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Brutus Speech in Julius Caesar

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Brutus Speech in Julius Caesar
The Tragedy of Brutus
After the murder of Julius Caesar, Brutus sets out to explain why the conspirators plotted against Caesar. He is there to shift the crowd to support the death of their beloved leader and to show them the good things that will result of Caesar’s demise. Brutus knows that the crowd is not on the side of the conspirators, so he knows he has to be cautious of how he gets their support. Brutus is worried about his public duty and is prepared to act for the common good of Rome. Brutus uses his patriotism and his love for Rome to move the crowd to support the brutal murder of Caesar Brutus’ speech starts of with reason and order, he tells the crowd to “censure me in your wisdom, and awake your senses”. Brutus himself can think of nothing to accuse Caesar with, except an imagined fear of what Caesar might turn out to be if his authority continued to grow. Brutus states that as soon as Caesar became “ambitious, he slew him”, although, he never offers any evidence of this so called “ambition”. He emphasizes the fact that he is an honorable man and he will let them be the “better judge” of his honor. Brutus also uses ethical appeals in his speech by showing that he is loyal to his country and is very patriotic. Brutus asks the crowd, “Who is here so vile, that will not love his country?”, by answering these rhetorical question they inadvertently admit to the fact that they don’t love Rome. Brutus uses some emotional appeals in his speech to show that he celebrated and honored Caesar as an excellent leader of Rome, but he had to fulfill the ultimate duty of defending his country. He gets their compassion by saying that he loved Caesar and asks the people to find anyone who loved Caesar more.
Brutus’ rhetorical questions are there for an effect, there is no need to answer the questions because the responds are obvious. He says, “Who is here so rude, that would not love Rome?”, He is using the crowd’s loyalty when he asks that question because if the

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