Rhetorical Devices In Julius Caesar's Funeral

Brutus and Antony each gave their own speeches at Julius Caesar’s funeral to persuade the people of Rome to make them their new leader by using many rhetorical devices. Brutus came off as a traitor of Caesar, claiming that they killed Julius Caesar for the sake of Rome. He tried to overthrow what had occurred by striking fear into the people’s eyes, stating “Had you rather Caesar were living and die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live all free men?” By letting the people of Rome envision what horrible things and events would unfold if Caesar was still alive and ruler. He also uses fallacy to allow the audience to think about what their lives would be like tied down under Caesar’s rule then what it will be like with Caesar gone and
they be free under his rule.
Antony chose a different approach than Brutus did in his speech, he focused more on the audience’s emotions by persuading their opinions. “I fear I wrong the honourable men whose daggers have stabbed Caesar; I do fear.” is Antony’s way of striking fear into the audience, showing them that “good” people do bad things and they even went to an extent to murder someone. Antony hints that the people of Rome should kill Brutus, for the act of assassinating Caesar was unlawful and not right. He used fallacy to his advantage by saying: “Yesterday the word of Caesar might have stood against the world.” This shows the audience that the choices were either Caesar be leader and they have no say, or Antony be leader and they have a say. Antony's speech was more effective because he was able to have the last word, and also because he knew the right buttons to push and the right words to say. He appealed to the emotions of the crowd in a very provocative way that made Brutus's appeals to righteousness and as to why the murder of Caesar was “the right thing to do.”