Rhetoric in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar

Aristotle’s Rhetoric• What does the term rhetoric mean?

– Rhetoric is the art of persuasion; the ability to use language effectively

• How does this relate to Julius Caesar? – In their speeches in act three, Brutus and Antony use Aristotle’s

three modes of persuasion

• Around 4 B.C.E., Aristotle, an ancient Greek philosopher, wrote his treatise, called Rhetoric, on the art of persuasion.

• Because of Rhetoric, Aristotle is credited with developing the basic system of rhetoric that served as the basis for all rhetorical theory from ancient to modern times.

Aristotle’s Rhetoric

• In Rhetoric, Aristotle writes about the three modes of persuasion– Ethos

• The appeal of the speaker’s personality or character

– Pathos• The appeal to the emotion

– Logos• The appeal to reason or logic

Ethos

• From the Greek word meaning “the ideals that characterize a community or nation”

• The appeal of the speaker’s personality or character– Practical skills and wisdom– Virtue, goodness– Goodwill towards the audience

• Speakers must establish ethos from the start of the speech

• Can also be what the audience thinks of the speaker before the speech has begun

Pathos

• From the Greek for “suffering” or “experience”

• The appeal to the audience’s emotions– Passion in the delivery of the speech – Appeals to audience’s sympathies and

imagination– Causes audience to respond emotionally and

feel what the speaker/writer feels (empathy)

Logos

• From the Greek for “reason”

• The appeal to reason and logic– Relates to the speech itself and its ability to

prove something– Data/facts used are hard to manipulate or argue

against– Facts/reasons make the speaker look prepared

and knowledgeable to the audience