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Examples Of Ethos In Julius Caesar

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Characteristics of a noble man include being ethical, patriotic, reasonable, and showing selflessness. Being a good orator, but not a good man lies beneath the speeches of Marcus Brutus and Marc Antony. In William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Caesar’s friends are faced by an equal amount of hatred from the Plebeians with the aftermath of respected Julius Caesar’s death. There is a great struggle for the title of the noblest Roman between Brutus and Antony to reveal the most powerful and honorable man. The speedy fight for power are exposed quickly from each side of these Roman figures. After the assassination of Caesar, both Antony and Brutus relay speeches at the funeral that contain a significant amount of rhetorical techniques to their audience. …show more content…
Antony receives more love and support by the Plebeians than Brutus because of the way he uses pathos and remorse towards Caesar in his speech.Ethos is used in the beginning of each funeral speech by both Brutus and Antony. The two start the crowd with Brutus saying, “Romans, countrymen and lovers!” (III.ii.13) and Antony saying, “Friends, Romans, countrymen” (III.ii.63). The ethos in their speeches were able to win the crowds attention into listening to what was said and making one speech to be in favor of the other the way in which it was presented to them. Although, Antony decides to make an attack on Brutus’s character in the beginning by making the Plebeians feel hatred towards Brutus before he gets to speak his side of the story. Antony sarcastically restates that “Brutus is an honorable man” (III.ii.81). Antony is attempting to get the Plebeians on his side and against Brutus’s for a reason of them to dislike him in spiteful irony. Antony’s speech persuaded the crowd to go against Brutus. Yet once Brutus orates his speech, it is given in a way that signifies that he is talking down to the audience in a commoner to commoner …show more content…
This is because he values his audience. Antony’s touched the heart of the people, Brutus’s did not. Marcus Brutus tries to regain the qualities of being a noble roman through patriotism. He starts off in the play as being civil with Caesar and not having any issues with him. But once Caesar was crowned king after defeating Pompey, Brutus believed that the power would have infused to his head. For the safety of Rome, he planned to stop the power that he believes will overlead Caesar into making bad decisions which led to his assassination. At the funeral, Brutus gives a reasoned proposed speech that convinces the crowd that Caesar had to die. Brutus uses pathos as being a “good Roman” throughout this. He starts his speech by saying, “--Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. Had you rather Caesar were living and die all slaves, that that Caesar were dead to live all free men?” (III.ii.18-20). Brutus is assuming that the people are on his side in the way that they would rather be free than slaves, hence another reason why he wanted to kill Caesar. After Antony’s speech, Brutus tries to justify himself once more and have the Plebeians be civil with

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