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:
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
Antony reminds the plebeians about the time when he, himself “presented [Caesar] a kingly crown, / Which [Caeasar] did thrice refuse” (III. ii. 97-98). Using logic and reasoning, Mark Antony explains to his crowd that the fallen Caesar couldn’t possibly have been ambitious if he had refused the ticket to become King multiple times. Immediately afterward, Antony made sure to remind the plebeians that Brutus is an honorable man. This use of logos with verbal irony proves to be extremely effective. Since Antony presented the crowd with a compelling fact supporting that Caesar was not ambitious, the phrase “Brutus is an honorable man,” would be even more effective in allowing his audience to realize that Brutus and the conspirators may not be honorable (III. ii. 83). According to Brutus, the conspirator's sole reason to kill Caesar was because they believed he was ambitious, Antony’s statement would then be incredibly useful to turn the crowd against Brutus and his people. The plebeians would start to realize that noble Brutus and his conspirators might not be honorable and could potentially have their own, personal reasons to assassinate Julius Caesar. Once the crowd realizes that Brutus and the conspirators could have murdered their leader for no valid reason, they would begin to feel anger which are the building steps to starting a rebellion just like how Antony
Brutus says," Believe me for mine honor, and have respect for mine honor that you may believe. " III:2:14he-15. By using repetition, the people can easily remember that speech, and that is the kind of speech that they like. In Antony's speech he says," Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, and Brutus is an honorable man." (III:2:84-85).
In Act 1 Scene 2, we see that Cassius is jealous of Caesar and detests
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.
middle of his orchard on the morning of the ides of march the day that
By saying this, Antony is showing how he was as a friend To Caesar and is showing his loyalty and faith to him to tell the audience how great Caesar was.
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
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
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....
Mark Antony’s use of rough and sharp diction contributes to his purpose of convincing the Roman proletariat to turn against the conspirators. Antony addresses the people as “Friends, Romans, [and] countrymen,” and asks for them to “…lend [him their] ears” (III.ii.72), which all three of those words are very rough and direct, as well as
Antony deceives Brutus and the other conspirators with his keen wit and his sweet talk. After a brief minute of expressing sorrow, Antony goes right into saying "Friends am I with you all, and love you all" (III, I, 42). Antony is using flattery in order to get Brutus on his good side so he can speak in the order of Caesar's funeral. Antony asks Brutus if he can, Brutus agrees without hesitation.
As a “speculative man of high motives and refined sensibility”(Catherine C. Dominic) Brutus does have his confusion of motives. Act I, scene ii, is the first we see his weakness, “his concern with reputation and appearance, his subtle vanity and pride”(Gayle Green). Yet the main bases of Brutus’s bewilderment of motives takes place in Act II, scene I, with his famous soliloquy beginning with “It must be by his death”. This speech may be the turning point in which Brutus feels better about the assassination of his once called friend.
Asyndeton is a rhetorical device which eliminates conjunctions in a list. Antony uses this to convey the idea that the list he is making is not complete. It adds drama and rhythm. He opens his speech with “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears” (III.ii.72). Anthony is addressing the crowd as these titles. They are all friendly therefore he is trying to appeal to the crowd. He eliminates the conjunctions because there are many more friendly terms he can address them as. He wants his speech to be personal and is bringing together the social gap between the plebeians [also known as peasants] and him, a person who is higher up in the Roman society. This makes the plebeians believe that he is not talking down to them, but he is talking to them as a friend. The use of asyndeton in this instance makes Antony’s speech more personable and more appealing to the crowd.
Antony begins with the now famous words, “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.”(3.2.62) In referring to the commoners as equals, they feel a sense of empathy even at the first line. This can be seen as a sort of ethos. He goes on to say that Brutus has said that Caesar was ambitious, and that this, if true, is a serious...