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Julius Caesar Rhetorical Devices

911 Words4 Pages

Emily Giarrizzo

Ms. McGinnity

Honors English II

18 November 2015

The beauty of William Shakespeare does not lie his writing, but in the theme in which each of his plays suggest. The speech Marc Antony delivered has an immense impact on the minds of the citizens in Rome through the influence of devices, language, and details. While using a manipulative and powerful tone, he manages to sway a whole crowd while hiding his intentions of revenge and maintaining a neutral ground throughout the entirety of his monologue.

To begin with, Marc Antony, the trusted advisor, discusses the unjust slaughter of Julius Caesar by building credibility within the audience while nullifying Brutus’ speech. In William Shakespeare’s tragedy Julius Caesar, …show more content…

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!” (III.ii.140-146). Antony begins by establishing a link between the people of Rome, thus, leveling himself with the crowd and calming them down. He then insists that the crowd does not want to hear Caesar’s final thoughts, knowing the crowd will beg for it, stirring up and flustering them up, which grasps their attention through the use of verbal irony and diction. Moreover, through the usage of word “inflame,” Antony adequately flusters the crowd Furthermore, Antony utters, “And men have lost their reason. Bear with me; / My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, / And I must pause till it come back to me. [He weeps]” (III.ii.105-107). Antony shows his love and admiration for Caesar in attempt to make the people feel the same way, as he is in such deep sorrow and misses his dear friend. He strikes compassion upon citizens of Rome through the use of diction and an angelic tone, and the crowd begins to mourn the death of the beloved Julius

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By refusing to read the will several times and admitting that what it contains will cause the people to have such a great love for Caesar that knowing he is now dead will be unbearable, Antony ignites curiosity in the people and furthermore, a subconscious feeling of respect and graciousness toward Caesar. Basically, Antony uses Caesar’s will to convince the people that Caesar was a selfless, kind-hearted man and those who killed him should be ashamed and punished for killing an innocent man. Through Antony’s use of paralipsis, he is able to plant a seed of admiration for Caesar and one of hate for the conspirators in the hearts of the plebeians. In his speech to the citizens, Antony also asks many rhetorical questions to cause his audience to pause and reflect on how they really feel, or how Antony wants them to feel, about certain people and events that have recently become important. In one instance.

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