How Does Brutus Use Ethos In Julius Caesar

Scheming, manipulation, and backstabbing are common in almost every society in this day and age. As seen on many occasions in Julius Caesar, the conspirators spend a lot of the play plotting against Caesar,because they fear what he might do if he comes to power. Brutus is portrayed as the tragic hero, and he gives numerous speeches to convey his opinions and feelings about the subject matter. In William Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, the character Marcus Brutus makes many appeals to rhetoric, specifically ethos and pathos, in order to get his point across to the audience. Throughout the story, in order to express himself, Brutus makes many appeals to ethos. For instance, at the start of his eulogy, Brutus uses the phrase: “Romans, countrymen, and lovers, hear me for my / cause, and be silent that you may hear, Believe me” (JC.III.ii.13-14). When he uses the specific words “Romans, countrymen, and
lovers”, Brutus relates himself to the crowd in three different aspects, by giving them three different ways in which they are similar to one another, showing their comradery. This is Brutus’ stealthy way of gaining the trust of his crowd, and it is seemingly a very effective tactic, since it is later copied by his soon to be enemy, Marc Antony. Another example of his appeal to ethos that is also seen in Brutus’ speech, is when Brutus says:
“Caesar loved me, I wept for him; as he was fortunate,
I rejoice at it; as he was valiant, I honor him; but, as he was ambitious, I slew him. There is tears, for his love; joy, for his fortune; honor, for his valor; and death for his ambition” (JC.III.ii.25-29).
In this example, Brutus pairs the use of ethos with the use of parallelism, and this makes for a seemingly irresistible argument/persuasion on his behalf. He is demonstrating that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, and because of Caesar’s ambition and desire for power, it was necessary for Brutus to bring an end to what could have been a horrendous power struggle. The plebeians then realize, that Brutus was only doing what he felt would be best for ‘the greater good’ of Rome. His strong use of ethos in this eulogy was very helpful, but it was not the only successful writing tool in which he used.
Being a powerful wordsmith not only allowed Brutus to make appeals to ethos, but he also used the powers of pathos to convince his various audiences of what he believed to be true. Such as, when he is telling the conspirators that they do not need to make an oath in order to carry out their plans:
“What need we any spur but our own cause
To prick us to redress? What other bond
Than secret Romans, that have spoke the word,
And will not palter? And what other oath
Than honesty to honesty engaged” (JC.II.i.23-27).
Every single one of the men being addressed is a proud, diehard Roman, who would do anything in order to defend his country, so, by challenging their loyalty to the cause, he is able to play on their emotions, or appeal to pathos.
Brutus uses their passion to his advantage, and convinces the conspirators that their own will power would be what compelled them to complete their task, not an oath. Another piece of evidence used to illustrate this, is when Brutus is defending the reasons behind his actions at Caesar’s funeral and he says, “ As / Caesar loved me, I weep for him; as he was fortunate, / I rejoice at it…” (JC.III.ii.24-26). By using the two words ‘loved’ and ‘weep’, Brutus is not only making himself seem vulnerable to the townspeople, but he is also showing that the death of Caesar was not necessarily what he wanted, and that the death of who was once his dear friend, upset him deeply. By doing this, people begin to feel sorry for Brutus, and they are not nearly as outraged as they are before he was given the opportunity to explain
himself.