Caesar Speeches Essay, Research Paper
Emotional Speech Analysis William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” is a
well-written stage play. Shakespeare included many good speeches in his plays; one of
the best was the one delivered by Antony. Antony’s speech came very shortly after Julius
Caesar’s death, and the city was in much chaos. The crowd had just heard Brutus’s
speech. Brutus was one of the murderers of Caesar. Antony was trying to raise the crowd
to mutiny.
His speech appealed to ones emotions and used many rhetorical devices. Antony
uses repetition to appeal to a common folk’s emotions. He repeats the words “Brutus is
an honorable man”. The statement, however, was really being said with a sarcastic tone.
Brutus is really not an honorable man. This restatement is emphasizing the importance of
the sarcasm. The word honorable becomes a bad word by the end of his speech. This
played directly on the emotion of patriotism and not to appear stupid. Another use of
repetition and rhythm would be him describing Caesar as ambitious. He also turns the
mean of ambitious around. In this case, however, he turns it from bad to good. Antony
says that he does not wish to disgrace Brutus’ honorable name. “ But Brutus says he is
ambitious, and Brutus is an honorable man” (insert line #’s ). This quote proves how
Antony kept mentioning about Brutus and the Concpirators. Although he mentions that
Brutus is an honorable man, he means the opposite. Antony wants mutiny against the
Conspirators. He wants revenge. Antony’s technique of repetition proves originalnality.
This appealed to the emotion of appearing not foolish. This is a g
appeal to, because one wants to always feel smart and educated and have an opinion on
something. Antony also used rhetorical questions. The most prominent question was
whether the people thought Caesar was truly ambitious. He was not expecting a reply
when he would ask whether Caesar was ambitious. The emotion of appearing not to be
foolish would probably best go along with this statement and rhetorical device. The
people would probably just nod and agree, without thinking twice. Antony’s speech was
filled with rhetorical devices affecting the emotions of one. His speech was directed to
the common people of the city. His speech swayed the entire crowd from siding with
Brutus to side with him. Antony made use of mentioning that Caesar was not ambitious
for three reasons: he refused the crown three times, he did not pocket the money, rather,
he put it in the treasury, and he wept for the poor. By saying this, Antony hoped to get the
attention of the crowd counteracting Brutus’ statement of Caesar being ambitious. He
shows that an ambitious man would of done none of the things that Caesar did. He
proves to the people that he was not an ambitious man, because he truly cared for the
people and did not just want power. Through logos, he logically shows that Caesar was
not ambitious because he left behind a kind and caring legacy.
Through many techniques that are used in everyday life, Antony persuasively
sways a hostile audience his way. He uses his sense as an orator and his genuine
knowlege of human nature to convice the crowd Caesar’s death was wrong. He brings the
crowd to a mutiny through words.