Use Of Pathos In Julius Caesar

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In the play Julius Caesar by William shakespeare, Caesar is murdered by the senators of rome, to prevent his power hungry ego from destroying their beloved city. During Caesar's funeral, both Marc Antony and brutus give speeches. Both speeches contain athos, which appeals to emotions, and rhetorical questions, these emphasize both of the speeches in different ways. Although Brutus is a convincing orator, Antony's uses a more effective form of rhetorical questions and pathos, which evokes feelings in the audience.. Pathos is a technique used in writing in order to appeal to the reader's emotions. In Antony’s speech to the people, he speaks about Caesar over his dead body. His words make the commoners feel something, as opposed to Brutus, …show more content…

Now the difference between the use of rhetorical questions in these speeches is that Antony's was used effectively, he worded it in such a way that stirred feelings as well as made them think. Brutus, on the other hand, only appealed to logic and talking to the citizens in such a way that almost offended them. Brutus says “Who is here so Vile that will not love his country?”. This is a rhetorical question that is weak because it is offending people in a way of making them feel bad if they don't love Rome with a burning passion. This isn't effective because the only thing this could do is make the romans feel as if they are being attacked. On the contrary, Antony's use of rhetorical questions effectively shifts the way the romans think of caesar by saying “You all did love him once, not without cause. What cause withholds you then, you mourn for him?”. For the first time, the romans are being asked why is that they love Caesar, in this moment the question if affective. The reason for its effectiveness is because Anthony is preaching a new concept, this causes people to think, as well as feel. For so long, they had been forced to love Caesar, this rhetorical question gave the power to people to rethink what they had been force fed for so