Pathos And Huctics In Mark Antony's Speech In Julius Caesar

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In William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar Mark Antony’s speech is more persuasive than the one Brutus gives because he uses better tactics and more powerful rhetoric. In his speech Brutus uses gravitas and ethos which in the end backfires because it makes his speech less relatable and portrays him as better than the plebeians. Mark Antony gives his speech after Brutus and he uses this to his advantage by using verbal irony and more specially sarcasm. Mark Antony uses pathos and exaggeration to create powerful rhetoric and to connect with the human emotions of the plebeians. In his funeral speech Mark Antony uses tactics that better relate to human nature and better connect with the plebeians rather than Brutus who tries to appeal to logic …show more content…
When Brutus give his seed he tries to appeal to logic, one way he does this is ethos by saying “believe me for mine honor, and have respect”(JC III, II, 15-16). Brutus uses ethos to try to prove his credibility to the plebeians by saying how he is an honorable man because he is trying appeal to logic. However this ends up not working out in the end for Brutus because when Antony gives his speech he lowers himself down to the plebeians and since he goes second he can use this against Brutus, where as Brutus just ends up seeming better then the plebeians and unrelatable. Another way Brutus uses gravitas to try to appeal to the plebians is when he first addresses them he calls them “Romans, countrymen, and lovers”(JC III, II, 14). Then Brutus first addresses the plebeians he refers to them as smart, trustworthy, and honest romans who are smart enough to decide high way they want Rome to go in appealing to their logic. This is an intelligent strategy but it does not go well for brutus because Antony is able to better appeal to the more powerful human emotion as he refers to the plebians as friends when he addresses them in his speech. Brutus uses gravitas, logos, and ethos to try to sway the plebeians to the side of the conspirators this does not go well a Antony is able to better connect with the plebeians by using human …show more content…
Antony tries to connect with the emotion of the plebeians by saying phrases such as “when the poor hath cried Caesar hath wept”(JC III, II, 100). In his speech Antony uses pathos and exaggeration as he is trying to make Caesar look like a great person and someone who helps the poor in order to sway the plebeians. Brutus in his speech uses logic or logos but Mark Antony knows that human emotions will be stronger than logic so he exaggerates how great Caesar is to fire up the plebeians. One more way Antony uses pathos an exaggeration to earn favor of the plebeians is during his speech when he is about to read Caesar's will he says “if you tears prepare to shed them now”(JC III, II, 181). Antony is appealing to the emotion of the crowd by reading the will and talking about how Caesar loved them an this helps but his speech above the speech of Brutus because they could not connect with his speech. Another advantage of reading the will for Antony is it made the plebeians feel as if caesar loved them and it causes them to be angry at the conspirators for killing him. Mark Antony’s use of pathos and exaggeration is able to elevate his speech above that of Brutus because it gives him a powerful emotional connection with the

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