Julius Caesar Rhetorical Analysis Essay

In the play, Julius Caesar, everyone sees Antony as a noble man. He speaks at Caesar’s funeral for the “sake” of Brutus, who the crowd refers to as honorable and sincere. By associating himself with Brutus, Antony gains authority. He skillfully persuades a crowd that loves Brutus, that Caesar wasn't ambitious and that Brutus isn’t honorable. By using verbal irony, an anecdote, and imagery which appeals to the audience's emotions, Antony persuades the crowd that Caesar’s death was not reasonable. Throughout his argument, Antony uses repetition sarcastically to emphasize his point to the audience. Antony knows the crowd admires Brutus so at first he says, “Brutus is an honorable man..”(line 83), to essentially “pull the rope back.” He knows that going against Brutus straight out, will anger the crowd. However, as the argument progresses, the more the line is repeated, the further its meaning changes, and the phrase becomes a joke. Antony further develops his argument with irony, in lines 145-146, where, while taunting the crowd with Caesar’s will, he says. “Tis good you know not that you are his heirs.” Instead of telling them outright that they are Caesar’s heirs, he pretends not to reveal the will, while he actually does. Using this technique he emphasizes what he wants them to know. By indirectly stating his …show more content…
In line 91 Antony says, “When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept…” Here he creates the image that Caesar felt the pain of the people even more so than they did. Later, when Antony shows the crowd Caesar’s body saying, “Here is himself, married, as you see, with traitors” (line 195) the crowd becomes riled up, shouting “O traitors, villains!... We will be revenged” (lines 190-201). By bringing up Caesar’s wounds and crediting him as a passionate leader, Antony influences the crowd to believe that Brutus is not honorable and Caesar was not