Brutus's Funeral Speech

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After the assassination of Julius Caesar, both Brutus and Antony delivered speeches to the people of Rome. Brutus lectured to his countrymen that he and the others did no wrong in their actions; Caesar was a threat to their freedom and country. Antony preached in his speeches that Caesar was not ambitious and always had the peoples well being in mind. Both of these speakers are effective in persuading the Romans of their case but Brutus’s speech is most effective because he was more asking of the people unlike Antony who demanded them to listen. The rhetorical devices used in Brutus’s great speech offer tricks that we find in many great political speeches. For example, “believe me for mine honour, and have respect to mine honour”. Brutus repeatedly refers to himself, wanting to persuade the crowd that because he is an honorable man, what he did was right. He also praises Caesar, which makes it okay in the eyes of the audience. We see this now when a politician will amend his opponent, even though he has devastated him just previously, this is ethos. “Who is here so vile that will not love his country?” he asks. Who would say no? When our politicians began passing legislation after 9/11, a repeated strategy was to say that anyone who questioned the legislation was not patriotic, which is very similar to Brutus’s tactics, this is logos. This is how and why I believe Brutus delivered the more effective speech. Not only did his tactics work then but also they still work to this day. Works Cited “who here is so vile that will not love there country “ chunk 4 line 4 “believe me for mine honour, and have respect to mine honour”.
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