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The Roman's godlike worship of Caesar threatens the prominence of the Senate. To retain his dominance Mark Antony chooses to become a close ally to him. Cassius, Brutus, and the other conspirators however, plot Caesar’s demise. In the end, Mark Antony finds high esteem and the conspirators receive banishment and death. The play is an example, or maybe even a warning, that our actions and reactions have real effects. Brutus, Cassius, Casca, Cinna, Trebonius, and Cimber respond swiftly and without thought to Caesar’s rise and pay a heavy price for it in the end. Mark Antony sees the worth in being Caesar’s friend, and their friendship benefits him when Caesar is dead. In the play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare the principal characters' initial reactions to Caesar’s rise affect their conclusive outcomes.…
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One of the greatest english authors, Shakespeare, had developed a play called, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar which contains various writing methods. In Act III, one of the main characters, Caesar was killed by Brutus, his companion Antony had constructed a speech for the Romans about Caesar’s death. By comparing Brutus’ and Antony’s speeches, many rhetorical appeals and devices can be seen. Antony was able to gain the trust of the Romans by using Brutus’ loyalty to Caesar. The main goal of Antony’s speech is to persuade the plebeians that Caesar was not ambitious by using ethos and staying calm and emotional as he delivered his oration.…
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Brutus’s speech is delivered in prose, a somewhat unpolished and unsophisticated manner of speaking. The use of prose in this instance appeals to the audience as they are able to directly relate to this manner of speaking, being of a somewhat lower class, thus allowing Brutus to connect with them on a higher level. He also arouses patriotism and plays on the rights to civil freedom of the audience to offer further persuasiveness to his speech. He does this by inferring logical and restrained reasoning for Caesar’s death which appeals to the audience’s intelligence and commonsense. The high modality of the rhetorical question “Who is here so vile that will not love his country?” is extremely powerful in agitating the existing devotion the audience has towards Rome. Similarly in the essay Arguments against…
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Now, Shakespeare was a famous playwright of the time and it seemed logical for him to express his ideologies through his popular plays to comment on his society. Shakespeare was able to use scenes such as the Brutus vs. Antony orations to stress the conflicting ideals between truth and propaganda, as well as their effects on society. Shakespeare captures Brutus’s honesty when he states “I honour him; but as he was ambitious, I slew him” through his use of prose within the speech. Prose reveals to the audience of plebeians Brutus’ rational and logical thinking behind assassinating Caesar, to which he emphasised “not that I loved Caesar less, but I loved Rome more.” The way in which Brutus excuses his actions appears to be beneficiary to the population instead for his selfish purposes, as well as depicting Caesar as a negative influence to the Roman Empire. This is soon contradicted by Antony’s oration which was written in blank verse. The speech mocks as well as contrasts Brutus’ intentions implicitly though the repetition of “But Brutus is an honourable man” which follows conflicting contradictory statements. This depicts Antony’s oration skills as both more superior and authentic to Brutus’s speech as it exposes the contrast between higher and lower order rhetoric. Brutus’s and Antony’s orations, create a powerful…
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The people of Rome did not all share the same viewpoint as Brutus. It is clear that Commoners such as the Carpenter and Cobbler support Caesar’s rule when they disagree with soldiers on the street. The soldiers dislike Caesar because he killed Pompey, while the common people support him. These Commoners did not want Caesar to be dethroned. In addition, Brutus had to work to persuade the people that he made the right decision in killing Caesar. He gave a speech at Caesar’s funeral attempting to explain that his motives were solely for Rome. The only way for him to make the Plebeians take his side was by convincing them that if they did not support him, they were not true Romans. If Brutus truly did what was right for Rome, he would not have to convince everyone that his intentions were pure because they would already understand. Further evidence of the people’s love of Caesar can be found when Mark Antony reads Caesar’s will at the funeral. Upon being part of the will, the Plebeians cry out, “Most noble Caesar! We’ll revenge his death” (3.2.257). They did not want their leader to die; they believed he had their best interests at heart. Though Caesar did not leave much for the common people, the fact that he included them in his will indicates that he always thought of his people. If the Plebeians loved Caesar and he constantly thought about the needs of his people, then why would Brutus kill him for being a bad…
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By bringing up elements of Roman history and true events involving Caesar, Brutus seeks to demonstrate that the assassination was a planned (Antony knew nothing about the assassination) action based on thought and facts. Antony, too, employs logos when he lists examples of Caesar's actions on behalf of all Roman citizens. Therefore, his willingness to share the spoils of war with the people and his establishing a reputation for Rome throughout the known world; even Brutus could not the truth in Antony's words. The will itself is also an example of logos. While Antony uses, the literal will to stir up the crowd's emotions, the contents of the will represent logical support for Antony's defense of…
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Without the help of the people of Rome, the rulers would have no power. If the people do not accept or agree with a certain ruler, they will revolt or join another group that is against the ruler. The plebeians were a huge part in Brutus’s and the conspirators’ plans. They needed the people to believe that they were killing Caesar for the good of them, “Not / that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.” (III.ii.21-22). For a second, they were on the conspirators’ side, but because of Antony’s great speech and the peoples’ habit of changing sides very quickly, the conspirators’ plan fell through. In the end because of the commoners, that event and their tendency to be persuaded easily led to the death of most of…
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The citizens don’t have that many lines throughout the play but they had a significant part. Throughout the play, their leaders manipulate them, and the leaders gained their trust, because they thought that their leaders wanted to rule for them not against them. The leaders secretly need their support in deciding rulers to keep them in power. The plebeians decided to believe Antony’s speech, of how Caesar wasn't a tyrant and sacrificed his own life for the citizens and Rome. They cause what the outline of the play is, if Brutus went last, the plebeians would have believed that Caesar deserved to die, there wouldn’t be a battle at Philippi, and the second triumvirate wouldn’t be in control. In conclusion, their leaders needed their help, so their leaders could gain more power over…
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In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Decius Brutus and Mark Antony, both Roman Senators, eulogize Julius Caesar, each using a different technique and approach. Brutus, in a somewhat arrogant, to the point, eulogy, attempts to sway the people. He justifies conspiring against Caesar by stating that Caesar's ambition would have hurt Rome. However, in Antony's eulogy, he focuses on Caesar's positive traits, and cunningly disproves Brutus' justification for killing Caesar. The fickle Romans waver between leaders, responding emotionally, rather than intellectually, to the orators.<br><br>Brutus seeks to explain why he conspired against Caesar. He begins his speech with "Romans, countrymen ...", appealing to their consciousness as citizens of Rome, who,…
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From the opening scene of Julius Caesar, Shakespeare introduces conflict. Flavius and Murellus introduce Caesar as a contentious personality, as they rebuke the “mechanicals” who “make holidays to see Caesar” and “rejoice his triumph”. The Tribunes are unhappy with these celebrations as shown through the contrast in tone when Murellus adresses the “Mechanicals” with “You blocks, You stones, you worse than senseless things!” demonstrating the conflicting perspectives within the social classes. The Tribunes believe that Caesar's “growing feathers” need to be “Pluck's” as they are concerned that with his growing power they will be kept in “servile fearfulness”. Shakespeare conveys their anger at the fickleness of the “Mechanicals”, through the use of imperatives such as “answer me directly” and “be gone!'...” as they rebuke their “ingratitude” to Pompey. This shows the dominance of the Tribunes and…
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Without any power, a society tends to become irrational, indecisive and flavorless. This ideal is portrayed in all scenes including plebeians, whether through direct or indirect characterization. The premiering scene portrayed Marullus and Flavius along the streets, scolding commoners for being hypocrites. “You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things!/O you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome,/Knew you not Pompey?” (1.1.27-29) was proclaimed by Marullus, in protest of Caesars’ celebrations. This reveals that the common people of Rome are easily swayed, as they cheered for Caesar defeating his predecessor, after recently cheering for Pompey himself. An exquisite example of the citizens’ complacency comes from the Third Plebeian. He states,“The noble Brutus is ascended: silence” (3.2.14) but yet, after a short speech from Antony regarding the conspirators, he claims, “There’s not a nobler man in Rome than Antony”( 3.2.96). Furthermore, when attending to Caesar,“We are bless’d that Rome is rid of him”(3.2.48) stated the citizens, only to later say, “They were villains, murderers” (3.2.135) merely for doing the very “ridding” they praised! Complicity and irrationality are portrayed by the violent outburst, “Revenge!—About!—Seek!—Burn!/Fire!—Kill!—Slay! Let not a traitor live” (3.2.183-184) from the citizens, once Antony’s speech is…
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Before his speech begins, the whole crowd is going wild with overwhelming support for Brutus. Knowing this, Antony is quickly able to capture the attention of the people by saying, “For Brutus’ sake, I am beholding to you” (64). By starting off with saying that Brutus endorses whatever Antony is able to say, they are suddenly more curious to hear what he say and what exactly their beloved Brutus approves of. By saying this, Antony is able to borrow Brutus’ honest reputation and use it as his own. Towards the end of his speech, Antony borrows Caesar’s renewed ethos, once again merging voices and giving Antony even more credibility. He asks the audience, “Wherein hath Caesar thus deserved your love?” (234). Antony successfully borrows Caesar’s great reputation and increases his credibility for the people to trust him.…
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He does this because Brutus tells him not to talk bad about the conspirators so he tells the people they are noble men while actually persuading them to make them pay for Caesar's assassination. One way he does this is by saying, "The noble Brutus hath told you Caesar was ambitious." Brutus uses logos to tell the crowd, "To him I say that Brutus love to Caesar was no less than his. Not that I loved Caesar, but that I loved Rome more." He makes them think that his actions were not out of envy or jealousy but out of reasoning to save Rome from a terrible…
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By depicting Brutus’ speech he starts to create doubt and begin to inquire about the logic behind Antony argument against the conspirators. Once he had aroused this feeling of doubt in the plebeians Antony was able to continue with his argument with much more strength and confidence. A point extremely important in Antony's eulogy is persuading the crowd to view Caesar not as a the ambitious man Brutus made him out to be. The evidence that Antony gave the crowd which persuaded them into believing that Caesar was not indeed ambitious, was that "He hath brought many captives home to Rome, / Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill/.. I thrice presented him.a kingly crown/ Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition?/ Yet Brutus says he…
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The exposition of Julius Caesar, Shakespeare immediately presents the ideals that underpin the differing views of Caesar’s rising power through his two protagonists, Brutus and Cassius. Both characters posses different interpretations on Caesar’s reign on Rome, one being loyal to Rome and a love and respect for Caesar “I love him well” but the other being a spiteful and vitriolic towards a “feeble old tyrant.” This highlights the notion of Cassius’s selfish prejudice towards his own contentment, which is only shown behind closed doors. Brutus on the other hand is victim to Cassius’ vitriol and becomes the pawn as he is manipulated “poor Brutus, with himself at war,” Brutus is troubled emotionally, torn by his patriotism and his respect for Caesar, above all he has an undying love for Rome, “Brutus had rather be a villager than to repute himself a son of Rome.” It is this love for Rome that causes such internal turmoil for Brutus, through Shakespeare’s use of juxtaposition of characters, he is able to highlight to the audience, the lengths that man will go to in order to…
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