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brutus and his conflict
brutus and his conflict
argument of brutus and antony
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It has been said fighting fire with fire only leaves both parties burned. Human emotions have the strength of fire; consequently, emotion can damage many souls if left to burn. At the funeral of Caesar, Brutus is aware the crowd is burning with passion and mistrust and strategically chooses to fight their raging emotions with soothing logic. This choice defines Brutus' speech. Even though he had the disadvantage of going first and the crowd ultimately sided against him, Brutus's speech managed to best Antony's in the areas of Ethos, Parallelism/repetition, and logos.
From the beginning of his speech, Brutus makes it clear that he is trustworthy and should be listened to. "...believe me for mine honor, and have respect to my honor..." he pleads to a confused and angry crowd (3.2.15-16). He continues by making appeals to those who love Caesar, saying that he and Caesar were good friends. He uses his own reputation to strengthen the bond of trust between himself and the crowd. Meanwhile, Antony only makes himself trustworthy by associating himself with Brutus and the conspirators. "Here under leave of Brutus and the rest..." he mentions in the opening of his speech, siphoning off of the trust recently created between Brutus and the crowd (3.2.80). After that line, he simply goes on to glorify his dead friend, turning the ethos created by Brutus onto himself and severing the connection the crowd had with the former. If the roles had been reversed and Antony had gone first, one would find no reason to trust Antony, making Brutus the uncontested best at employing ethos.
Being that Brutus bases his speech on logic and trust, it would make sense that he does a better job at parallelism and repetition, due to the fact that this techniqu...
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...t does appear it is not anything special. Brutus clearly has bested Antony at using logos.
Brutus has a clear and concise argument that depicts the logical tendency of his thinking. Antony's argument is the foil of Brutus's, kindling the crowd's anger by constantly letting his emotions push his speech forward. But just as fire can offer warmth during chilling times, it can also cause severe damage. Because of Antony's speech, an innocent poet was killed and Rome was almost destroyed. Brutus managed to take a group of passionate, outraged people and calm them enough to see the reasoning in Caesar's murder. He went to great lengths with the techniques of ethos, parallelism/repetition, and logos to help others look forward into a promising future without Caesar. And though the crowd chose differently, from these aspects one can conclude Brutus had the superior speech.
Pathos: "This was the unkindest cut of them all". Antony creates an emotional connection with the crowd when he makes them look at the stab that Brutus and the conspirators had done to him , this makes the people angry because the conspirators had killed a great person ( in the people's eyes ) making the people starting to rebel the conspirators and wanting to kill all of
In his speech, Brutus appeals to the loyalism of his audience by making intertwining arguments of ethos, pathos, and logos. He begins by establishing his ethos by asserting his status as an honorable fellow Roman worthy of their respect. He expands on this ethos by dividing it into three parts: his love of Caesar, his loyalty to Rome, and his relationship to his audience. Brutus tells his audience that he was a “dear friend” to the man he murdered, invoking a pathetic sense of sympathy from his audience. However, as he says himself, it was “not that [he] loved Caesar less, but that [he] loved Rome more,” strengthening his ethos as a loyal countryman with the interests of his audience at heart. After establishing an emotional connection to his audience and earning their trust, Brutus explains his logic
Because Antony ingeniously uses a plethora of logical, emotional, and credible arguments, he outshines Brutus’s speech, which lacks in verifiable evidence. Antony also seizes the power of rhetorical devices in a more effective way than Brutus to convey his message. This battle between their speeches reflects in the outcome of their war, showing the superiority of Antony’s persuasive ability. While Brutus may have been an “honorable man,” it was Antony that proved to be the more effective one.
Antony asks rhetorical questions and lets the audience answer for themselves. Brutus uses ethos by stating that he a noble man and that is why the people should believe him but infact Antony questions his nobility by saying what Brutus said,” Brutus is an honourable man”(III.ii.79). In a way, Antony states what Brutus states to convince the audience by using examples that Brutus is wrong. Antony himself knows what kind of man Brutus is but lets the people figure it out on their own. In addition, Brutus uses logos by expressing that fact that Caesar died because of his ambition. This argument is severely under supported because his reasons are invalid and simply observations. Antony uses “did this in Caesar seem ambitious” to question Brutus’ argument (III.ii.82). Antony gives examples backing his argument like when Caesar refused the crown thrice to prove his humbleness. The way Antony convinces the people to rebel is by using pathos. He brings the audience in by stepping down to their level and showing them the body of Caesar. While Antony talks at Caesar's funeral, he pauses because” heart us in the coffin there with Caesar “(III.ii.98). When Antony becomes emotional, he reminds the audience about what injust event happened to the much loved
Antony and Brutus played critical parts into the situation of Caesar’s death.Their speeches represented the different views of Julius Caesar’s death, telling the crowds of the reasons of his death. The speeches both used techniques persuade the Romans with their different beliefs by giving them a thinking point to base their decisions of what side they agree with( eventually creating the armies they join in the conflict to find and prove the truth of Julius Caesar’s death.
Brutus put his trust in Antony to not turn on him at the funeral. He was lead to believe that Antony would only speak good of the conspirators and defend them for the actions they have made. He trusted Antony when he told him he would not express such hate and talk of the bad they did and then later turned against them for the vengeance of Caesar. Brutus told Antony, “You shall not in your funeral speech blame us, But speak all good you can devise of Caesar” (III.i.245-246). He told him that the only way he is going to be able to speak at Caesar’s funeral is if he speaks good of the conspirators. After Antony said his speech, the whole crowd immediately switched and sided with him against them. They wanted nothing more than for Brutus, Cassius and the other contributors to be dead. This reveals that Brutus is shameful for putting his trust in someone who was so close to Caesar. Brutus trusted that Antony wouldn't do anything and just imagined he would be to scared to step up and speak out. This leads to Brutus losing the trust he had for Antony and starting a war between the people and the conspirators. As the war was about to proceed, they all prepped for what was about to happen. Antony and his army completely dominated Brutus’ and lead to many of them fleeing for their lives. Many people died by genocide while other committed suicide. Brutus was among the ones of suicide. He no longer wanted to be alive and felt that he had lived and fulfill what he had wanted. People were dead and he knew he was going to be one of them. Brutus’ last words were, “Caesar, now be still; I killed not thee with half so good a will” (V.v.50-51). He wanted Caesar to know that he can now be at rest because the vengeance he was looking for has been given. Because of all the trust he put in the people that were taking advantage of him, he ended up finishing his life. This reveals that Brutus really did
“If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer: not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.” (1) In this sentence he is using pathos to invoke the audience, trying to put them in his own shoes by telling them that he conspired against Julius for their sake. “As Caesar loved me, I weep for him. As he was fortunate, I rejoice at it. As he was valiant, I honor him. But, as he was ambitious, I slew him.” In this quote he uses words of emotion such as love, rejoice, and honor. Brutus is trying to influence the audience into giving him sympathy by making the audience feel what he wants them to
Brutus primarily uses the rhetorical appeal of ethos in his speech. Ethos is prevalent in his speech when he is speaking about his love for Rome,which ultimately is higher than his love for Caesar. He relies on defending himself and proving to the townspeople his actions were a sacrifice for Rome. Brutus states, “Believe me for mine honor,and have respect for mine honor, that/ you may believe” (JC III.ii.14-16).Brutus’s expectations for his speech were for people to respond reasonably and realize that what he did was the right thing. Brutus is very successful because he presents the political struct...
As a final point, Antony and Brutus both spoke at Caesar’s funeral to prove their reasoning’s to the people. Antony’s speech turned out to be the more effective one because he manipulates the words ambitious and honorable to contradict Brutus, he uses props to provide substantial evidence to the people, and his speech was more effective because it essentially persuaded the people to be on his side whereas Brutus did not convince the people of anything.
...ut even in this scene, Cassius seems to be more emotional than Brutus, and also creates a feeling of sadness within the audience. Antony’s speech creates an enormous amount of chaos within the crowd. “Good friends, sweet friends, let me not stir you up/ To such a sudden flood of mutiny” (954). Here, Antony uses reverse psychology on the crowd, thus bringing them to decide that there should be punishment for the conspirators. Even though Brutus tries to use his rank and trust of the Romans to bring down a potential threat, his plan backfires and he dies a man who had to flee Rome.
The most predominate and important aspect In the play Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare are the speeches given to the Roman citizens by Brutus and Antony, the two main charaters, following the death of Caesar. Brutus and Antony both spoke to the crowd,using the same rhetorical devices to express their thoughts. Both speakers used the three classical appeals employed in the speeches: ethos, which is an appeal to credibility; pathos, which is an appeal to the emotion of the audience; and logos, which is an appeal to the content and arrangement of the argument itself. Even though both speeches have the same structure Antony’s speech is significantly more effective than Brutus’s.
Brutus made his speech effective in persuading the people by using tone and rhetorical devices. Brutus was compassionate when referring to how he loved Caesar as much as Caesar`s friends of his speech. Brutus was showing compassion on lines18 - 20 when he said, "If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of Caesar's, to him I say that Brutus's love to Caesar was no less than his." Brutus said this to help the people understand the sorrow he felt for the loss of Caesar, but he felt he killed Caesar for the good of Rome. Brutus anticipated an objection by the people when he said he loved Caesar , so he went on to say on lines 20 - 23, "If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer: Not that I love Caesar less, but Rome more."Brutus manipulated the people with rhetorical questions. He asks them on lines 29 - 33, " who is so base, that they would be a bondman, who is so rude, that they would not be a Roman, and who is so vile, that will not love his country," the people do not want to be against their country nor do they want to be so base to be a slave....
Now taking that idea and transferring it to Brutus 's speech it makes sense that Brutus would use prose not only to align himself with the plebeians but as preserves and sounds more methodical compared to verse. On the other hand, Marc Antony 's use of verse would then suggest irrationality or heightened emotions compared to Brutus 's cold cut language. However, it may be arguable that Marc Antony isn 't entirely emotional in the moment but rather that he cleverly uses his emotions in a manipulative
Brutus repeatedly says, “If any, speak, for him have I offended,” (III.ii.25). Brutus’ tactic is to try to force someone, or dare them, to disagree with him, which no one ends up doing. Brutus tries to make people fear him, which works for a brief period of time. Mark Antony, on the other hand, goes on the attack, rather than the defense, by repeatedly saying, “Yet Brutus said he was ambitious; And… he is an honourable man.” (III.ii.89-90). By going on the offensive side, Mark Antony uses the repetition of this extreme usage of irony and sarcasm to make the audience understand that all of this is Brutus’ fault and that he should be punished for his crimes, no matter his intentions. Both groups use similar rhetorical strategies to prove that Caesar should or should not be dead for what he has done, with differing results. Brutus and Mark Antony also use emotional appeals to persuade their audience that they are correct in the matter of the death of their esteemed
Brutus commits three costly mistakes during the play. The first mistake that he makes is that he participates in the assassination of Julius Caesar. “People, and senators, be not affrighted. /Fly not; stand still; ambition’s debt is paid”(938). In doing this, Brutus does just the opposite of what he set out to do which is to protect Rome from the ambition of humans. This action also perpetually gives him the name of a traitor. The second and most important mistake that Brutus makes is that he allows Antony to speak at Caesar’s funeral. “And you shall speak in the same pulpit whereto I am going /After my speech is ended”(945). Not only does Brutus allow Mark Antony to speak after Cassius tells him not to let him have such a right, but he gives him the better time to do it as well. Speaking second is more strategic than first because of the fact that the man or woman that speaks second is delivering the speech that the audience will remember. The citizens most likely will not remember Brutus’s meager speech that is soon disregarded after Antony begins to speak. This act of arrogance is actually the backbone to the downfall of Brutus. The third mistake that Brutus makes is tha...