Brutus Use Of Rhetoric In The Tragedy Of Julius Caesar

To be able to change others way of thinking by just using your words is the most incredible form of power. Both funeral speeches were said in attempt to persuade the citizens whether Caesar’s death was for the good of Rome or if Brutus and the conspirators were just murders. Brutus utilized ethic by indicating that he is exceptionally loyal to Rome before he is even faithful to his dearest friends. His objective was to impress the citizens. While Antony utilized very convincing quality in his speech to persuade the audience. His goal was to attempt to get the citizens to completely trust him and see who the genuine murder is and set a search for them. In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare explores the power of rhetoric through …show more content…
In the play, the only way that Brutus and the conspirators were going to allow Antony speak at Caesar’s funeral was if he did not say anything negative about the conspirators and Brutus. But Antony did not have to say anything negative about them just to have the citizens side with him. Antony continuously uses the ironic phrase, “For Brutus is an honorable man” (III, ii, 81). Here the reader can see, that Antony kept repeating this phrase to have the citizens slowly see that Brutus was not indeed an honorable man. He does this to have the crowd question if Brutus is actually honorable. Each time the line is repeated the citizens increasingly come to the conclusion that Brutus was not as honorable as he said he was with the assassination of Caesar. Antony uses repetition in his speech to have the citizens question if Brutus is as honorable as everyone thinks he …show more content…
Even though Antony’s speech was overall more persuasive than Brutus’ the parallelism in Brutus’ speech was more powerful. Brutus had used his honor to his advantage, continually reminding the crowd that he is the most honorable man in all of Rome. Brutus commented “Hear me for my cause, and be silent that you may hear. Believe me for mine honor, and have respect to mine honor that you may believe” (III, ii, 13-15). Here the reader can see, that Brutus is a rational man and trusts that other men can be influenced by reason. He is on edge to justify himself. In his speech he uses "I" many times, that he not even once says Cassius or any of conspirators names. His real character quality is that he is a thinker. He anticipates that other men will be thinkers as well, since we as a whole tend to judge others on our own. Brutus’ usage of the rhetorical strategy of parallelism was increasingly powerful compared to