Rhetorical Strategies in Shakespeare's, “The Tragedy of Julius Caesar” Marc Antony’s funeral speech was the turning point of The tragedy of Julius Caesar. Due to the know closeness of Antony to Caesar he was the one chosen to speak. Throughout Marc Antony’s funeral speech there are several cases where he uses the rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos to persuade the crowd to turn against the conspirators. The target audience for Antony’s speech in The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, is those who chose to attend his funeral. His whole purpose throughout the speech is to persuade the crowd. His purpose for speaking is to turn the crowd against the conspirators, and make them see how they were wrong in killing Caesar. They automatically …show more content…
Antony brings up the will and ransoms to show all that he left to the people, showing how truly selfless he was, and how much he cared for his citizens, and all he did for their benefit. He brings up the many times Caesar was offered the crown and turned it down. This contradicts Brutus saying the he was ambitious, considering someone who really was ambitious would have accepted the crown without a second thought. During the speech he says that if if he were Brutus, and Brutus were him, then he would cause an uproar. Further encouraging the crowd to turn against the …show more content…
He recalls the other times he had worn it, and proceeded to talk about how the conspirators had stabbed him right through it, bloodying the cloak forever. He called Brutus his angel to show how unbelievable it was that Brutus, someone Caesar loved and trusted, betrayed him so quickly. Another instance where he uses pathos is when he starts crying, showing his true emotions and saying that they were tears of pity and they all must be feeling what he was. He lifts up the cloak to show the crowd Caesar’s body in an attempt to show just how gruesome the murder really was. Successfully opening the eyes of the people to the wrongness of the murder of Julius Caesar. By successfully using pathos, logos, and ethos throughout Antony’s speech in The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Marc Antony is able to persuade the crowd to turn against the conspirators who so brutally killed Caesar. He uses the will, Caesar’s body, tears, reminiscing, and bringing up all the things Caesar did for the people to accomplish this. Since Marc Antony was closer to Caesar than anyone else he is able to better persuade the people since he would know Caesar the