Logos, Ethos And Pathos In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar

In society, we often look to those in authority for guidance or clarification in times of darkness and distress. In these situations, we look to the most righteous and trustworthy of them all to be our candles in the darkness. Julius Caesar was murdered because a collection of conspirators assumed that he may in the future abuse his power. The conspirators were Cassius, Metellus, Ligarius, Cinna, Casca, Trebonius, and Brutus, Caesar's close friend. People who are used to being public speakers, such as public leaders are able to sway their audience in any direction they want with the assistance of logos, pathos, ethos. Antony and Brutus were equally honorable and well-respected, but after comparing the two funeral speeches , there’s no debate that Antony had the most effective speech because his excellent range of logos, ethos, and pathos.

In the passage,
Brutus and the conspirators suspect that as long as Caesar stays king , he will get comfortable and become overambitious, which they thought would lead to passive aggressive behavior. So because of the ‘love’ they had for their city , they had to murder him before he started portraying this behavior. Since Brutus was a well know public leader and close friend of Caesar, the public longed for an explanation from him at Caesar’s funeral. In Brutus’s funeral speech, Brutus was unable to persuade the plebeians with the use of logos as much as Antony. Logos is a method of persuasion based on reasoning and logic. It’s obvious that when arguing a particular point, you should be able to deliver some type of reasoning. “Had you rather Caesar were living and die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live all free men?” (3.2.24-26) In these lines , Brutus sends an either / or statement to make the public believe that it was either a good outcome or a bad outcome. This type of statement is identified a logical fallacy, which are also known as bad logos. Logical fallacies are common errors in reasoning that will undermine the logic of your argument. Since Brutus utilized a logical fallacy, his argument is not justifiable. Being as though , his argument is not justifiable anymore , it depicts where the audience is standing. The public tends to react in an unsure manner when the speaker can’t present evidence effectively. Brutus implies that if Caesar were to still be alive, subsequently everyone would be enslaved, however if he was dead , everyone would be guaranteed freedom. How would Brutus be able to support his prediction with evidence if he killed Caesar? No one really knows what Caesar is capable of now because he is dead.

Ethos is the ethical appeal based on character, credibility, or reliability of the writer. When using ethos, you are to use credible sources, personal experiences, and establish common ground. “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.” (3.2.46-49) Brutus is using his personal experiences with Caesar to show that everything he did was for the sake of his loyalty to his city despite his intimate friendship with Julius Caesar, practically best friends. He depicts mass amount of love for his city, moreso excessive patriotism. This is setting common ground between him with the plebeians to gain moral respect and ease their hostility. You can tell that Brutus is unsure and anxious about what the plebeians are capable of so he thinks of strategies to use to distract the public. Brutus is fully aware of what the public might think of him based on his actions so he says anything he can to get back on their good side.

Pathos is an emotional appeal to audience’s needs, values, and emotional sensibilities.
To be able to correctly utilize pathos, you should use rich metaphors, match your vocal delivery to the emotion, tell stories, use descriptive words, and use sensory words. “ If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer: not that I loved Caesar less but that I loved Rome more.”(3.2.21-24) Brutus is directly appealing to the plebeians’ morals, more importantly their sense of patriotism. You can clearly see that Brutus wanted to address each plebeians’ love for their city. You can clearly see that each plebeian cares deeply about their city because then they wouldn’t be at Caesar’s funeral trying to figure how their emperor died. Brutus is also attempting to receive empathy from the plebeians , basically saying that he didn't kill Caesar because he was jealous or utterly dislike of Caesar but because he was concerned more about Rome’s future. His main objective with this statement was to make the plebeians feel loved so they wouldn’t be angered with him and understand his side of the
situation.

Technically, Antony is Caesar’s best friend , they did everything together no matter what. However when Caesar was murdered by Brutus and the other conspirators, Antony made it seem like he completely understood why Brutus and the conspirators murdered Caesar when in reality he was completely against it. He wanted to make sure that Brutus didn't manipulate the public into believing that they killed Caesar for Rome’s sake when really they killed Caesar for their own wants. In order to do this, he had to trick Brutus into believing he was going to put the public back in Brutus’s favor during his funeral speech but he used that time to persuade the plebeians to be completely against everything Brutus had to say. In Antony’s funeral speech , he says “ You all did see that on the Lupercal I thrice presented him a kingly crown, which he did thrice refuse, was this ambition?”(3.2.105-107) Antony clearly depicts the strategy of logos by using personal stories to explain that Caesar was not overambitious. Antony brought up an instance that many of the plebeians witnessed, they saw Caesar that refused the crown 3 times. You could say that Antony used a concrete fact to back up his argument , what’s more believable than a concrete fact? Since Antony used this example, his goal was to illustrate Caesar as a humble and honorable man. He succeeded with this because right after this statement , one of the citizens said “ O noble Caesar.”(3.2.211) So you could automatically tell that the plebeians were affected by what Antony said.

In addition , Antony in his funeral speech was able to precisely utilize ethos in his funeral speech. He states “ Here is the will, and under Caesar’s seal: To every Roman citizen he gives, to every several man, seventy five drachmas.” (3.2.254-256) Antony uses this statement to urge the fact that Caesar did not deserve to die because of his generous deeds. This will ultimately lead to the public going against the conspirators. Since ethos incorporates using credible sources, Antony uses the will as a credible source, the will is definitely reliable because it's exactly what Caesar wrote. Antony is also able to establish common ground by using the reward they could get when siding with Antony since it’s written in Caesar’s will. Being able to appeal to the public’s desires for things such as drachmas(money) makes them feel attracted to being on Antony’s side even more.

Moreover, Antony is able to adequately use pathos many times in his funeral speech. For instance, Antony say “ When that the poor have cried, Caesar wept.” (3.2.100) Who doesn’t respect a leader who feels his people’s pain? Since using pathos, means to apply your argument to the audience’s sense of emotional sensibilities. He wants the audience to feel bad for Caesar by implying that Caesar was too good of a person who felt sympathy for anybody to be murdered so brutally. Antony also suggests with this quote that Caesar put his people’s concern before him. Any pain his people felt, he felt it too. He also refutes the point that Brutus implied that Caesar thought he was above everyone else, when in actuality Antony says he just thought he was a citizen of Rome. Society longs for leader with a sense of sympathy, being able to understand what you’re feeling and deal with the issue as if they were in your predicament.

Brutus and Antony were both able to deliver their arguments during their funeral speeches well along with their wide range of using logos, ethos, and pathos. On the other hand, it’s clear that Antony presented his argument more persuasively than Brutus. He was more reliable because he continued to used concrete facts. In most instances, the public puts their trust in the person that uses concrete facts. He established common ground with the public to keep their attention. On top of that, Antony was able to appeal to the plebeians’ more emotional side. Moreover, Antony didn't use as much logical fallacies as Brutus, logical fallacies can damage your reliability and trust from your audience. Using logos, ethos, and pathos well can enhance the impact of your speech even more. Brutus was able to use all three methods of persuasion but Antony used it more correctly than Brutus. Any public speaker that is able to do what Antony did in his funeral speech will always have the public on their side