Julius Caesar a play by William Shakespeare depicting the tragedy of the historic death of the famous ruler of Rome which the work is named after. The author uses a combination of Logos, Pathos, and Ethos to capture the reader's attention and emotions throughout the story. However, these rhetorical references are most prevalent during the speeches of Brutus and Mark Antony to the commoners at Caesar’s funeral. The speakers use these strategies to attempt to gain the people's support their cause. The winner of this debate is Antony who draws a revolution together to battle the conspirators that killed his dear Caesar. He does this by using stronger and more examples of these literary tools. The first and arguably most impactful of these tools …show more content…
Early on in his speech, Antony proclaims, “he was my friend, faithful and just to me.” The word “friend” gives the audience belief that if anyone would know about Caesar being ambitious, as Brutus accused, it would have been Antony. This was the first shot the Antony took at the credibility of his opponent. The second attack on his reliability was made with the words, “He hath brought many captives home to Rome / Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill” (III.ii.91). Mark Antony speaks about the personal accomplishments of Brutus to give a little credit to his opponent while also boosting his own through the roof. This is the result because it makes Mark Antony seem unbiased in the situation. Shakespeare also uses ethos in the last sentence of the passage when Antony requests, “My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, / And I must pause till it come back to me.” In this line, Mark Antony shows outward mourning, in doing so lowering himself to the level of the crowd. This puts himself on the same level as the people giving them a more easily relatable and agreeable leader. Through these three examples of ethos, Mark Antony gains the people’s trust allowing him to propose his revolution plan with little