Julius Caesar Rhetorical Analysis Essay

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Introduction Sometimes it doesn’t matter how bad someone may be, they just have to be better than their competition. In the play Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, the central conflict lies with Julius Caesar. People like Cassius viewed Julius as an up and coming tyrant so he wanted him dead. He convinced Brutus and few other to people help him kill Caesar. Antony, one of Caesar's closest friends then enacts revenge on the Conspirators. All of these characters had very unique qualities. Cassius was very manipulative and persuasive. Caesar was drunk on his own power and showed no fear. Antony showed loyalty, but it was blind loyalty. Brutus was the best choice for a leader because he was very smart, and showed great generosity.He also showed that he had great rhetorical skills. Brutus used these skills in order to persuade the audience to his cause. …show more content…

He mixes them in with some rhetorical question in his speech. For instance he states, “Who is/ here so base that would be a bondman? If any, speak, for him have/ I offended. Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman? If any,/ speak, for him have I offended. Who is here so vile that will not/ love his country? If any, speak, for him have I offended(lll.ii.25-29). At the start of each question he uses anaphora, which means to, “Repeat the same words at the beginning of a series of sentences or clauses”(Romm, 42). And at the end of each phrase he uses Epistrophe, which is “when many clauses have the same ending”. Both of these Devices allowed Brutus to connect to Pathos. Which is when they are able to engage the audience or reader emotionally in order to persuade the audience. By using pathos he was able to make the audience feel proud for being Roman. He made it clear that choosing Caesar would take away the freedoms of being Roman. Using the anaphora and epistrophe put a strong emphasis on Brutus’ main