Funeral Speech Comparison in Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, portrayed the clash of powers that went on between the remaining leaders after the assassination of the dictator, Julius Caesar. The play took a substantial advantage of rhetorical devices and Shakespeare made it palpable that he valued the art of persuasion at an exceptionally high level. Arguably Shakespeare’s best application of rhetoric are the two funeral speeches given by Brutus and Mark Antony in scene II of Act III. Although Brutus did establish how reliable he was to the audience, and displayed his overall goodness before the conspiracy, Antony delivered a more effective speech by manipulating the fact that he had Caesar’s will, presenting his relationship with Caesar, and using a reasonable amount of logical persuasion. …show more content…
Simply put, logos is an allure to one's logical thoughts. Arguably, logos was the most well employed form of rhetoric by Antony. When Antony remarked, “I thrice presented him a kingly crown(Act III, scene II, 1640),” he was trying to show Caesars goodness and he supported it with a valid reason; Antony established a relationship with the commoners’ love for Caesar, since they wanted Caesar to be king. In contrast, Brutus tried to convince the people that Caesar was too ambitious and needed to die, but he didn’t provide any reasons as to why he had to die. Although Antony made a strong point with the harnessing of logos, that alone wasn’t enough for the people. If Antony hadn’t used this logical persuasion, his speech might not have had such a powerful
Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, portrayed the clash of powers that went on between the remaining leaders after the assassination of the dictator, Julius Caesar. The play took a substantial advantage of rhetorical devices and Shakespeare made it palpable that he valued the art of persuasion at an exceptionally high level. Arguably Shakespeare’s best application of rhetoric are the two funeral speeches given by Brutus and Mark Antony in scene II of Act III. Although Brutus did establish how reliable he was to the audience, and displayed his overall goodness before the conspiracy, Antony delivered a more effective speech by manipulating the fact that he had Caesar’s will, presenting his relationship with Caesar, and using a reasonable amount of logical persuasion. …show more content…
Simply put, logos is an allure to one's logical thoughts. Arguably, logos was the most well employed form of rhetoric by Antony. When Antony remarked, “I thrice presented him a kingly crown(Act III, scene II, 1640),” he was trying to show Caesars goodness and he supported it with a valid reason; Antony established a relationship with the commoners’ love for Caesar, since they wanted Caesar to be king. In contrast, Brutus tried to convince the people that Caesar was too ambitious and needed to die, but he didn’t provide any reasons as to why he had to die. Although Antony made a strong point with the harnessing of logos, that alone wasn’t enough for the people. If Antony hadn’t used this logical persuasion, his speech might not have had such a powerful