Julius Caesar Rhetorical Devices

In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, a play set in Ancient Rome, the characters Calphurnia and Decius are in opposition. Calphurnia hopes to prompt her husband,Caesar, to stay at home instead of going to the Senate because she fears that Caesar's life is in jeopardy. Decius, in this case Calpurnia’s adversary, wants to persuade Caesar that he should in fact go to the Senate where his doomed fate awaits him. Shakespeare uses many rhetorical devices in Calpurnia's conversation and Decius’ conversation with Caesar, each attempting to convince Caesar to take their side. The first to try and persuade Caesar is Calphurnia, his wife; she begins her argument to keep Caesar home by attempting to relay omens she has observed to validate her own
He starts his opinion by describing Calpurnia’s dream as “fortunate and fair.” The word “fortunate” is a perfect choice in words for Decius because it origins mean good fortune. The word “fair” is also a wise choice because it means legitimate so Decius is not discrediting Calpurnia’s dream. Another device that can be found overall in the first part of Decius’s persuasive speech is his selection of detail. He chooses leave out any of the other omens Calpurnia describes in her talk to Caesar. Next, Decius retells Calpurnia's dream by describing “many smiling romans bath[ing]” in Caesar's blood. This image creates pathos as one can only guess the pride that Caesar feels imagining his smiling subjects bathing in his greatness. Decius continues, telling Caesar the dream “signifies from [him] great Rome shall suck reviving blood, and that great men shall press.” This is parallelism as the line have similar structures that draw attention to the actions taking place. The use of the word great is used once again to kiss up to Caesar’s ego. Decius also uses the word reviving. This is a great decision because it creates the illusion that Caesar is so great that his blood has the power to save. Besides convincing Caesar that Calpurnia’s dream, Decius also establishes a great amount of pathos to also convince
Decius begins by using a small juxtaposition asking Caesar to “hear what [he] can say.” They are different people and opposite senses. The purpose of this is to regain Caesar’s attention. Decius is more or less saying ‘hear me out’ which shows that he is a little desperate. After regaining Caesar’s interest, Decius seizes the opportunity by announcing that “the Senate have concluded to give this day a crown to mighty Caesar.” This statement is a major selection of detail that it just so happened to be the day that they had planned to crown Caesar. This directly uses Caesar's ambition against himself. The choice to use the words “mighty Caesar” versus the pronoun ‘you.’ This shows how Decius is trying to even further establish pathos by again trying to flatter Caesar. Decius continues through the device of imagery to create a nightmare for Caesar. He convinces Caesar that the senate will “whisper, ‘Lo Caesar is afraid’?” Finally Decius pulls out his last trick by developing ethos through word choice. He says he has “dear dear love” for Caesar’s “proceeding”. This statement is ironic because it so far from the truth. The word choice is meant to convince Caesar that Decius is his friend and that he holds Caesar interest close to his heart. He also decides to close with his love being “liable.” He wants to gain Caesars trust. In