The Views on Importance of Persuasion and Mark Antony and Brutus Speeches in Ancient Rome

The essence of persuasion is very powerful as it can sway a cold-hearted man to a side of warmth and understanding. When comparing the influential speeches of Mark Antony and Brutus, their difference in delivery and content provides a clear explanation as to Antony’s greater effectiveness.

Brutus gave a forthright speech that provided, essentially, an explanation for the events that led up the Caesar’s death. Brutus timed his speech as the people were becoming confused, angry, and inquisitive as to why their great leader, Julius Caesar was slain by his closest man, Brutus. This ended up affecting the way they reacted because their only interest at that point was ‘Why is Caesar dead?’. Moreover, The nature of his diction changed the nature of his speech to seemingly offer excuse for Caesar’s death. Brutus explains, “…why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer: Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more” (3.2.20) in which he provides an explanation through the use of strong logos for why he, of all people, partook in Caesar’s death. Furthermore, Brutus focused on bringing the idea of loyalty to Rome which, as a result, made Caesar look smaller. He even went so far as to question the people’s own loyalty to Rome saying, “Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman? ... Who is here so vile that will not love his country?”(3.2.27-29). Through the use of pathos, Brutus attempts to provoke an unspoken question to the people, ‘Rome or Caesar?’ which then translates to the people thinking that Caesar was in fact lower than his country.

In contrast, Mark Antony’s speech was a more intimate connection to the people where he portrays Caesar as a great figure who deserves vengeance instead of an ambitious man who deserved death. As opposed to Brutus’ speech, Antony delivered his speech right after Brutus which gave Antony a greater appeal to the people’s emotions and strengthened his pathos. This is because Brutus’ speech focused mostly on giving a logical explanation to Caesar’s death, and the people were no longer asking the question ‘Why is Caesar dead?’. Contrast to Brutus, Antony’s speech geared more towards commending Caesar’s life. Here, Antony implemented the element of pathos to provoke a feeling of remorse for Caesar's death: “He hath brought many captives home to Rome whose ransoms did the general coffers fill: Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?” (3.2.85-87). In this passage, Antony creates a feeling of support for Caesar which gave the people reason to want action to be taken. Although both Brutus and Antony both used pathos in a meaningful way, Antony used it in a less provocative way than Brutus did in saying, “You all did love him once, not without cause: What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?” (3.2.99-100) which brought together the feelings of anger and feelings of remorse for the people instead of putting Rome over Caesar.

Both of these speeches utilized rhetorical devices to heighten their points, but the effectiveness of Antony’s speech was brought out through a more intimate connection with the people and a greater appeal to the people’s emotions.