Julius Caesar Rhetoric

Julius Caesar is one of Shakespeare's greatest plays full of friendship, betrayal, death, and persuasion, also known as rhetoric. Rhetoric is a key component to Julius Caesar by how characters such as Cassius, Brutus, and Antony use their persuasion and speaking skills to sway the opinions of a person or group. Through this tale, Shakespeare is passing the message to the reader that everyone's actions are influenced by others by their use of logos, pathos, and ethos. The play takes place in the mighty city of Rome where Caesar has recently defeated his opponent, Pompey, and is being offered the crown by the people. However the conflict boils when the other nobles and senators think that Caesar will take their power and become a dictator over

On the other hand, there is Cassius who dislikes him and inflames jealousy within the nobles towards him. Eventually, all of these characters are involved with the murder of Caesar. Later in the plot, two parties are made, the leaders who think that Caesar's death was justified- Brutus and Cassius and not justified- Octavius, Antony. All of these characters use rhetoric, which is the art and skill in the effective use of speech, to achieve their goals. Cassius’ goal is to persuade the other nobles and especially Brutus to join the conspiracy. Brutus uses rhetoric to justify Caesar's death and addressing the citizens after the murder. Antony’s rhetoric skills are expressly compelling to the citizens at the funeral of Caesar. PUT A TRANSITION

Antony was one of the few political nobles who was opposed to the murdering of Caesar and believed that his reign would be invaluable towards Rome. He is a man already distrusted by the conspirators for his friendship with Caesar and is put under the pressure of giving his speech to the people after Brutus’ speech. His first display of rhetoric is when he engages the crowd in a personal way. He says, “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him” (JC III.ii.82-83). He gives respect to all people and appropriately asks for their time to speak to them. Antony cries during his dialogue using melodrama to seem more legitimate and to grab the attention of all the listeners. The plebeians think that, “Poor soul, his eyes are red as fire with weeping...There’s not a nobler man in Rome than Antony” (JC III.ii.27-28). Another technique that Antony uses is the power of reverse psychology, once again an aspect of rhetoric. Before Caesar dies he leaves a will which is extremely generous to the common people and Antony uses this to his advantage. He first baits the people by saying he will not read it, which makes them more eager to hear, “Read the will! We’ll hear it, Antony… You shall read us the will, Caesar's will”(JC III.ii.159-160). After reading the will and telling them the story of all the stab wounds, this leads the public to become mad at the