Comparing Marcus Brutus And Marc Antony In William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar

In Act III Scene II of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare Marcus Brutus and Marc Antony both give a speech to the citizens of Rome after the murder of Julius Caesar. Marcus Brutus gives a speech about how Julius Caesar was evil and that if he had been crowned he would have been a tyrant, and ruin Rome. Afterwards, Marc Antony gives a speech to the citizens of Rome about how they loved Caesar, and that Marcus Brutus and the others who conspired with him to kill Caesar were evil. After both speeches are made, Marc Antony’s speech is more successful and has more of an impact than Marcus Brutus’ speech. First, Marc Antony used the rhetorical strategy pathos, which means emotional appeal, better than Marcus Brutus by using some quotes such

In his speech, Marc Antony used quotes such as “You all did love him once, not without cause, what cause withholds you then, to mourn him?” To logically prove to the audience that they had liked Caesar and they started suddenly disliking only because of Marcus Brutus, when they should dislike Marcus Brutus instead. In Marcus Brutus’ speech, the only way he used logos is when he said “Who here is so vile that will not love his country?” Which made it seem that if someone disagreed with him, they hated Rome. Similarly to the reason to why Marc Antony’s use of the rhetorical strategy pathos was better than Marcus Brutus’, the reason that Marc Antony’s use of pathos had a heavier impact and was more effective was because he used the citizens of Rome directly in his speech, when Brutus’ argument was that if you disagreed with him, you hated Rome. During his speech, Antony was being genuine, and reminding the people how they had loved Caesar. Brutus was being manipulative to make people agree with him so that he was not attacked by

Marc Antony used quotes such as “I thrice presented him with a kingly crown which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?” Which had an effect on the crowd of people, because it made it so Marcus Brutus’ sounded like a liar when he called Caesar ambitious, and it made Caesar not look power hungry and tyrannical. In Marcus Brutus’ speech, the only ethos quote he used was “Had you rather Caesar live and die all slaves than that Caesar was dead, and live all free men?” There was no proof that people would become slaves under Caesar, Brutus and his conspirators just assumed that Caesar was going to become a tyrant and ruin Rome. Which was later explained by Marc Antony reminding how Caesar was not a tyrant and reminding the citizens that they had loved Caesar. Finally, the reason why Marc Antony’s use of ethos was better than Marcus Brutus’ was because Marc Antony’s had an effect on the crowd, and Marcus Brutus’ was just proven wrong during Marc Antony’s speech when the people had remembered that they loved