Maryam Matta
Ms. Dellisanti
Honors Eng. 3-4
Dec. 13, 2015
Antony vs. Brutus “To be or not to be, that is the question” Shakespeare. In fact, that was the question regarding Caesar’s death and the answer was “to be”. Cassius, after many tries, finally convinced Brutus to join the conspiracy against Caesar. Brutus had to betray his friend, Caesar, but convinced himself that it was for the good of Rome. The day the senate was going to crown Caesar was the day Brutus and the other conspirators brutally murdered Caesar. After his death, the conspirators announced freedom to Rome and held a funeral for him. At his funeral, Brutus gave a speech to explain to the bewildered Romans why Caesar had to die. Afterwards, Brutus allowed Antony to give his …show more content…
One device he used is diction to justify the death of the dictator, which appears in the phrase, “not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more” (23). That diction highly strengthens the argument in the pathos section. The audience will feel incredibly joyous that Brutus and the conspirators care this much about Rome that they were willing to kill someone. The Romans will view the conspirators as brave and heroic because they just saved them from a king that might have destroyed Rome. Cause and effect is another device Brutus expressed in his speech as he said, “Had you rather Caesar were living and die all slaves, than that caesar were dead to live all free men?” (24-26). In basic terms, Brutus said that if Caesar were alive, all the Roman citizens would have become his slaves. The audience, in this case the Roman citizens, will understand the reasons behind Caesar’s brutal death and will feel relieved that they were just saved from making a huge mistake that would have caused them to lose their freedom. Aside from the few devices used, Brutus’s speech contains some defective fallacies. Brutus includes the fallacy assertion throughout his speech. He claimed, “[Caesar] was ambitious” (28) a few time in the speech. However, he never provides any evidence for that claim, which makes it an assertion. This substantially weakens the argument in the logos and ethos areas …show more content…
Brutus’s ethos, however, was stronger than Antony’s because he was extremely close to Caesar and they mutually loved each other. Furthermore, he had good credentials as an orator and a senator, which made the audience trust him easily. However, the logos of his argument poorly delivered. He didn’t present any evidence to support all the claims he made, which made the audience’s trust of him falter because he was basically asking them to trust him blindly. Although, he had prominent pathos. He swayed the audience’s emotions by using strong diction and questioning the audience. Antony had a strong pathos as well. He used an abundance of anecdotes to appeal to the audience’s emotions. The audience became mournful and their emotions clouded their judgement. Nonetheless, even without the Romans’ reactions, he still delivered an effective pathos because evidence was included. However, his ethos was only somewhat effective. First of all, he didn’t have any experience speaking in public and wasn’t as close to Caesar as Brutus was. Although, he was a well known as politician and appeared as a gentleman to the audience because he praised Brutus and the conspirators and Caesar. Accordingly, the majority of Antony’s ethos was positive. In addition, he gave an effective logos. He used a substantial amount of evidence to support his claims that Caesar was not ambitious and
Ms. Dellisanti
Honors Eng. 3-4
Dec. 13, 2015
Antony vs. Brutus “To be or not to be, that is the question” Shakespeare. In fact, that was the question regarding Caesar’s death and the answer was “to be”. Cassius, after many tries, finally convinced Brutus to join the conspiracy against Caesar. Brutus had to betray his friend, Caesar, but convinced himself that it was for the good of Rome. The day the senate was going to crown Caesar was the day Brutus and the other conspirators brutally murdered Caesar. After his death, the conspirators announced freedom to Rome and held a funeral for him. At his funeral, Brutus gave a speech to explain to the bewildered Romans why Caesar had to die. Afterwards, Brutus allowed Antony to give his …show more content…
One device he used is diction to justify the death of the dictator, which appears in the phrase, “not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more” (23). That diction highly strengthens the argument in the pathos section. The audience will feel incredibly joyous that Brutus and the conspirators care this much about Rome that they were willing to kill someone. The Romans will view the conspirators as brave and heroic because they just saved them from a king that might have destroyed Rome. Cause and effect is another device Brutus expressed in his speech as he said, “Had you rather Caesar were living and die all slaves, than that caesar were dead to live all free men?” (24-26). In basic terms, Brutus said that if Caesar were alive, all the Roman citizens would have become his slaves. The audience, in this case the Roman citizens, will understand the reasons behind Caesar’s brutal death and will feel relieved that they were just saved from making a huge mistake that would have caused them to lose their freedom. Aside from the few devices used, Brutus’s speech contains some defective fallacies. Brutus includes the fallacy assertion throughout his speech. He claimed, “[Caesar] was ambitious” (28) a few time in the speech. However, he never provides any evidence for that claim, which makes it an assertion. This substantially weakens the argument in the logos and ethos areas …show more content…
Brutus’s ethos, however, was stronger than Antony’s because he was extremely close to Caesar and they mutually loved each other. Furthermore, he had good credentials as an orator and a senator, which made the audience trust him easily. However, the logos of his argument poorly delivered. He didn’t present any evidence to support all the claims he made, which made the audience’s trust of him falter because he was basically asking them to trust him blindly. Although, he had prominent pathos. He swayed the audience’s emotions by using strong diction and questioning the audience. Antony had a strong pathos as well. He used an abundance of anecdotes to appeal to the audience’s emotions. The audience became mournful and their emotions clouded their judgement. Nonetheless, even without the Romans’ reactions, he still delivered an effective pathos because evidence was included. However, his ethos was only somewhat effective. First of all, he didn’t have any experience speaking in public and wasn’t as close to Caesar as Brutus was. Although, he was a well known as politician and appeared as a gentleman to the audience because he praised Brutus and the conspirators and Caesar. Accordingly, the majority of Antony’s ethos was positive. In addition, he gave an effective logos. He used a substantial amount of evidence to support his claims that Caesar was not ambitious and