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Julius Caesar Rhetorical Devices

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Antony didn’t sugar coat how the death of Caesar happened. Shakespeare uses many literary terms in his play Julius Caesar, in the play Brutus and many of his acquaintances are plotting Caesar’s, the future ruler of Rome, death. When death comes for Caesar the people of Rome are furious, that is until Brutus gives a persuasive Funeral speech convincing that the death of Caesar was done in Rome’s favor. Antony, who loved Caesar very much, had nothing to do with his death; he gave a very long speech that then re-convinced the romans that Caesar was an asset to their nation. In order to convince the Romans, Antony used many rhetorical devices such as, Verbal Irony, repetition, and Rhetorical Questions. Throughout Antony’s speech he stressed …show more content…

“Brutus is an honourable man…” (Act III, Scene 2). Antony really wants to emphasize that Brutus was honourable. He is doing this in a sarcastic way, because what honourable man would kill someone the romans loved if it was in their best interest to have him as ruler. “Another example is when he says that he should do the men who killed Caesar wrong” (Act III, Scene 2). Throughout this he is just trying to get the point across, and let the people know he is serious. He later then says he is a good guy who is basically honourable and will not do them wrong. Antony continues to use rhetorical devices and literary terms such and rhetorical questions. The rhetorical questions that Antony used are for the purpose of getting the romans to think, but not to actually answer it. Antony first said, “Which he did thrice refuse, was this ambition?” (Act III, Scene 2). Antony asked or stated this question to get the people thinking about the ambition of Caesar. Following, he later asked, “What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him? (Act III, Scene 2). Again to get the people pondering the idea of whether or not they should mourn for the death of Caesar. After Antony’s speech they were no longer confounded about who they believed, Antony or

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In the excerpt of Mark Antony’s Oration, in Act III and Scene II from Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, Mark Antony is trying to make the point that the conspirators are to blame without actually making the point obvious. He does this using multiple methods, such as, repetition, sarcasm, rhetorical questions, and logos. For example, Antony uses repetition in the speech when ambitious is repeated multiple times and honorable is repeated with the phrase “Brutus is an honorable man” (line 10). This creates a sarcastic tone and makes it seem as if Caesar was really not ambitious, and Brutus was really not honorable. Antony uses rhetorical questions, such as, “Did this in Caesar seem ambitious,” to hint to the audience that he does not agree

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Antony’s funeral oration is one of the most important speeches in Julius Caesar. Antony is the most skillful speaker because of his ability to turn a mass of uneducated plebeians once faithful towards the conspirators completely against them with emotional appeals. In Antony’s speech, one of his uses of emotional appeals is to create a kind and friendly relationship with plebeians. At the beginning of his discourse, he uses a synecdoche and asyndeton with his appeal.

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Mark Antony, as noble as a bald eagle in the eyes of Rome, was one of the most intelligent, trustworthy, and popular people of his time. After Caesar’s murder, Antony gains the trust of the conspirators to speak to the citizens at Caesar’s funeral. He uses his speech to indirectly turn the people of Rome against the conspirators. Antony was one of many to give a long speech within the story, but what stands out in his speeches is the ability to move a whole population’s tendencies and beliefs to side with himself using the power of rhetoric. Although Antony’s speech may be seen as him just feeding the people’s ears with words they want to hear, the well structured devices used enable the listeners to fill their own ears with their second guessing thoughts.

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In our world, there has always been power struggles between people, and egos and personal opinions and motives will always play a role in how we choose to view a person and/or their choices. What happened to Caesar is a reminder to people that power can have different effects on different people, and Antony chose to handle Caesar’s rise to power through violence and used a speech to convince to people of Rome. Perhaps Antony did see something in Caesar that that the rest of the people truely didn’t see, or perhaps he used other people’s visions as a way to get rid of Caesar so he had a chance at power. Perhaps we will never

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This immediantly catches the ear’s of the audience as they hear about how much Mark Antony loved Ceasar. Antony repeats to the people that Brutus was an honorable man. He is being almost sarcastic when he says this though. Antony doesn’t actually think that Brutus is an honorable man. He is mocking Brutus.

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Similar to Brutus' speech, Antony starts out by expressing his relatability, beginning with, "Friends, Romans, countrymen . . . " signifying that he speaks to everyone equally (Shakespeare). Concurrently, he addresses his authority by speaking in blank verse, the way in which noble people speak. To contest Brutus' logic, Antony makes multiple conjectures. For instance, "He hath brought many captives home to Rome / Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill," describing how Caesar, too, cared deeply for Rome (Shakespeare).

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Through the use of ethos throughout his speech, Marc Antony told the audience that he was a genuine friend of Caesar. In his own words, "He was my friend, faithful, and just to me." This serves to remind the crowd that he is a devoted friend of Caesar. By demonstrating his friendship with Caesar and expressing affection for him, he seeks a similar response from the people of Rome. He shown his regard for everyone and gained their trust by using ethos.

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The Tragedy of Julius Caesar In Act III Scene II in William Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Antony delivers a speech at Julius Caesar’s funeral. Antony uses a sarcastic, empathetic, and persuasive tone in order to turn the citizens of Rome against Caesar’s conspirators and murderers. Antony’s purpose is to convince the citizens of Rome that killing Caesar was unjust. He attempts to convince the plebeians that Brutus, Cassius, and the other conspirators are not as honorable or innocent as they are acting by delivering his speech in a manner that is hardly noticeable. He does it like this because does not want to overstep his boundaries or rules given to him by Brutus.

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Early on in the speech Antony begins frustratedly: You all did love him once, not without cause: What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him? Oh judgment!

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Mark Antony is trying to win over the people of Rome by his very effective use of rhetoric. In his speech, his overall point is to persuade the Roman citizens that Brutus’s claim of Caesar being ambitious is not true. Antony’s use of rhetorical devices such as a rhetorical question give the people a good message. When he is telling them that Caesar brought many captives to Rome, he asks, “Did this in Caesar seem ambitious” (3.2.18). Antony’s rhetorical question was very effective since he is making the people question Brutus’s claim.

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He also used another rhetorical element called rhetorical questions. Rhetorical questions were important in this speech because it got the people to self-evaluate and really consider if they believe that Caesar 's actions justified for him to be murdered. Throughout Antony 's speech he is trying to discredit the conspirators who pose Ceasar as an ambitious man who will enslave everyone and lead Rome to ruin. Antony counters that by describing Ceasar as a person who will weep the loss of someone and asks the peoples if "this in Caesar seem[s] ambitious" (53). By Antony asking that question, the people are reevaluation everything they knew about Ceasar and are being swayed to believe that he was not ambitious.

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First, Antony tries to earn trust in the audience at the obsequy as he states," Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.(Shakespeare 82), which is a signal of

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The death of Julius Caesar was an arguable topic, especially at the time of his funeral when senators were trying to benefit from his death by getting the Roman citizens to be on their side. At Caesar’s funeral, two senators gave their own speech in hopes to get the roman people on their side. Between the two speeches, Marc Antony portrayed a more effective and persuasive speech because of his use of rhetorical appeals, biases, and being true to himself. The appeals used in Antony’s speech were persuasively superior over Brutus’s speech.

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