Rhetorical Strategies In Julius Caesar

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Julius Caesar, a very famous play written by William Shakespeare, is known for it’s great use of rhetoric. The general plot is a story of two senators, Brutus and Cassius who have come to a realization that Caesar is not good with his power and they fear what he will do for Rome; so they plan his death. Once they go through with the plan, they have a funeral speech held for Caesar in which Brutus speaks attempting to persuade the citizens that Caesar deserved his death, whereas Antony believes he did not deserve it and gives the people reasons why, causing a hostile audience. With the use of ethos and pathos, Antony’s rhetorical strategy was more effective than Brutus’. Marc Antony’s speech that shook the people of Rome was mainly how he used certain rhetorical strategies. To begin with, Antony was giving the speech because he was an old friend of Caesar’s, making him the “sender”. The “receiver” on the other hand, happens to be the crowd of people because they are giving a hostile and overall bad feedback. In his speech, he often uses repetition, “For Brutus is an honorable man; / So they are all, all honorable men” (III.ii.79-80), to emphasize …show more content…

The rhetorical strategy he uses is logos. “I found it in his closet; ‘tis his will. / Let but the commons hear this testament, / Which (pardon me) I do not mean to read,” (III.ii.126-128). When Antony announces Caesar’s will and proceeds to say that he should not read it, it gives the crowd an excitement to hear it because they are curious of what is written on it. He says that if the people heard it, they would dip their handkerchiefs in his blood to remember him by. They gather around Caesar’s body so Antony can show the people who made the will. This strategy worked very effectively because the crowd responded in a excited yet hostile way more or less because they were eager to know more about why what the conspirators did was

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