Analysis of the Funeral Speeches of Brutus and Marc Antony from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar At the funeral of Julius Caesar two characters make speeches to the plebeian mob, Brutus and Marc Antony. Shakespeare shows us the personalities of the two orators and gives one an advantage over the other. Marc Antony has an advantage over Brutus because he speaks after Brutus and he has Caesar’s body. He also interrupts Brutus’ speech. He uses a range of rhetorical devices to manipulate the crowd. Both characters make very powerful speeches that will eventually determine who rules Rome. Both characters begin their speeches with a list of three. This rhetorical device creates a powerful and intense atmosphere: “Romans, countrymen, and lovers” – Brutus “Friends, Romans, countrymen” – Marc Antony Brutus puts “Romans” and “countrymen” at the start of his list of three. This shows us that Brutus’ number one priority is Rome and his country, and not the people. It shows us that he is honourable and patriotic. Whereas, Marc Antony starts his list of three with “Friends”. This is bringing himself down to the plebeian level and he makes the crowd feel as though he is their friend even though they are separated by status and rank. This language technique is commonly know as phatic language. It is very appealing for the plebeians to hear this. Not only does Marc Antony make the plebeians feel good about themselves by pretending to be there friend, but he also complements them: “You are not wood, you are not stones, but men.” This quotation is also foreshadowing what the senators said at the beginning of the play. The senators insult the plebeians by saying “You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things!” Marc Antony later compliments the plebeians by saying that they are the opposite of this. Marc Antony’s compliment is very powerful and it makes the plebeians feel useful. Brutus uses the imperative in his speech. This makes him feel superior and in control of the crowd:
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare is a historic tragedy about the brutal murder of the Roman senator, Julius Caesar. Within the play, Caesar has two close friends—Brutus and Antony. Antony is a loyal friend, supporting Caesar and encouraging him in his climb to kingship; Brutus is a king-fearing traitor who leads the plot to murder Caesar. After Caesar is murdered, both friends make speeches—Brutus to justify his actions and Antony to passive-aggressively disprove his claims. In the speeches, they use three rhetorical literary devices: ethos, the appeal to gain the crowd’s trust; pathos, stirring the crowd’s emotions to influence behavior; and logos, the use of logic to reason with the crowd. By comparing the use of ethos, pathos, and logos in each speech and by
In Act 1 Scene 2, we see that Cassius is jealous of Caesar and detests
Brutus used pathos excessively in his funeral speech and they appealed to the Plebeians’ sense of patriotism and love. Before Brutus joined Cassius’ conspiracy, he was one of Caesar’s favorites, a close friend, and well-respected and trusted by Caesar. When Cassius brought out the idea of the conspiracy, Brutus anxiously pondered and conflicted with himself about it, but in the end joined with the genuine belief that it will benefit the people of Rome. He hoped Caesar’s death would end corruption in Rome, and the distress and sadness of the citizens. Thus, he used pathos in his funeral speech in order to appeal to the sense of patriotism and love for home. Brutus said, “If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer:
In the beginning of his speech, Mark Antony establishes a friendly persona while he creates a feeling of urgency for revolt. He begins by addressing the crowd as “Friends, Romans, countrymen” (JC 3.2.74). After listening to Brutus’s persuasive speech, Mark Antony understands that he must appeal to the audience through a different approach to gain supporters. Antony specifically uses an informal “Friends” to unify himself with the Romans, which provides the Romans a sense of trustworthiness in the stranger that will destroy a beloved general’s reputation. In addition, Antony he leaves out the “and” in “Friends, Romans, countrymen” (JC 3.2.74). Antony uses asyndeton and omits the conjunction between “Romans, countrymen” to create a rushing rhythm as well as a feeling of urgency because he needs the public to understand that Brutus is a villain. In addition, he uses the asyndeton to prove to the public that friendship is an urgent matter, which further builds the public’s trust in Antony. To conclude his introduction, Mark Antony asks the public to lend him their ears (JC 3.2.74). However, he does not literally mean that they should remove their ears and lend them to him, but instead, he uses it to...
Through the whole of his spectacular speech, Mark Antony influences the crowd using his distinct diction. He is able to inculcate a fired up anti-Caesar mass of people, and he makes the populace believe that Julius Caesar’s death was a true tragedy. Antony gracefully applies his proficiency with ‘logos’ and ‘pathos’ to his speech and is able to adroitly gain followers. His strong reasoning and explanations allow the Romans to buy what he has to say. Antony’s ability to speak in a roundabout way is a key constituent of his speech. Withal, he is extremely humble and the way he plays down his prowess is impressive. Mark Antony puts all the parts of his remarkable rhetoric together, and the result is a speech for the ages.
middle of his orchard on the morning of the ides of march the day that
The final piece used to persuade the crowd is Pathos, Both Antony and Brutus use this to talk about Caesar’s death. Antony says. ‘’Come I speak in Caesar’s funeral. He was my friend, faithful and just to me: But Brutus says he was ambitious;’’ while Brutus says ‘’as Caesar loved me, I weep for him; as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was valiant, I honour him; but, as he was ambitious, I slew him. ‘’ With this they are both saying he is a good, but Brutus is also trying to say that even though he killed Caesar he loved him, but I was something that had to be
Pericles Funeral Oration is a speech that was given by Pericles whom was the Athenian 's Strategos (military commander) and written down by the famous historian, Thucydides that was an Athenian that attended the speech. The speech is Pericles effort to rally the Athenian people and lift their spirits and moral at a funeral after losing soldiers or member of war in the first battle of the Peloponnesian war, so that they would continue the good fight and not give up. Pericles attempts this by telling the Athenian people that their way of life, their form of democracy, what their ancestors fought for, their great military and policies, their constitution are all at stake and they must standup in order to preserve the beautiful culture
William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar is a tragic story of the dog and the manger. After Caesar is killed Mark Antony, a good friend of Caesar, plots to revenge his bloody death. He knows there is strength in numbers, and through a speech at Caesar's funeral, Antony plans to win the crowd of Rome and turn them against Brutus and the other conspirators. Cassius is one of the leading conspirators and is weary of Antony; Brutus is confident that there is nothing to fear, but he speaks before Antony at the funeral just to be safe. These two speeches, vastly different in message but similar in delivery, move the emotions of the people. Brutus's and Antony's speeches differ in length, have similar ways of keeping the crowd's attention, and differ in tone.
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.
In William Shakespeare's play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, two speeches are given to the people of Rome about Caesar's death. In Act 3, Scene 2 of this play Brutus and Antony both try to sway the minds of the Romans toward their views. Brutus tried to make the people believe he killed Caesar for a noble cause. Antony tried to persuade the people that the conspirators committed an act of brutality toward Caesar and were traitors. The effectiveness and ineffectiveness of both Antony's and Brutus's speech to the people are conveyed through tone and rhetorical devices.
The definition of a tragic hero is perceived as on who is neither wicked nor purely innocent, one who “is brave and noble but guilty of the tragic flaw of assuming that honorable ends justify dishonorable means”. In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Brutus takes the role of the tragic hero. Brutus’s honor, nobility, and self-righteousness makes him “a tragic figure, if not the hero” (Catherine C. Dominic).
“Julius Caesar” by William Shakespeare is the story of the assassination of Julius Caesar. Two speeches were made after his death, one being by Mark Antony. He uses many rhetorical devices in this speech to counter the previous speech and persuade the crowd that the conspirators who killed Caesar were wrong. Rhetoric is the art of persuasion and these many devices strengthen this by making points and highlighting flaws. Antony uses many rhetorical devices, all of which are used to persuade the crowd that the conspirators are wrong and Caesar did not need to be killed.
A later example occurs during the funeral oration by Mark Antony. Brutus logically gives his reasons that necessitated Caesar’s death. He informs them that he acted out of love of Rome and his desire to prevent tyrants from controlling her. The citizens embrace his words with cheers and understanding. However, their mood alters when Antony offers his interpretation of the situation. He passionately described the deeds Caesar performed in behalf of the citizens of Rome, which clearly contradict the opinion of the conspirators that Caesar was too ambitious. Antony carefully uses irony in referring to Cassius and Brutus as honorable men; the strategy wins over the citizens and they listen with growing anger to his words. He leads the citizens to the body and begins to show the brutal results of the murder while simultaneously influencing them to believe that the conspirators are murderers and traitors. Ultimately, Antony reads Caesar’s will, which leaves his parks, private estates, and newly planted gardens to the citizens of Rome.
The speech made by Marcus Antonius, called Antony, in Act Three, Scene Two of Julius Caesar shows that despite being considered a sportsman above all else, he is highly skilled with the art of oratory as well. In the play by William Shakespeare, this speech is made at the funeral of Caesar after he is killed by Brutus and the other conspirators. Brutus claimed earlier, in his own funeral speech, that the killing of Caesar was justified. He felt that Caesar was a threat, and too ambitious to be allowed as ruler. Much of this sentiment, however, was developed by the treacherous Cassius. Antony, on the other hand, felt that the conspirators were traitors to Rome and should be dealt with. This speech used a variety of methods to gradually bring the crowd to his side, yet maintain his side of the deal with Brutus. This deal was that he, “shall not in your funeral speech blame us...” (3.1.245) for the death of Caesar. Antony holds his end of the deal for the majority of the speech, yet by doing so convinces the crowd of Brutus' and the others' disloyalty. In many ways, this speech can be seen as the ultimate rhetoric, and it includes all three of Aristotle's methods of persuasion. This are the appeal to credibility, called ethos, the appeal to emotions, called pathos, and the appeal to logic, called logos. All three of these devices are used to great effect during the speech of Marcus Antonius.