Pathos In Mark Antony's Eulogy For Caesar

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Pathos is arguably the most effective rhetorical appeal for drawing on emotional reaction from the audience. From emotionally feeling a song to being motivated by a speech, pathos makes its appearance in the best of written literature. A vast advantage is given to the speaker who can take in to account a particular audience's feelings. In Mark Antony's eulogy for Caesar and Atticus Finch's defense statement for Tom Robinson, pathos is effectively used in order to influence the audience's mindset and subjective attitude towards the topic. Mark Antony used pathos in a way that influenced the audience to feel a certain way about the involved characters and the situation in general. He counterintuitively builds up the audience's sensitivity to …show more content…

Atticus Finch took in to account that the jury consisted of all white men and started off by praising Mayella . In lines 1 and 2 Finch says, “I have nothing but pity in my heart for [her]./ She is the victim of cruel poverty and ignorance”. In saying this, Atticus made the audience think he wasn't trying to blatantly attack her. If he started off by going for Mayella's throat, the jury would feel offended in a way because he's defending a black man but blaming the white woman. After easing up the tension, Atticus uses diction and a powerful scenario to create a feeling of disgust in the audience. In lines 5-7 he says, “[Mayella] has committed no crime. She has merely broken a time-honored code of our society – a code so severe that whoever breaks it is hounded from our midst as unfit to live with”. Referring to Mayella kissing Tom Robinson, Atticus emphasizes how deplorable that action is in that time period because he knows the jury consists of 100% white men. By bringing this taboo scenario up and putting the blame on Mayella, he tries to lead the white men to feel disgusted towards her. He then goes on to say that Tom Robinson was the evidence and she needed to destroy it. By saying that Mayella

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