Brutus Caesar Funeral Speech Analysis

Words can be very manipulative and persuasive, if used right, they can be used to get people to feel different emotions and make people do things. But also, they can be used to make people do things that they might not have ever done without hearing that speaker say what they said to them. Rhetorical and literary devices are included when people are trying to persuade and manipulate people to more effectively change peoples minds. In certain situations, this can lead to really bad endings and consequences which is why they are so dangerous when used right by the wrong person. Brutus has a persuasive tone during his funeral speech and uses his credibility in order to win the crowd over. Dramatic pause, antithesis, loaded words, and parallelism are all used in order to emphasize this tone. Antithesis is used when he explains to the commoners of Rome that if “Caesar were living [they would] all die slaves [but if] Caesar were dead [they would] live as freeman” (Shakespeare 42). The audience can put a mental note in their heads about what would have happened if Caesar had become king and he were not killed, this is going to induce the citizens that they are safe now. He uses either or fallacy to make the commoners feel like a weight has been lifted off of their chests which makes the tone in this part of the speech uplifting. Having an uplifting tone will help Brutus because the people of Rome will want to be on his side and feel better about themselves rather than having a dark and gloomy tone where the people will feel …show more content…
Both Brutus and Antony have a persuasive tone during their speeches as Brutus uses his credibility and some reasoning while Antony uses actual evidence and fiery emotion. Although Brutus has a strong speech and wins the crowd over, Antony is able to win them back through his power using his oratory