Category: Mark Antony

It is unbelievable how much we are affected by others around us. Not just by their words, but by their actions. Some people can be so influential that they change someone’s views on a topic in just a couple minutes. This is exactly what Mark Antony did to the people of Rome at Caesar’s funeral. As a matter of fact, Antony uses three rhetorical devices in his speech with the hope of secretly persuading the plebeians to be on his side, and not on the side of Brutus. First off, he uses​ ​ethos​ ​to make himself seem like an honest and considerate person. Next, logos is used to prove Antony’s ideas with evidence and reasoning. Finally, Antony utilizes pathos to make the commoners sympathize with him on the death of Caesar. Overall, these three devices are extremely important factors in Antony’s speech, and help to influence the Romans to agree with his beliefs and opinions.

One of the important factors of persuading is by using ethos to build up one’s image. When Antony begins his speech, he slowly starts to give hints that he is a considerate person. One example is when Antony repeatedly states that the conspirators are honorable men, even though he does not truly believe that they are. The reason Antony does this is to make himself look like the fair and thoughtful​ ​man. In a similar way, by using just his words, Antony characterizes himself as an honorable man. He tells the people of Rome that he does not want to start a revolt against the men that killed Caesar. By proclaiming this to the commoners, he is building his own civil stature by acting kind and considerate.​ ​Lastly, Antony depicts himself as equal with the common people. When Antony comes down from the stage after giving most of his speech, he is not only going to pay his respects to Caesar, but to also show the commoners that he is no more powerful than them. Even though Antony is a higher class then everyone whom he is speaking to, he comes down to make himself look equal and fair. All in all, Antony includes many qualities in his speech that persuade the plebeians to begin to follow him and his educated ideas.

Similarly, logos play an essential part in persuading others by giving powerful, influential facts. First of all, Antony incorporates logos in order to put down Brutus’s idea that Caesar was a self-centered man. Anony brings up the point that Caesar refused the crown three times. He then argues that this action does not describe what a greedy man is like, so therefore Brutus is wrong. The commoners are then quickly persuaded by this powerful fact, and start to see how clever Antony is. Likewise, Antony utilizes a known fact among the people to elevate Caesar’s Character. He talks about how when people die the bad things eventually go away, but the good things that they did stick with them forever. Antony states that Caesar is just like this. By making this connection, the plebeians soon start to sympathise with Caesar and see the good actions that he did. Finally, Antony uses evidence to confront and embarrass the commoners. He asks the commoners why they do not mourn for someone whom they had loved before, and why Caesar has lost a place in their hearts. By saying this, Antony embarrases people, which causes their mood to drop, and makes them feel bad for Caesar and Antony. In conclusion, the Romans were quickly influenced by Antony because he used many different arguments that were easily understood and clear.

Furthermore, the usage of pathos in Antony’s speech helps to connect the plebeians emotionally. Towards the beginning of the speech, Antony uses a depressing tone while speaking. He talks about what a good friend Caesar was, which was definitely said with emotion and regret. This sad emotion is passed to the listeners, which makes them feel bad for Antony and his loss. Then later on, Antony starts to expresses his own feelings and emotions. When he starts to talk about Caesar’s kindness, he can not control himself anymore, and starts to cry. By expressing his true feelings, Antony causes the people to sympathise with him for the loss of his close friend. Finally, he starts to introduce the usage of guilt to make the commoners feel bad. Antony tells the commoners how Caesar lies there dead and no one even considers to pay respects to the man that once ruled them. By saying this to the plebians, Antony makes them feel ashamed of themselves. All in all, using emotion helped antony gain many supporters who spread and followed his ideas.

Considering all of the rhetorical devices used in Antony’s speech, one can conclude that he wanted to find a sneaky way to get back at the Conspirators without them knowing about it. First of all, Antony used ethos in his speech to make himself seem fair and just. In addition, he included many different logos that helped​ ​to​ ​build a strong, factual argument. Finally, Antony incorporates numerous pathos that touched the listeners at heart. Overall, Antony uses those three rhetorical devices to to leave a profound effect on the people, which helps him to gain power and win over Brutus in the end.

Persuasion is the process or an instance of persuading, according to Merriam-Webster. Humans have been convincing each other to shine a light on their ideas and beliefs for a long time and will continue doing so. It is an underrated skill that if polished, can bring an individual great success. This ability is essential in running society and its power has often been used to create history, like Brutus in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar can reveal to us.

A notable act of persuasion would be when Brutus persuades the conspirators not to kill Mark Antony. He points out that killing Antony would make their course “seem too bloody” (II.I.169). Brutus underestimates him: “And for Mark Antony, think not of him, / For he can do no more than Caesar’s arm / When Caesar’s head is off” (II.I.188-190). The conspirators listen to Brutus as he uses logos and they trusted him to make the right decisions for them. Brutus feared that killing Antony would make them look brutal and power-hungry. This decision proves harmful when Antony forms a Triumvirate with Lepidus and Octavius, seeking revenge. This act helps shape the plot of the story where Brutus and his followers fight the Triumvirate. His second mistake was made while delivering his eulogy for Caesar’s funeral.

During Caesar’s funeral, Brutus made the mistake of giving his speech before Antony, giving him a chance to counter Brutus’ points. Brutus did a good job of convincing the plebeians that Caesar was dangerous, even though Antony changed their minds when he got his turn. He uses ethos when he starts his speech: ‘Hear me for my cause,/ and be silent, that you may hear. Believe me for mine/ honor, and have respect to mine honor, that you may believe’ (III.II.15-17). He also uses logos by adding ‘but as he was ambitious,/ I slew him’ in lines 27-28. Despite all these efforts, Antony uses pathos to influence the people. An example would be when Antony describes Caesar as a person who was his ‘friend, faithful and just’ (III.II.93). This part was also important in the development of the story.

The persuading skills of Brutus affected the outcome of the assassination and created an event to be remembered by mankind. His skills determined his fate when Antony became a threat to him. The power of persuasion is the greatest tool an individual has and can help him achieve just about anything.

Rhetoric is defined as “the art of speaking effectively, such as the study of writing or speaking as a means of communication or persuasion” (Merriam-Webster). Mark Antony, a character from William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, is a skilled orator who often uses rhetoric for his agenda. In this play, Antony depicts multiple themes, one of which being the strong use of rhetoric can influence and manipulate others’ actions and beliefs.

The first example of Antony’s strong use of rhetoric is depicted through his use of persuasive language when he meets with the conspirators after Caesar’s death. When Antony sees Caesar’s body he conveys anguish while mourning the murder of his friend. Angered by their actions, Antony wishes to gain the trust of the conspirators to pull information from the group. He begins by shaking the hands of the conspirators before asking, “Therefore I took your hands, but was indeed / Sway’d from the point by looking down on Caesar. / Friends am I with you all and love you all, / upon this hope that you shall give me reasons / Why and wherein Caesar was dangerous” (III. I. 234-238). Antony uses logos to convince the conspirators to explain their reasoning to him. This example rationalizes his connection to the late leader with his request, wishing to comprehend the seemingly baseless actions performed against him. Brutus, the leader of the conspirators, replied to the question with his personal beliefs of Caesar’s ambition becoming toxic to the future of the Roman Republic. Caesar needed to be killed. This reveals that a request or statement that is strongly dictated can influence others to follow with action or adhere to the suggested belief. Another example of requests using persuasive language took place shortly after he asks for their reasoning when Antony uses pathos to request to bring Caesar’s body to the marketplace for a proper memorial and to speak at his funeral: “And am moreover suitor that I may / Produce his body to the marketplace, / And in the pulpit, as becomes a friend, / Speak in the order of his funeral” (III. I. 244-247). Antony drew on the emotions developed by his friendships to manipulate the senators into trusting him with little regulation. This example portrays how Antony could manipulate others to believe in him by pulling on their heartstrings and prior knowledge of his character, whether it was accurate with his current intentions or not. Soon after approving his request to speak at Caesar’s funeral, the conspirators left, leaving Antony to monologue about how he would turn the tide against the conspirators with his eulogy.

In his speech at Caesar’s funeral, Antony uses rhetorical devices to sway the crowd against Brutus and his reasoning for Caesar’s killing. In this scene, Brutus and Antony presented eulogies for Caesar, about his character and his life. Brutus addresses the congregation first, speaking about Caesar’s great ambition before leaving the marketplace, allowing Antony to say whatever he pleased. In his speech, Antony degraded Brutus’s honor and the trust the Roman congregation had in the conspirator with his use of anaphora: “[For/And] Brutus is an honorable man” (III.II. 90, 95, 102). The repetition of this phrase begins to intensify in irony throughout the speech, making the surrounding congregation of Romans begin to question the validity of Brutus’s statements. This anaphora appeared throughout the entirety of his speech, ensuring the audience would not be able to remove the sarcastic suspicion they were being fed from infiltrating their thoughts on the ordeal. Throughout his speech, the repetition of the term honor created questions over the accuracy of their antecedent beliefs. Antony connected this irony to the juxtaposition of Caesar’s actions and Brutus’s claims about the former leader. Referencing different public actions, Antony declares, “You all did see that on Lupercal / I thrice presented him a kingly crown, / Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition? / Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, / And sure he is an honorable man” (III. II. 103-107). The juxtaposition of the congregation’s preexisting knowledge of their leader with the opinion of a well-respected official creates a question for the plebians; are they to believe what they have witnessed, or the words of someone else? This conflict of thought depends on the stark contrast between what is phrased as a humble act and an egotistical term described as if it were blasphemy to believe it possible. Antony specifically phrases this section of his speech so his audience would be forced to acknowledge the expectation they are to believe something directly opposite to an event they have witnessed. As well as using anaphora and juxtaposition, Antony also uses the persuasive language of logos to subliminally suggest the population go into mutiny against the conspiring senators: “O masters! If I were disposed to stir / Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage, / I should do Brutus wrong and Cassius wrong,” (III. II. 131-133) This excerpt subtly refers to Antony’s rage against the conspirators, as he uses logical reasoning against their actions. The suggestion digs into the minds of the plebians, causing anger and the desire to rebel against the senators; plebians began to refer to them as horrible people: “They were villains, murderers” (III. II. 163). Antony’s strong use of rhetoric leads to the manipulation of the Romans’ thoughts and actions to be in his favor and to avenge Caesar’s death, eventually leading to a war between the conspirators and loyalists. In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Antony exemplifies the theme that rhetoric can manipulate the beliefs and actions of others. His use of rhetoric created an entirely different world; without his powerful language, history would have taken a different course. Antony’s actions created a reality for the Roman civilization which would not have existed if not for his influential dialogue.

Introduction to Rhetorical Strategies

In Mark Antony’s speech, he first starts by stating ‘Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;”, he does this with the purpose of mirroring the more emotional tact the will take all through the remainder of his speech.In comparison to “Remarks to the U.N. 4th World Conference on Women Plenary Session” – Hillary R. Clinton, Hillary also tries to emotionally connect with the audience towards the beginning of her speech by stating “We come together in fields and factories… our children in the park…. we come together and talk about our aspirations and concern.”; by using pronouns such as we or our she tries to relate to the women in the audience, also creating a poignant effect like Antony. In Antony’s speech he uses rhetorical questions “Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?”, by saying this, Antony attests that Caesar was not ambitious —and consequently infers that Brutus was either misinformed or lying—while at the same time driving the citizens to finish up his assertion seemingly on their own. Hillary also uses a rhetorical question during her speech “Wasn’t it after all — after the women’s conference in Nairobi ten years ago that the world focused for the first time on the crisis of domestic violence?”, she used this rhetorical question to get her point across the audience especially those who don’t necessarily agree with her about the necessity of equal women’s rights.

Comparison of Antony’s and Clinton’s Emotional Appeal

Additionally, another way these speeches relate is because of the fact that both speeches use rhetorical devices such as Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. An example where it could be seen is the use on one rhetorical device in Mark Antony’s speech, in this case, Logos, is “I thrice presented him a kingly crown, Which he did thrice refuse:”; This reality fundamentally contradicts what Brutus had said ealier, He does this to remove Brutus’ validity. An example in Hillary’s speech where it could be interpreted as a rhetorical device, also Logos, is when she states the following: “ Over the past 25 years, I have worked persistently on issues relating to women, children and families.” she states this because it builds credit and validity by having experience and have been a witness to ladies’ work. Something both dialogs differ in is that Mark Antony’s discussion includes verbal irony while Hillary’s doesn’t.Mark Antony shows verbal irony when he states ”Brutus was an honorable man?” This is a verbal irony since he makes it seem as if Brutus and all the other conspirators are ‘traitors”, he does this to subtly put the citizens against Brutus. Lastly, one more way where the two speeches are similar is because they both use their speeches to persuade people; Hillary wants to lead people to believe in the importance of women’s rights while Antony wants to cause his audience to trust in him but distrust Brutus and all the other conspirators.

Another comparison that is going to be made in this following paragraph is between Mark Antony’s funeral speech and “I Have A Dream” by Martin Lurther King Jr . In both speeches there can be observed examples of parallel structure (parallelism). In Mark Antony’s talk a sentence that could be interpreted as parallelism is “When the poor hath cried, Caesar hath wept,’ (Shakespeare, 3.2). This sentence displays parallelism to establish the close connection between the emotions of Caesar and the poor.In Martin Lurther King’s Jr speech there is also an example of parallelism throught his text, which is “Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.” He uses parallelism to make the lines memorable and maybe speaks to the equality of the citizens battling together.

This also creates discussion in the crowd. On top off that, another example of the usage of rhetorical devices shown in Martin Luther King’s is “And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men, and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing.”, this is hyperbole. He uses this metaphor to give a false representation of reality; he accepts that genuine equity will possibly come when each individual has confidence in opportunity for all. For instance, throughout Mark Antony’s speech hyperbole can be detected in the following lines “And they would go kiss dead Caesar’s wounds, And dip their napkins in his sacred blood.’.To explain, he uses this hyperbole to exaggerate the amount of love they hold for Caesar and to possibly influence citizens to believe that they actually have any type of love for Caesar whatsoever. Furthermore, another rhetorical device found in both speeches is Pathos.

Use of Rhetorical Devices: Ethos, Pathos, and Logos

As proof of Pathos, the following sentences state “I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.’ , ‘…one day right here in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.’. Both of the examples presented above were used to persuade by assembling an association with his black and white spectators; this is shown through his references to kids of the white and black race and inferences to times of servitude which spoke to both parents and elder ages. Rhetorical Analysis In Mark Antony’s speech, he first starts by stating ‘Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;”, he does this with the purpose of mirroring the more emotional tact the will take all through the remainder of his speech.In comparison to “Remarks to the U.N. 4th World Conference on Women Plenary Session” – Hillary R. Clinton, Hillary also tries to emotionally connect with the audience towards the beginning of her speech by stating “We come together in fields and factories… our children in the park…. we come together and talk about our aspirations and concern.”; by using pronouns such as we or our she tries to relate to the women in the audience, also creating a poignant effect like Antony.

Verbal Irony and Persuasion in Speeches

In Antony’s speech he uses rhetorical questions “Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?”, by saying this, Antony attests that Caesar was not ambitious —and consequently infers that Brutus was either misinformed or lying—while at the same time driving the citizens to finish up his assertion seemingly on their own. Hillary also uses a rhetorical question during her speech “Wasn’t it after all — after the women’s conference in Nairobi ten years ago that the world focused for the first time on the crisis of domestic violence?”, she used this rhetorical question to get her point across the audience especially those who don’t necessarily agree with her about the necessity of equal women’s rights. Additionally, another way these speeches relate is because of the fact that both speeches use rhetorical devices such as Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. An example where it could be seen is the use on one rhetorical device in Mark Antony’s speech, in this case, Logos, is “I thrice presented him a kingly crown, Which he did thrice refuse:”; This reality fundamentally contradicts what Brutus had said ealier, He does this to remove Brutus’ validity. An example in Hillary’s speech where it could be interpreted as a rhetorical device, also Logos, is when she states the following: “ Over the past 25 years, I have worked persistently on issues relating to women, children and families.” she states this because it builds credit and validity by having experience and have been a witness to ladies’ work. Something both dialogs differ in is that Mark Antony’s discussion includes verbal irony while Hillary’s doesn’t.Mark Antony shows verbal irony when he states ”Brutus was an honorable man?”

Parallelism and Rhetorical Devices in Antony’s and King’s Speeches

This is a verbal irony since he makes it seem as if Brutus and all the other conspirators are ‘traitors”, he does this to subtly put the citizens against Brutus. Lastly, one more way where the two speeches are similar is because they both use their speeches to persuade people; Hillary wants to lead people to believe in the importance of women’s rights while Antony wants to cause his audience to trust in him but distrust Brutus and all the other conspirators. Another comparison that is going to be made in this following paragraph is between Mark Antony’s funeral speech and “I Have A Dream” by Martin Lurther King Jr . In both speeches there can be observed examples of parallel structure (parallelism). In Mark Antony’s talk a sentence that could be interpreted as parallelism is “When the poor hath cried, Caesar hath wept,’ (Shakespeare, 3.2). This sentence displays parallelism to establish the close connection between the emotions of Caesar and the poor.In Martin Lurther King’s Jr speech there is also an example of parallelism throughout his text, which is “Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.” He uses parallelism to make the lines memorable and maybe speaks to the equality of the citizens battling together.

Conclusion: The Power of Rhetorical Strategies in Speeches

This also creates discussion in the crowd. On top off that, another example of the usage of rhetorical devices shown in Martin Luther King’s is “And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men, and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing.”, this is hyperbole. He uses this metaphor to give a false representation of reality; he accepts that genuine equity will possibly come when each individual has confidence in opportunity for all. For instance, throughout Mark Antony’s speech hyperbole can be detected in the following lines “And they would go kiss dead Caesar’s wounds, And dip their napkins in his sacred blood.’.To explain, he uses this hyperbole to exaggerate the amount of love they hold for Caesar and to possibly influence citizens to believe that they actually have any type of love for Caesar whatsoever. Furthermore, another rhetorical device found in both speeches is Pathos. As proof of Pathos, the following sentences state “I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.’ , ‘…one day right here in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.’. Both of the examples presented above were used to persuade by assembling an association with his black and white spectators; this is shown through his references to kids of the white and black race and inferences to times of servitude which spoke to both parents and elder ages.