English
Miss Coyle
29 October 2014
For The Good of Rome Aristotle once said, "In making a speech one must study three points: first, the means of producing persuasion; second, the language; third the proper arrangement of the various parts of the speech." When looking at the speeches of generals, political leaders, and religious leaders, it is evident that the best speeches properly utilize these three points. In Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, Rome was on the verge of a political collapse after the carefully calculated assassination of Julius Caesar by the Roman Senate. It was up to the ringleader of the senators, Brutus, and Caesar's old friend, Mark Antony, to share their views on the situation and inform the public what …show more content…
The most convincing use of ethos in Antony’s speech is in the first line of the speech; "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!" This shows that Mark Antony is trying to set himself as a trustworthy fellow Roman. Antony also uses rhetorical irony throughout the speech constantly questioning the ethos of Brutus by satirically referring to him as an honorable man after listing everything wrong he has done. Brutus uses Ethos in an attempt to reaffirm his nobility. Brutus begs the public to side with him by pronouncing, "Believe me for mine honor, and have respect to mine honor that you may believe" (III,ii,). This is significant because it shows that Brutus is aware of his reputation and desires to use it to help his cause. However, Antony outshines Brutus due to the fact he refutes Brutus' claim and manipulates the crowd into believing that Brutus' cause is not …show more content…
Brutus opens Julius Caesar's will reading, "To every Roman citizen he gives, to every several man, seventy-five drachmas." This line carries the power to make the Roman citizens sorrowful about Caesar's death. The logos by Antony shows that Caesar cared so much about his people that not only did he cry for them, he left money in the will for them. This heavily influences the change of mind in the crowd. Brutus is renown as one of the most intelligent in Rome. Brutus clearly states what logical progression he went through to make his decision saying, "Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more." Brutus hopes by letting the public in on what he was thinking, showing that he believed he was doing it for them, they would choose him. However, Antony's use of logos was more effective than Brutus' because he had solid proof through Caesar's sealed will proving that Caesar truly cared for