Analysis of Rhetoric- Persuasion and Argumentation
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by W. Shakespeare
M. Antony’s speech: “Friends, Romans, Countrymen…”
Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Julius Caesar
Act III, Sc. Ii – The Forum
ANTONY
1Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
5So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it.
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest-10For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men-Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
15And Brutus is an honourable man.
He hath brought many captives home to Rome
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
20Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
25Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
30You all did love him once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?
O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
35And I must pause till it come back to me.
http://shakespeare.mit.edu/julius_caesar/index.html
BRUTUS
1Be patient till the last.
Romans, countrymen, and lovers! hear me for my
cause, and be silent, that you may hear: believe me
for mine honour, and have respect to mine honour,
5that you may believe: censure me in your wisdom,
and awake your senses, that you may the better judge.
If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of
Caesar's, to him I say, that Brutus' love to Caesar
was no less than his. If then that friend demand
10why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer:
--Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved
Rome more. Had you rather Caesar were living and
die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live
all free men? As Caesar loved me, I weep for him;
15as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was
valiant, I honour him: but, as he was ambitious, I
slew him. There is tears for his love; joy for his
fortune; honour for his valour; and death for his
ambition. Who is here so base that would be a
20bondman? If any, speak; for him have I offended.
Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman? If
any, speak; for him have I offended. Who is here so
vile that will not love his country? If any, speak;
for him have I offended. I pause for a reply.
All
None, Brutus, none.
BRUTUS
Then none have I offended. I have done no more to
Caesar than you shall do to Brutus. The question of
his death is enrolled in the Capitol; his glory not
extenuated, wherein he was worthy, nor his offences
enforced, for which he suffered death.Enter ANTONY
and others, with CAESAR's body
Here comes his body, mourned by Mark Antony: who,
though he had no hand in his death, shall receive
the benefit of his dying, a place in the
commonwealth; as which of you shall not? With this
I depart,--that, as I slew my best lover for the
good of Rome, I have the same dagger for myself,
when it shall please my country to need my death.
To effectively analyze an argument, one must learn to recognize the three classical
strategies of argumentation: (1) logical appeal, (2) emotional appeal, and (3) ethical
appeal. The better arguments rely on a judicious use of all three appeals, and a persuasive
writer knows when to use each in order to accomplish an intended purpose.
In addition to the appeals, though, astute readers learn to analyze the style of an
argument – the diction, imagery, syntactical patterns, figurative language, or any other
devices of language that authors use to persuade their audience. These language devices
are often referred to as rhetorical devices.
The word rhetoric, at its most basic level, simply means language that effectively
accomplishes its purpose. In persuasion, of course, that purpose is to convince the
audience that the writer’s opinion or position is the correct one.
Analyze M. Antony’s speech. Compare and contrast it with Brutus’s speech.
Style - Rhetorical Language
I. Go to this site and read the introductory material and the questions to ask for a critical
reading.
http://www.writingcentre.ubc.ca/workshop/tools/rhet1.htm (Skip for now.)
II. Are there rhetorical terms from the site below useful in analyzing Antony’s – and
Brutus’s- speech?
(1) List them, define them, and note the lines from each speech to which they apply.
Make a table/chart if you wish, with columns for terms, Antony’s speech, and Brutus’s
speech.
Go to this site and EXPLORE!
The use of repetition
http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/
Read the definition of several of the figures of speech. Get used to looking at and
thinking about the lexicon of RHETORICAL language.
(2) Is there use of figurative language- allusion, simile, metaphor, personification Look up.
http://highered.mcgrawhill.com/sites/0072405228/student_view0/complete_glossary.html
(3) Is there use of: parallelism/antithesis - Look up.
http://www.virtualsalt.com/rhetoric.htm
Strategies of argumentation
Logic, Emotion, Ethics
I. Go through each speech and highlight in the corresponding highlight colors, those lines
which suggest logical appeal, emotional appeal, and/or ethical appeal.
For those lines that suggest more than one, put the boldface initials and colors at the
beginning of the line.
II. Do the speeches share a similar purpose? What is it? If different, explain the
difference between the two.
III. Which speech is most effective/persuasive and what strategies does it use?
IV. Do you find one strategy more appealing than the others? Does it depend on the
audience and situation? Yes/No Why? Examples.