"It is the bright day that brings forth the adder" (5 IIi). This proves to be especially true for the most powerful man in Rome, Julius Caesar. In Shakespeare's play "Julius Caesar", Julius Caesar was assassinated by members of the Roman senate during the reign of the Roman Republic. Among these senators was Marcus Brutus, who was one of the leaders in the plot. Brutus had a close relationship with Caesar as they worked alongside each other and even married Caesar's daughter. After the killing of Caesar, Brutus went out to speak to the Roman pulpit about why they had just murdered the most popular man in Rome. Following his speech, Marc Antony stepped up to speak before the gathering of Romans. Marc Antony ran a marathon in honor of Caesar, …show more content…

Both speakers are appealing to the audience's sense of reason through their questions. "Who here is so base that would be a/ bondman? " (Brutus 20-21 IIIii). Brutus is conveying that if Caesar were to live that he would have so much power that every other Roman would be a slave under Caesar, and by killing Caesar, this enslavement would have been avoided. He is attempting to convince the Roman public that they should have feared Caesar and that they were imbecilic if they did not. "I thrice presented him a kingly crown, / which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?" (Antony 24-25 IIIii). Marc Antony says Caesar rejected a position of power on multiple occasions which portrays his lack of a desire to gain authority. By doing so, Marc Antony makes the audience realize that Caesar had no hunger for power. Marc Antony had a more effective argument because it was backed up by evidence in the event that had happened. Brutus' argument was totally based off a hypothetical …show more content…

Brutus appeals to the audience's ethics and judgement of character. "...any dear friend of/ Caesar's, to him I say, that Brutus' love to Caesar was no less than his" (Brutus 7-9 IIIii). By explaining that he had a friendship with Caesar, Brutus portrays that he had to have had a just reason for killing Caesar since he would not want to kill a friend otherwise. "You all did love him once, not without cause" (Antony 33 IIIii). By reminding the Roman people of their previous love for Caesar, Antony incites guilt into his audience, because they were calling Caesar a tyrant, yet only one day before, they all loved Caesar. Antony's argument was more effective than Brutus' was because Antony's argument sparked emotion in the spectators, and it exposed the hypocrisy that the pulpit was exhibiting. All Brutus said is that Caesar was his friend. This hints that there may be a reasonable cause for Caesar's murder, but does not place such a strong emotion in the audience as Antony

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