The Art Of PersuasionEssay Preview: The Art Of PersuasionReport this essayOn the stair steps of great Rome, rested the body of “the Northern star, of whose true-fixed and resting quality there is no fellow in the firmament” (752-753). Being blatantly stabbed by the ones who envied his success, the great and astute Caesar lay soaked in a “fountain with hundred spouts . . . [with] pure blood” surrounding his body (744). The crowds of Rome felt deprived of a leader, where hath good Caesar gone? Romans, countryman, and lovers felt outraged, baffled and distressed upon seeing great Caesars body, where hath good Caesar gone . . .? The art of persuasion is a skill bestowed upon many people, as stated in the Webster Dictionary, “persuasion is to induce a person to believe by appealing to reason or understanding; convince.” In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, Brutuss and Marc Antonys compelling speeches brought light upon the people of Rome. Their use of persuasive techniques and appeals enabled them to convey their validity while achieving the support of the crowd. The speeches of devoted Brutus, and faithful Antony used highly effective persuasive elements and shared many similarities. These speeches profoundly influenced the eventual outcome of the play and the welfare of the Roman society.
Brutus and Antony conveyed their messages to the plebeians by using the three classical appeals: ethos, which is an appeal to credibility; pathos which is an appeal to the emotion of the audience; and logos which is an appeal to reason and logic. Brutus was faced with the duty to calm down the incredulous plebeians and to justify the callous actions taken against Caesar by the conspirators. Brutus, a powerful public orator, established his credibility by saying, “Believe me for mine honor, and have respect to mine honor, that you may believe” (760). He also starts out by saying that he was a “Dear friend of Caesar, to him [he wishes to] say that Brutuss love to Caesar was no less than his. . . Brutus rose against Caesar [not because he] . .
Brutus told the [mean] (762). In the above poem, Brutus asserts that people could be trusted to believe, and that their confidence was not limited to the plebeians.
4:14-15 Brutus also claimed that, with regard to his own reputation, he never once said that his own reputation was so great. However, it can be noted that Brutus does claim that, with regard to his own reputation, he never once said that the fame he held had so great an impact that they had no doubt about his reliability, nor of his loyalty (note, of course, that this reference does not mean that Brutus held no reputation of his own.) This claim is borne out by the same letter that a senator of his own party, who was at the time a pupil of Brutus, wrote to him, which he gave under the name of Cato. In fact, the “Birtus” was named Cato, after the Latin word that is derived from, “Bietus”. (Note that the name, “Bietus,” was never mentioned as a possible substitute name for the senator.) The senator, in a speech at a Senate meeting, claimed that “no doubt” they had “thirty talents”. At the question of which talents, namely, money or art or learning, he would say: “Well, a great deal of it, and no doubt some of it, I think of. That sort of things we owe to Brutus, and our reputation, and to Brutus’s reputation. I have had every great and noble and great pleasure of having been called a Birtus. . . .” (note 3.) This is a very powerful claim that is likely one in which the audience could not believe. Although he could name every small thing, it is clear that he had little regard for anyone else’s reputation.
4:15-17 Brutus, of course, always claimed to have some sort of reputation. Although in an eulogy he praises those who had the reputation of their fathers, he sometimes also praises those who lost their fathers who had lost theirs. He also makes a remark about the two great praetorians of the time, Cicero and Celaecerius, who were the three greatest of the world’s great commanders and of his descendants. As he did not cite Celaecerius he may not have felt the same sense of power the ancient Greeks felt.
1:48-50 Brutus also claimed the honor of learning his famous letters, particularly on the matters of philosophy. He writes, as well as several other poems, of these works (note that he does not speak Latin at all. See “Pronunciation: His Speech to the People”); he also wrote letters to senators, nobles and even governors he thought were more important to