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Rhetorical Devices In Brutus's Speech

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The fact Brutus uses his speech to convince himself his actions are just is quite apparent as his speech comes to a close, but Antony fuels the crowd with rage, wishing for chaos after Cæsar’s fall. Brutus responds with a simple, “Then none have I offended,”(Shakespeare III.ii.38-39) to the crowd after they tell him no one wants to be a slave, almost as if it was more for himself than for the crowd. Antony, however, spoke for a much longer time than Brutus, and plants the seeds of doubt in the crowd’s mind by telling them “Brutus is an honorable man,”(Shakespeare III.ii.89) more than six times, which makes them curious as to if that is really true. Brutus a single appeal to logos, which tells the crowd that “The question of [Cæsar’s] death …show more content…

He also taunts the crowd with Cæsar’s will, warning them that it will “inflame [them], it will make [them] mad:”(Shakespeare III.ii.148). When the crowd gathers around him, rather than directly read the will, Antony tells of the death of Cæsar, appealing to their emotions so they wish to rebel, but before they leave, the shrewd speaker reminds them, “You have forgot the will I told you of,”(Shakespeare III.ii.239). The Romans go into a total frenzy after the declaration of the will, and they are swayed so much into anger that they kill a poet named Cinna only because he shares the name of one of the conspirators. Danson illustrates that “The poet’s rendering at the hands of the mob is unreasonable, based solely on the confusion of identities (of names, words), and while it bears some resemblance to the sacrifice of a scapegoat figure, it is really no sacrifice at all but unsanctioned murder,”(Danson 226), which is completely ignored by the entire city, for their emotions won over their reason and Antony is too busy making his list of threats to his …show more content…

The less straight-forward approach wins the people’s hearts, as Antony reveals the flaws in Brutus’s justification without once calling him a traitor. Brutus seems to use the speech more to persuade himself, which weakens his effect on others, but since Brutus is likely denying his heart, which knows heit was made a dishonorable act, he cannot touch the emotions of the crowd, leaving a doorway for Antony to draw them in and kindle a fire of rage. Brutus’s weak appeal to only his honor only minorly won the Roman people, but honor alone was not enough against logic, friendliness, and emotion displayed by his

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At the same time, Antony uses rhetoric to persuade the Romans. While Antony is questioning the citizens why they do not love Caesar anymore, he uses pathos. He asks, “what cause withholds you then, to mourn

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Brutus wants to make the crowd feel like he is in a way the victim. In order to do that he says "As Caesar loved me I weep for him" so in a way the people feel bad for him. This emotional appeal did not persuade the audience considering the fact that he was if he truly did love Caesar as much as he said he would, then he would have tried to find a different route in getting rid of Caesar as emperor. Antony goes with the approach of making the people of Rome feel guilty. He tells the citizens "You all love him once not without cause what cause withholds you then to mourn for him" so they could reflect on their attitude towards his death.

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Within Antony’s speech to the Romans he uses anaphoric text to spike a whirl of rage towards Brutus. Repeatedly Antony states “Brutus is an honorable man” emphatically for the duration of his speech to contradict Brutus’s nobility ( March Antony, Lines 83,88,95 ). Before Antony begins his speech he is approached by the Romans with comments to not speak bad on Brutus’s name, which is why he utilized the anaphora to repeat that Brutus is an honorable man therefore allowing him to gain the Romans trust to speak. Antony does not say these lines truthfully but sarcastically to make the people of Rome feel furious against Brutus for taking Caesar to his mortal death.

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Antony wants to remind the Romans that he is credible for speaking of Caesar “that love my friend, and that they know full well, that gave me public leave to speak of him” (III.ii.215-216) Antony uses ethos after telling the Romans everything to convince them in being against that conspirators’ that he can speak of Caesar because he was a close friend of Caesar. Antony convinces the Romans to retribute the conspirators’ for what they have done “In every wound of Caesar that should move the stones of Rome to rise and mutiny” (III.ii.225-226) Antony wants revenge and is convincing the Romans to riot by using pathos. Antony wants the Romans to feel sorry about Caesar’s death “here was a Caesar! When comes such another?”

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