In the play Julius Caesar, written by William Shakespeare, the emperor of Rome is killed by his best friend, Brutus. At the funeral of the fallen ruler, Brutus gives a big speech to the crowd. He tries to explain why he and the other senators had to kill the emperor, Julius Caesar. In the speech, he informs them that Caesar was too ambitious, and says he chose Rome over his dear friend. Once Brutus was done, Marc Antony gave his speech to persuade the crowd that Julius wasn’t ambitious at all. While both Brutus and Antony delivered speeches to persuade the citizens of rome, Antony’s use of rhetorical techniques such as verbal irony, rhetorical questions, and logos made his speech more persuasive. First off, Marc Antony uses a lot of verbal irony in his speech to almost make fun of Brutus and the sentimental speech he gave. Antony gives off a very sarcastic tone throughout the beginning parts of his speech. He shows this by repeating the phrase, “Brutus says he was ambitious, and Brutus is an honourable man.” until the citizens realize he doesn't mean exactly what he says. Instead, he means the exact opposite: Caesar wasn’t so ambitious. Also, you probably shouldn’t believe the man that just murdered your ruler. …show more content…
The rhetorical questions help get his point across quickly, while further strengthening his argument. It states in his speech: “I thrice presented him a kingly crown, which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?” If Caesar was really as ambitious as Brutus says he was, he would have taken the crown the very first time in order to lead Rome to success. Antony continues on to say, “ He has brought many captives home to Rome whose ransoms did the general coffers fill: did this in Caesar seem ambitious?” This shows the crowd that the emperor Julius Caesar wasn’t really ambitious at