ii. 102). He makes the Plebeians feel close to Caesar again and remember the reasons why they loved their leader. Antony is not only passionate in his own words, but he also compels the crowd to have passion toward Caesar, as they did too love him. In addition, Antony’s speech is manipulative.
Although Shakespeare is well-known for his many sonnets and plays, he is also a master of persuasion. Through his persuasion techniques, Shakespeare relies heavily on the Aristotelian rhetoric; pathos, ethos, and logos. Pathos is the appeal to emotion, ethos is the appeal to ethics, and logos is logic. Shakespeare uses these devices in some of his most famous plays, especially Julius Caesar. All through out the play Shakespeare portrays this through many speeches.
The dramatic form through which Shakespeare represents Caesar allows both the public and private representations of Caesar to be evaluated by the audience. Romney’s speech, attempting to connect with the public through personalisation, is in conflict with his representation as a capable leader. He introduces himself as a paternal figure through sentimentality, “I love the way [Paul Ryan] lights up around his kids”. The diction and use of the plural pronoun “we are a good and generous people… united by more than what divides us” aims to build a personal connection with his audience. He only uses authoritative language towards the end, shifting the focus towards politics through citing statistics - “fallen by $4000… $716 billion cut”.
Jeremy Cooper Rhetoric Theory The definition that best fits my description of rhetoric would be the study of writing or speaking as a means of communication or persuasion skill in the effective use of speech. Rhetoric is the effective use of language. Many great orators use rhetoric in many ways to reach their audience. Many of the great philosophers used rhetoric as a way to persuade others. Plato: “Rhetoric is the art of winning the soul by discourse.” Aristotle: “Rhetoric is the faculty of discovering in any particular case all of the available means of persuasion.” Cicero: “Rhetoric is one great art comprised of five lesser arts: invention, disposition, elocution, memoria, and pronuciato.
Shakespeare on the other hand chooses to primarily “delight” his audience, the processes of “instruction” and “punishment” incurred as a result of this “delight”. Dryden’s critique can be proved to a significant degree through the analysis of both plays, the contrasting attitudes of both playwrights in regards to entertaining their audience proving that “the first end of Comedie is delight” with “instruction” and “punishment” of personal and social faults second to the power of any given comedy. An apt and ingenious choice of setting is imperative to the success of any play, particularly one which belongs to the genre of comedy. Ben Jonson uses Blackfriars as his setting in order to enhance the satirical power of his play whilst Shakespeare uses Messina to punish personal and social faults in an environment which allows his audience to disassociate themselves with the characters of the play, allowing them to take “delight” in a literary fantasy. The aspects of Dryden’s critique suggesting that “the first end of comedy
Another fault that Cicero importantly highlights in his speech is that of the misuse of friends. Cicero expresses great indignation at not only the way Verres is trying to put his friends in positions of authority but also the openness with which this is done. An example that Cicero brings up is Verres having his defending attorney, Q. Hortensius Hortalus, elected as consul for 69BC and attempting to have Q. Caecilius Niger, his ex-quaestor, as prosecuting attorney, both of which would help his case. At the election of Hortensius,
Ethos, Logos and Pathos Ethos, logos and pathos are three persuasion tools used by Shakespeare in Mark Antony’s funeral oration over Caesar’s body. Ethos is appeal based on the character of the speaker, Logos is appeal based on logic or reason and Pathos is appeal based on emotion. Antony uses these elements to turn the Roman crowd against the conspirators with a highly convincing speech. These three persuasion tools and structure and diction are the key elements of the effectiveness of Mark Antony’s famous speech. The most convincing use of ethos in Antony’s speech is in the first line of the speech; “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!” This shows that Mark Antony is trying to get in to the Roman crowd’s hearts with his
Marcus Tullius Cicero once said “In men of the highest character and noblest genius there is to be found an insatiable desire for honor, command, power, and glory.” In Robert Harris’ novel Imperium the road to power of the protagonist Marcus Cicero as well as various other Roman leaders is closely followed by Cicero’s scribe, Tiro. Where these leaders differ from one another is in regards to the tactics they used to obtain their power. The use of rewards and promises is what allowed Pompey the Great to secure his power, the brutish governor Gaius Verres used force and coercion to reach his goal, but the main character Marcus Tullius Cicero seemed to hold legitimate power through his various offices. However, it can be argued that Cicero did not attain power solely based on his various positions but it was rather his own expertise and association with other powerful people that led to his attainment of imperium, or ultimate power. It comes down to the question of whether or not this journey towards such absolute power corrupts the individual, or if it was their initial corruption that supplied the basis for their means.
It’s a good foundational method. Some Basic Tenants of Neo-Aristotelian Criticism While literary criticism is concerned with permanence and beauty, Rhetorical Criticism is concerned with effect. Effect of rhetoric on an audience. Herbert Wilchens, the inventor of this method, argued that a rhetorical critic should look at the following in a speech/rhetorical artifact: • The speaker’s personality • Public perceptions of the speaker • The audience and what they’re like • The major ideas presented in the speech • The motives to which the speaker appealed • The nature of the speaker’s proofs • The arrangement of the speech • Effect of the speech on the audience in both the short and long term Procedure for Doing Neo-Aristotelian Criticism The main question one asks with this method is: Did the rhetor select the best rhetorical options available to him or her to evoke the intended response from the audience? Selecting an Artifact Speeches (and their transcripts) and other obvious arguments tend to be the best artifacts for this method.
Although Brutus initially was the approval of the Roman citizens Antony’s sarcastic speech made the Romans second guess if the assassination of Caesar was right. In the speech Mark Antony gave in Act 3 Scene 2 he was speaking about Caesar being ambitious and Brutus being an honorable man but keeps repeating it in a sarcastic tone. For instances Antony said “But Brutus says he is ambitious and Brutus is a honorable man”, then again Brutus said “Yet Brutus says he was ambitious and Brutus is an honorable man” because it’s repeated a couple throughout Antony’s speech. As well in Act 3 Scene 2 Brutus said “And for my sake, stay here with Antony Do grace to Caesar’s corpse, and grace his speech. Tending to Caesar’s glories, which Mark Antony By our permission is allowed to make.