Similarities Between Julius Caesar And Martin Luther King Jr

888 Words4 Pages

Aaradhana Kumar
Mr. Regier
English 10 - period 7
29 May 2023
Julius Caesar Essay
In the world, language is the vessel of communication most capable of causing change. Spoken language can generate powerful and influential change in the form of speeches, such as Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. In the same realm, written words and letters can have just as powerful of an impact and are dissected for years to come, such as “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, also by Martin Luther King Jr. While both the aforementioned speech and letter caused positive social movements, one can see the use of language in a harmful way in the play Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare. From the fake letters Cassius implanted and his twisted words …show more content…

While their speeches may have been for different causes, the parallels between Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech and Antony’s funeral speech are very apparent. Both use rhetoric extensively, with King talking about his personal experiences to develop his character, to Antony talking about his friendship and how Caesar was “faithful and just” - both examples of Ethos (III.85-86). They both appeal to pathos, the emotional side, with Antony specifically pointing out the different stab wounds on Caesar and naming the conspirator that inflicted each one, regardless of whether it was true or not. Even in their actual speaking, they are finding ways to appeal to the crowd; In King’s famous speech, he takes pauses at very poignant moments, giving the audience an opportunity to react and cheer. Throughout his funeral speech, Antony is crying, and the audience’s reaction to his emotion and their shifting opinion on the conspirators is visible in the script. Both speeches use repetition, such as King repeating the phrase “I have a dream”, and Antony repeating that “Brutus was an honorable man” - successfully placing emphasis on what they want the audience to focus on. Even though both speeches use very similar rhetoric to incite change, the type of change they are trying to achieve is vastly different. King is advocating for the end to racial segregation, but he is not calling for violence - in fact, he directly says not to resort to violence. Contrarily, Antony’s goal is quite the opposite - to incite violence in the crowd. As the crowd is leaving with plans of burning down the traitors houses, Antony says, “‘Now let it work: Mischief, thou art afoot, Take thou what course thou wilt” (III.3.260-261). As he is relishing in his ultimate goal, Antony’s