In Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Cassius encompasses ethical and emotional appeal to persuade Brutus that something should be done about Caesar's aspirations for sovereignty. For instance, Cassius cleverly references himself as "Aeneas, our great ancestor,/ Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder,/ The old Anchises bear, so from the waves of Tiber,/ Did I the tried Caesar" (1.2.23-26). Cassius skillfully employs vivid imagery to depict how he once rescued Caesar when they were swimming in the River Tiber, while heavily suggesting that Caesar is a feeble man compared earlier to the event from Roman history. Cassius also explains to Brutus how it is ironic that Caesar appears to be an omnipotent figure since Caesar is no better
In his play Julius Caesar, Shakespeare employs various rhetorical strategies such as direct address, repetition, and apostrophe in Antony’s eulogy to convince the crowd into believing that Caesar was a good ruler. His excellent use of rhetoric begins before he starts his speech through the establishment of familiarity. Before Antony begins his speech, he refers to the crowd as “friends, romans, [and] countrymen” to establish a personal connection, indicating the use of direct address (3.2.82). By referring to the crowd as “friends,” Antony removes any separation between him and the audience, establishing a close bond by choice. As it came first on his list, it emphasizes the importance of his friendship with the audience as friendship implies
In speechcraft, orators have reverted to three basic concepts to persuade an audience; ethics, logic or emotion. All views are powerful, the path of emotion, or pathos, has stirred men to riots, the path of ethics, or ethos, has reminded people of the basest of their knowing and the path of logic, or logos, has calmed the savagest of beasts to men. No matter how human's develop, they retain the remnants of their not so distant cousins, animals. This is apparent when one takes note in the brain's ability to overcome human speech with basic emotions, to ‘render one speechless’ if you will. In these cases, much like animals, humans are propelled into action, leaving behind civilized concepts,
Playwright, William Shakespeare, in the play Julius Caesar, utilizes many instances of rhetorical devices through the actions and speech of Caesar's right-hand man, Mark Antony. In the given excerpt, Antony demonstrates several of those rhetorical devices such as verbal irony, sarcasm, logos, ethos, and pathos which allows him to sway the plebeians. The central purpose of Mark Antony’s funeral speech is to persuade his audience into believing that Caesar had no ill intentions while manipulating the plebeians into starting a rebellion against their new enemies, Brutus and the conspirators.
Shakespeare uses Cassius’ characterization in Julius Caesar to prove that Caesar is justified in his concerns about Cassius. Through means of indirect characterization, it is presented that Cassius is willing to act somewhat sycophantic to acquire what he finds necessary. When Cassius is speaking to Brutus in an attempt to sway his opinion concerning his loyalty to Caesar, he compares Brutus to Caesar and praises his equivalent status, stating that Brutus’ name is “as fair a name,” “it is as heavy,” and “will start a spirit as soon as ‘Caesar’,” and even rhetorically asks “upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed that he has grown so great?¨ (Shakespeare I. ii. 144-150). By providing reasoning behind his belief that Brutus is “as fair a name”
Additionally, Cassius shouldn’t be commended for saving Caesar from drowning because he remembrances that deed to convince others that Caesar is feeble than most, yet he is treated like a god. Cassius’s greed for power motivates his murderous motivations, but his ability to manipulate others to his will is also evident in his words. He refers to Caesar’s overwhelming power, similar to a Colossus, while he and the others “.walk under his huge legs. ” or are hidden in his glory. In reality, though, the senators are more esteemed than despised. Another way Cassius misleads others is by faking Caesar’s fascist behavior toward the commoners.
In this day and age, persuasion can be seen on almost any screen. The average American views thousands of advertisements every week. Most ads are simply pushed out of a person’s mind, but the successful advertisements are the ones that resonate with people. Some forms of ads are very annoying to those who put up with them constantly. Online pop-up ads, for example, are proven to do worse for products and business than no advertising at all! This is because this form of advertising does nothing to convince or persuade the person viewing the ad, and no effort is put into actually put into proving what it’s worth to make a point. Pop-ads make zero use of something known as “rhetorical devices”. In Julius Caesar, Brutus and Mark Antony both try to convey their point of view to a large audience of Roman citizens. One had a better speech than the other since he used “rhetorical devices” more effectively. Logos (logical; what makes sense), Ethos (ethics and morals; portraying similar beliefs and values), and Pathos (emotions; natural feelings that can be counterintuitive to logos) are the rhetorical devices that Aristotle
Rhetorical devices can be seen being used in history, such as William Shakespeare’s dramatic play “Julius Caesar”. In Shakespeare’s play Brutus and Antony conspire to lead a group to assassinate Caesar. Rome is in a panic as they find out that their first emperor Octavian who went by the name Julius Caesar has been stabbed to death. Brutus and Antony in an effort to achieve Rome’s support use rhetorical devices to try to receive support for their actions. You can see how they use ethos, pathos, and logos to eventually achieve their goal of persuading the citizens of Rome.
"The evil that men do lives after them, the good is oft interred with their bones.” This quote from Marc Antony’s speech in Julius Caesar displays only a small part of his true feelings to the crowd that gathers for Caesar’s funeral, while also revealing some underlying intentions. This elaborate and emotional speech also shows how loyal he was to Caesar as a leader and as a friend.
Cassius has the ability to utilize powerful emotional appeal in act 1 scene 2 of Julius Caesar. Cassius is speaking to Brutus about his potential as a leader, and he would be much better than Caesar. He said, “O, you and I have heard our fathers say, there was Brutus once that would have brooked th’ eternal devil to keep his state in Rome as easily as a king” (1.2.159-161). This statement is saying that Brutus would be better a king that Caesar would be and he can put an end to the terrible reign of Caesar. It is a strong emotional appeal because it is essentially saying that Brutus can bring an end to suffering. With Caesar being compared to a devil has definite negative connotation, it says that only maliciousness comes Caesar and Brutus could bring good. This statement also is ethos appeal because it is basically authorized by their fathers, and they can be looked to for advice. Cassius takes the respect from the elderly and says Brutus can be their savior creating an
Imagine yourself listening to a political debate, undecided as to which leader you agree with. One candidate begins to speak about unjust societal issues, such as the horrifying amount of people in the world that do not have food on their table. The candidate also begins to touch upon the topic of taxes and how he will lower them if he is elected. You find yourself being persuaded in the direction of emotions and morals. The power of language used to appeal others is not only present in the modern world, but also in the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, written by famous English playwright William Shakespeare. The Tragedy of Julius Caesar portrayed a story of how an aspiring leader, Julius Caesar, is assassinated by a group of schemers, lead by Marcus Brutus, who disagreed with Caesar’s decrees and ways of governing. Over the course of the text, it demonstrated the use of two rhetorical charms: ethos and pathos. While ethos refers to the moral and ethical appeal and pathos invokes to the emotional aspect, each one was evidently shown in the funeral speech for Caesar given by his best friend, Mark Antony. Prior to Antony’s speech, Brutus had given the plebeians a synopsis of what had occurred. However, Mark Antony knew that what Brutus had told the plebeians was false. In such manner, he allured the plebeians onto his side of the tragedy by touching upon ethical and emotional appeals.
Rhetorical devices have been around for many centuries, and they are used to convince and persuade people to believe in their cause. These strategies exploit individuals by influencing them to feel sympathy or trust the speaker. In Julius Caesar, a historic tragedy written by the prominent Shakespeare, Antony’s brilliant rhetorical strategies are used to trump Brutus and prompt the Roman people to unite with his rebellion against the unjust butcher of the beloved Julius Caesar.
In Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar there are many things. One becomes apparent to Brutus is how powerful words can be. Cassius used his words to trick Brutus. Antony used his words to rally the people into a war. Portia uses her words to have brutus tell his secret. I used my words to talk my friend out of suicide.
“And let us bathe our hands, our hands in Caesar's blood, up to the elbows, and besmear our swords. Then walk we forth, even to the marketplace, and waving our red weapons over our heads, let's all cry “peace, liberty, and freedom.” (III i 106-110) Brutus thinks that they will be regarded as heroes and saviors. They don't realize how popular Caesar was in the people’s eyes and this led to civil war.
There is a theory that if we were to see a clone of ourselves we would not be able to recognize them right away. We do not know what we look like in person. We have only seen our faces through reflections and pictures. However, those can be deceiving because our perception of how we look is different from how we appear in reality to other people. Similarly, Shakespeare uses the motif of eyes, mirrors, and reflections in Act 1 Scene 2 of Julius Caesar in the conversation between Brutus and Cassius in order propel the plot forward by using it as a way for Cassius to convince Brutus into murdering Caesar as well as spur the reader to think about good and bad in society and whether an unjust person can perform an unjust deed.
Why would a title be a name of a fairly minor character? Yes Julius Caesar was a character of major power, but he was killed off in Act 3! The title should include Marcus Brutus, seeing as he is the actual main character. He was the one who was in the play a vast majority and made a very big impact on the plot!