Rhetorical Analysis Essay On Julius Caesar

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The Better Speech “A speech should not be just be a sharing of information, but a sharing of yourself.” This quote by Ralph Archbold is relevant in Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar when Brutus and Antony spoke to the people of Rome, after Caesar’s death. Although Brutus was an honorable man, his speech did not get the outcome he wanted. Antony was very cunning, concise and used pathos to influence the people of Rome. Overall, Antony knew beforehand how to manipulate the crowd with his speech more than Brutus. In Brutus’s speech he used ethos and logos to try and control the people of Rome. He was stoic and blinded of what Antony was capable of. He wanted to change their minds about the conspiracy and the murder of Caesar. Brutus says “Had you rather Caesar were living, and die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live all free men” (III, i, 23-24). In that quote he uses the either or fallacy to justify killing Caesar. He asks “Who is here so base that would be a bondman” (III, ii, 29-30). He also asks, “Who is here so vile that will not love his country?” (III,ii, 33-34). By asking the people a serious of questions that he knows they …show more content…

He made the crowd feel sympathy for him and Caesar. Antony was so persistent about how he worded his speech that he made the people of Rome think they were making their own decision, when really he was influencing them to go against the conspirators. Antony showed the crowd Caesar's body and the stab wounds. Antony says, “Look you here, Here is himself, marred, as you see, with traitors” (III,ii, 191-192). By saying that, it made the crowd connect emotionally to it and feel anger. He pointed out where the conspirators had stabbed caesar and emphasized where brutus had stabbed him. Although, Antony lied to the crowd because he did not see them stab Caesar, but he knows the people of Rome are stupid and will not think