Marc Antony's Ethos In Julius Caesar

In William Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caesar, there are two strong examples of persuasive speaking. Occurring within minutes of each other, Marcus Brutus and Marc Antony’s speeches at Julius Caesar’s funeral were brilliantly spoken and well thought out. Both speeches use ethos, an appeal to an audience’s ethics, pathos, an appeal to an audience’s emotions, and logos, an appeal to an audience’s logic. Brutus, a Roman leader who was Caesar’s friend, spoke first, and gave a short, but more effective speech than Antony, explaining why he betrayed and stabbed Caesar and full of prime examples of ethos, pathos, and logos. Brutus showed ethos before he even began his speech. He was a well respected Roman leader and had no trouble at all getting his …show more content…
He notably empathized his love for Caesar by saying, “If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of Caesars, to him I say that Brutus’ love to Caesar was no less than his.” Brutus shows his love to Caesar, proving that he knew that it would have to come down to Caesar dying, his own friend dying, for the sake of his country. The crowd feels pity for Brutus, the poor Roman leader who had to kill his friend for his country, a decision none of them would ever feel brave enough to do. In awe of the drastic measures Brutus has taken, Brutus’ countrymen shower his with their support, willing to do anything he bids. One citizen even says, “Bring him with triumph home unto his house!” proving that the crowd standing before Brutus believed he was a great man. Lastly, Brutus used logos to lure the more educated men, few as there were in this particular crowd, to support him. By stating, “Had you rather Caesar were living and die all slaves, than that Caesar were dad, to live all free men?” Brutus presents two options to the crowd. Most people would rather be free than enslaved, making, “Caesar were dead, to live all free men.” the more logical answer. Brutus is able to give reason to his actions, which are presented as more logical and less spur-of-the-moment deadly. By presenting the crowd with this cause and effect, Brutus achieved their full support through