Pathos In Julius Caesar Ethos

Antony gave a powerful and moving speech in act three of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. The speech persuaded the crowd to shift their opinions of Caesar’s murder to Antony's own. Antony uses persuasive elements to make his own point of view the unanimous view of the entire crowd. Pathos is used to create a connection between the crowd and himself, Ethos to show his credibility in the matter and finally rhetorical questions to make the crowd think causing them to find reason within themselves. Antony's opening words were the most important in the whole speech. Using pathos in Antony's introductory sentence gave him a certain connection with the crowd. This connection between the crowd and himself allowed his words to penetrate deeper into the minds of the people of Rome. “Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Lend me your ears” (III.ii.75) were the words that Antony used to help implant his ideals into those of the crowd. Brutus started his speech with “Romans, countrymen, lovers!” (III.ii.13) whereas Antony used the same sentence but rearranged and with the addition of a single word, “friends”. Antony created an emotional appeal by assuring the crowd that he was not just a stranger but rather one of them. “What cause withholds you then, to

Due to the origin of the answers the listener is more likely to accept it. Antony uses the most compelling of rhetorical questions to help his opinions, “Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?” (III.ii.99). Antony offered the crown to Caesar three times and he turned it down three times thus helping the crowd to come to the conclusion that Caesar was not only modest but ambitious as well. The question caused the crowd to really think “was Caesar ambitious and humble?” in which the most common answer would be “yes”. With all of these persuasive elements packed into such a powerful speech it is not hard to see why the crowd took so well to Antony's