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Julius Caesar Rhetorical Analysis Essay

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In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, a play by Shakespeare, depicts a story of Caesar who emerges victorious after a prolonged war against Pompey, a beloved Roman military commander, and is presented with the Roman crown; however, the Senators realize that their authority is at risk , so they plot to murder Caesar. Specifically in Act three, scene two, Mark Antony is speaking at Caesar's funeral, but secretly wants to get revenge against the conspirators who plotted Caesar’s murder by persuading his audience. To sway the commoners, he uses his words to modestly makes the conspirators the true criminals. Antony attempts to convince his audience that Brutus’s claims were false by using repetition, antithesis, and rhetorical questions. To start, …show more content…

Antony says in Act III, scene ii, line 86-7 and 95-8, “The noble Brutus / Hath told you Caesar was ambitious / … / But Brutus says he was ambitious, / And Brutus is an honorable man / He hath brought many captives home to Rome / Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill.” When Antony says this, he is comparing the two men; Caesar is arrogant since that’s what Brutus says and since Brutus is trustworthy, people believe whatever he says. This quote shows how antithesis achieves Antony’s purpose by making a point: Caesar and Brutus being the opposite of what they’re portrayed as. Caesar isn’t driven to take control of Rome with dictatorship because of what he has done for Rome, posing Brutus as a liar and disreputable. Therefore, Antony demonstrates that even though a specific person is someone that’s trustworthy, it doesn’t mean that they’re always right; Brutus is dishonorable and Caesar is not …show more content…

One piece of evidence is in Act III, scene ii, lines 102-6 “Yet Brutus says he was ambitious / And Brutus is an honorable man / You all did see that on the Lupercal / I thrice presented him a kingly crown / Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition? / Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, / And, sure, he is an honorable man.” Here, Antony is inquiring the civil men with questions leading to obvious answers whether or not the actions that Caesar has performed was him being selfish or just him being considerate. This quote highlights that the civilians start to realize that Brutus deceived them when he declared that the reason they killed Caesar was because he was doing it in honor of his country, but when Antony announces well known facts about the consideration he took with the Romans, it shows that he cared very deeply about them. The Romans comprehend the lies that had been told to them, so they started to riot by killing the Congressmen involved in the conspiracy. Accordingly, Antony shows the Romans the obvious truth that had been in front of them this whole time, so they’re able to understand that Caesar has been there for them this entire

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“Good friends, sweet friends,let me not stir you up/ to such a sudden flood of mutiny./ They have done this deed are honorable./ What private griefs they have , alas, I know not,/ That made them do it. They are wise and honorable,” (III. ii. 206-210) the repetitiveness of Antony calling the conspirators honorable and that they had killed Julius Caesar for good reason, not for their own benefit. The onlookers were very upset and threatened to burn down Brutus’s home.

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Antony, through the use rhetorical devices of diction and verbal irony, develops an argumentation in order to turn the Plebeians against the conspirators and persuade them to avenge Caesar. Specifically, Antony declares, “Have patience, gentle friends, I must not read it; / It is not meet you know how Caesar loved you. / You are not wood, you are not stone, but men; / And, being men, bearing the will of Caesar, / It will inflame you, it will make you mad: / ‘Tis good you know not that you are his heirs; / For, if you should, O, what would come of it!”

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(III.ii.26­-28) In this sense, it shows that Brutus cares about Caesar, but when it seems to be affecting the country he loves, he will take any measures to stop it. As one standing in the midst of the crowd, it would appear through logic that Brutus did not kill Caesar out of anything personal, but rather he was slain to prevent a dominating ruler from forming. On the other hand, Antony takes the very words that defended Brutus, and makes them his downfall. Antony brings the plebeians back to the time where," I thrice presented him a kingly crown,/which he did thrice refuse.

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When he ascends the pulpit to speak at Caesar’s funeral, Antony repeatedly says that Brutus is an “honorable man”, (Act III, Scene II) but continues to disprove his own claim with multiple pieces of evidence. By disproving his claim while seeming compassionate, Antony makes his audience believe that he is caring yet naive. This allows the audience to let their guard down and think that their later ideas are their own. Antony uses the crowds’ emotions to convince them that Brutus and the Conspirators aren’t honorable. Antony says that he won’t do the Conspirators wrong by stirring up a mutiny.

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Act III, Scene 2 of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Antony's speech effectively develops and supports the central idea of turning the people against Brutus and honoring Caesar, through his use of emotional appeal, rhetorical questions, and loaded words. Brutus manipulated the people but Antony uses good reasoning to turn the people against Brutus. Antony masterfully employs emotional appeal to evoke strong feelings in the audience and encourage them to turn against Brutus. “For when the noble Caesar saw him stab, ingratitude, more strong than traitor’s arms, quite vanqished him.” Therefore the noble Caesar so who stab him and brutus was his friend and did him wrong. ”

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Antony gives the plebeians factual evidence proving that Caesars was not ambitious. Antony does this to clear Caesar's name proving how he wasn't ambitious. The plebeians do believe Antony now sense he have them actual proof that he was not ambitious. Before Caesar died all of “[The plebeians] did love him once”(Julius Caesar 3.2.111) inferring that the plebeians should not change their minds just because someone tells them too, they should believe in themselves. Antony is trying to convince the plebeians that Caesar was not a bad man and that they should not change their mind just because someone tells them too.

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Across the play, examples of rhetorical devices and persuasive techniques alter the characters’ opinions on matters. Similar to the purpose of mind control, statements adjusted to be spoken to a crowd of people can influence the overall mindset of individuals. One person’s thoughts can impact many and when the same idea is expressed constantly it will have a greater effect. The model from the play, Julius Caesar, occurs with Antony speaking at the funeral of Julius Caesar after Brutus articulates why the killing of Caesar was not a movement of hate. Mark Antony has the advantage of winning the audience over Brutus because he speaks after him indicating he can use the same statements as him but counter-argue them.

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He is pointing out the fault in the conspirators' claims, without outright saying the conspirators were wrong. Caesar never did anything that made people see him as a dictator. He is swaying the crowd towards anger at the conspirators with disguised tactics. He is also using logic to point out the fact Caesar would not have become a dictator since he never desired to be king anyway. Then, Antony expresses his heart-wrenching sadness with Caesar’s death, “My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar '' (3.2.116).

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Brutus says he was ambitious;” (3.2.95-96). Bringing up the Luperical is a strong point. It is still fresh in the memories of many

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While Brutus spoke well, but had no real factual standpoint, Antony gave many examples of Caesar’s achievements. In his speech he uses Pathos, Logos, Ethos, and Situational Irony to sway his audience. He uses Brutus’ and Cassius’ precious honor and Caesar’s achievements against them, saying, “When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept./ Ambition should be made of sterner stuff./ Yet Brutus says he was ambitious,/ And Brutus is an honorable man” (3.2.90-93). In this statement and many other statements following the same pattern Antony degrades the honor and the arguments of Caesar’s ambition that were made by Brutus and the other conspirators.

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Within Antony’s speech to the Romans he uses anaphoric text to spike a whirl of rage towards Brutus. Repeatedly Antony states “Brutus is an honorable man” emphatically for the duration of his speech to contradict Brutus’s nobility ( March Antony, Lines 83,88,95 ). Before Antony begins his speech he is approached by the Romans with comments to not speak bad on Brutus’s name, which is why he utilized the anaphora to repeat that Brutus is an honorable man therefore allowing him to gain the Romans trust to speak. Antony does not say these lines truthfully but sarcastically to make the people of Rome feel furious against Brutus for taking Caesar to his mortal death.

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In Act III, Sc. 2 Antony says, “Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, and Brutus is an honorable man.” (ln. 92-93). He really

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Antony is trying to find out whether they believe if Brutus had a valid reason to assassinate Caeser. He achieves his goal of making the murder seem unethical by using his convincing argument. Overall, Mark Antony’s speech was helpful in trying to convince the Plebeians. By the end of his speech, the Plebeians believed that the murder of Julius Caesar by the conspirators was an unrightful doing. The conspirators might’ve gotten away with the murder, but will never be seen the same by the

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Antony wanted people to be patient with him. He also says, “When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept: Ambition should be made of sterner stuff” (3.2. 100-101). Antony says this to show that Caesar was a good man who cared about the people. It was also to show that Brutus was wrong when he stated that Caesar was ambitious. Antony makes the citizens feel that the conspirators murder was

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He successfully accomplishes his objective of convincing the mob that Brutus is a traitor and the conspirators are at fault. He played with emotions which was the right thing to do rather than applying logic. He used emotional phrases such as, "My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar" and "Oh judgment; thou art fled to brutish beasts". Which allows him to have a connect with the crowds feeling at the death of Caesar .Antony does not let the restriction of going against the conspirators hinder his speech. He begins not by attacking Brutus or the conspirators, but by praising Caesar.

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