Persuasion In Julius Caesar

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Throughout Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, multiple nonconcrete aspects affect the plot. These aspects mix with some of the actions of the characters. The play begins with Julius Caesar returning to Rome after defeating his rival and is close to becoming the leader. A group of conspirators plans to assassinate Caesar in hopes of interfering with the obscene amount of power that he would gain if he took the position. Although there are warnings against going to the senate-house, Caesar ignores all of them and goes anyway. Both the group of conspirators and Caesar end up at the senate house, where Caesar is killed. The aftermath of the assassination includes a debate involving an entire crowd of people and a civil war. These …show more content…

Persuasion is primarily used in the debate between Brutus and Antony after Caesar’s death. Brutus attempts to sway the crowd of people toward believing that Caesar’s death was for good intentions using his honor, while Antony secretly turns the crowd against the conspirators with evidence; according to Susan Hines, it is the display of Caesar’s body that has successfully turned the crowd of people against the conspirators (135-136). Antony’s speech causes the crowd of people to riot and leads to the battle at the end of the play. There is also persuasion involved in Brutus joining the conspiracy, using letters that appear to have come from other citizens. To ensure Caesar’s arrival at the state house, Decius tries to convince Caesar to still go despite the warnings, by reinterpreting Calpurnia’s dream and telling Caesar that the Senate might rethink their decision of crowning him if he doesn’t arrive (Shakespeare Act 2 Scene 2. 83- 96). Caesar believes Decius’ statements and decides to go to the state house, where he is consequently