Julius Caesar Rhetorical Analysis

Rhetoric is a useful tool to allow a speaker to be more influential over his or her audience. Successfully utilizing rhetoric leads the audience to accept the message that is being conveyed, which gives the speaker power over the listeners. William Shakespeare, the author of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar expresses the idea that a person’s rhetorical skills directly influence their power over others by displaying the control certain people have over the general public, the effect rhetoric has within friendships, and how the use of rhetoric affects romantic relationships.
Throughout the play, it is made evident that the population of commoners in Rome are quite gullible and naïve because of the way they react to various events that occur and …show more content…
Brutus pulls Casca aside after hearing the crowd shouting from inside to ask what was going on, and he says, “Why, there was a crown offered to him; and, being / offered him, he put it by with the back of his hand, / thus, and then the people fell a-shouting” (1.2.231-233) Caesar’s decline of the Roman crown to make himself appear more humble is an example of indirect use of ethos, which causes the crowd to love Caesar even more and trick them into thinking he isn’t as power hungry as he really is. This use of rhetoric makes Caesar more powerful because of his strengthened grip on the people. Similar characteristics of the masses are demonstrated when Brutus gives his eulogy and asks the plebeians gathered if they would prefer that “Caesar were living, and / die as slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live all freemen,” and in response, they praise Brutus, saying that “This Caesar was a tyrant,” and, “We are blest that Rome is rid of him,” but when Antony gives his eulogy just minutes after Brutus, he stresses that Caesar really wasn’t ambitious, but humbly expresses his respect for Brutus by telling the plebeians that Caesar “brought many captives home to

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Rhetorical Analysis Of Julius Caesar