Rhetorical Appeals In Julius Caesar

The way one expresses something can change the way the audience feels about the topic. Julius Caesar, a play by William Shakespeare, concerns the death of Caesar. Brutus envied Caesar because he wanted to become the ruler of Rome, but Caesar was next in line. So Brutus stabbed him and told himself it was for the better of Rome, as he believed that Caesar would try to abuse his power as a ruler. Both Brutus and Antony gave speeches at Caesar's funeral. Still, they both took different approaches and used rhetorical appeals with the hope of making a larger effect on the people of Rome than the other.
Brutus’ intended for his speech to appeal to logic, or logos. He used phrases such as “Had you rather…” and common sense to help the audience understand and agree with what he thinks of Caesar. “Had you rather Caesar were living and die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live all free men?” (ll 20-21) Brutus wants the audience to think that if Caesar was alive they would live miserably. But if he was the ruler, everyone would live freely. Brutus was trying to

He used words like “love” and “honourable” and addressed the audience as “friends” intending to make the Plebeians feel more emotional while listening to him. The people of Rome once loved Caesar, but after listening to Brutus’ speech, their opinions of Caesar changed. “You all did love him once, not without cause. What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?” (ll 101-102) Antony wants the audience to realize that they all cared for Caesar and supported him and his ideas at one point, but after hearing Brutus’ speech, all of their opinions changed. “And they would go and kiss dead Caesar’s wounds and dip their napkins in his sacred blood, yea, beg a hair of him for memory…” (ll 131-133) Antony’s concern is that Caesar was loved, but the people who didn’t care for him when he was alive are coming back and mourning his