Brutus And Antony Speech Essay

In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar written by William Shakespeare, there are two speeches regarding the same topic that are presented to the public. Both Mark Antony and Brutus delivered speeches after the death of Julius Caesar, consisting of their opinion and explanation of what has happened and why, for the needs of the Roman people. Both of the speeches have a very distinct and different purpose, and appealed to different mental senses of the crowd (Ethos, Logos, and Pathos). As Mark Antony 's words were favored and followed, riots broke out and Rome was indescribably angry and upset upon the tragedy of Julius Caesar. This event foreshadowed the conclusion of the story, and set the scene for the following conflicts that reeked havoc upon Rome …show more content…
Brutus and Mark Antony 's motivation for their speech was almost the opposite of one another to a certain extent. Brutus felt a great amount of sorrow and remorse, and tried to appeal to the ethos and Logos of the public to gain there trust and respect. He also reminisced upon his and Caesars friendship, and very clearly stated he only followed through for the good of Rome. Brutus only desired to stop the tyranny that Julius Caesar was provoking, and protect the health and success of his country. Brutus uses logical and rational ideas and therefore appeals to Logos when he speaks that he killed Caesar because he “loved Rome more.” Brutus tries to justify his and other conspirators actions, to relieve any intense emotions or potent tension. Brutus also connects with the citizens of Rome as referring to them in his greeting: “Romans, countrymen, lovers.” This engaged some of the audience specifically, as well as making them feel as though Brutus sought of them as friends and equal to him. As well as this, it made the audience feel like he values and respects them for all the work they have done for the success of …show more content…
Mark Antony was a very persuasive and intelligent man. As Rome 's people were seeking for answers, Mark saw this as a perfect opportunity to gain leverage and trust with the people. Mark Antony knew his audience very well, and appealed to the emotions (pathos) of the former soldiers of Caesar. He advertised the very skeptical assassination to promote doubt and sorrow, and received to get a rise out of the crowd in reaction. His goal was to create a mob mentality, and he succeeded in this because of his speech. He turned the Romans against the conspirators, resulting in a rebellion. This led Mark to gain the general appeal, and therefore overall power and authority. To achieve this, he presented the audience stab wounds in Caesar’s body, and manipulated the emotions of the people to benefit only himself in the end. This is a very ironic goal, given the reasoning for the assassination of Caesar (tyranny). To conclude, Mark was a master of persuasive speaking, and applied his full effort into his speech. Because of this, he reaped the benefits available, and gained the trust of the majority of Rome 's