Rhetorical Analysis Of Cassius Speech Against Caesar

In Cassius’s eloquent speech against Caesar, he primarily utilizes persuasion through tools such as pathos, rhetorical questions, and compare and contrast. Cassius uses pathos to begin his monologue when he claims, “I know that virtue be in you, Brutus, / As well as I do know your outward favor” (Shakespeare 1.2.95-96). By expressing that Brutus has “virtue” and “outward favor”, Cassius appeals to Brutus’s emotions, but not to an exaggerated extent. This emotional appeal is a persuasion technique because it is used in moderation and in pertinent locations. The context is appropriate since rather than using it as a tool to feed on Brutus’s emotions, Cassius only uses it to get Brutus’s attention as an appropriate hook. Since this context does not distort any information, pathos is a

This justifies the use of rhetorical questions as an acceptable, rational persuasion technique. Immediately after this rhetorical question, Cassius uses compare and contrast by comparing Brutus to Caesar by saying, “Write them together, yours is as fair a name; / Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well” (1.2.48-51). By claiming that Brutus and Caesar both have “fair” names and that the names both “sound” equally honorable, Cassius highlights a clear comparison between Brutus and Caesar. The similarities between the two are emphasized by Cassius in order to persuade Brutus that he is equally as important as Caesar, and should not allow Caesar to establish his own tyrannical state. This rational method of comparing Brutus and Caesar serves to emphasize Cassius’s argument through a logical method of persuasion. As evidenced by the techniques of pathos, rhetorical questions, and compare and contrast, Cassius uses persuasion in a skillful way in order to convince Brutus to overthrow