Brutus Speech: Rhetorical Analysis
- Melchior Antoine
- 1 day ago
- 9 min read
Updated: 16 hours ago
It is not nearly as famous as that of Mark Antony’s speech, but the speech by Brutus at Caesar’s funeral is quite effective, especially when you compare it to Antony’s. The differences between the two speeches reveal a great deal about the differences in character between the two men.
Antony relies heavily on praeteritio, which means saying or implying what you explicitly state you don’t mean to say. Throughout his speech, he refers to Brutus as an “honourable man,” when he really means to cast him as a traitor and a hypocrite. Brutus, on the other hand, is an honest man who sincerely tries to convince a mourning Roman crowd that he was justified in killing Caesar, who was both a friend and a father figure to him.
His entire speech revolves around this antithesis of Julius Caesar being a friend whom he loved and Julius Caesar being a tyrant who would deprive Rome of its freedom. This is exemplified in the following excerpt:
Caesar loved me, so I weep for him; Caesar had good fortune, so I celebrated it; Caesar was valiant, so I honored him; but Caesar was also ambitious, so I killed him.
Ambition, as used here, is a metonym for Caesar’s supposed tyrannical desire to be crowned king of Rome and put an end to the republic. Brutus’s rhetorical appeal seems like a far-fetched argument that is difficult to work on a crowd, but the funny thing is that it worked. Brutus won and appeased the crowd with that speech. However, Antony was a skillful speaker, and Brutus and the conspirators underestimated both Antony and the popularity of Caesar. By allowing Antony to speak after him, Brutus more or less undoes everything he accomplishes in this speech, and the rest is history.
The background of Brutus’s speech
Brutus’s speech occurs in Act 3, Scene 2 of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Caesar has been murdered by being stabbed to death by Brutus and conspirators the day before and is now being buried. Before this scene, Brutus decides to allow Mark Antony to give a speech at Caesar’s funeral in a show of magnanimity after he goes first. This was a disastrous decision.
Brutus, after pacifying the crowd, leaves the stage and allows Mark Antony to take his turn. Mark Antony succeeds in turning the crowd against Brutus and the conspirators. Brutus and his co-conspirators have to flee after the Roman mob riots and go looking for conspirators to lynch.
Brutus's Speech in full and his rhetorical approach
The excerpt below provides Brutus’s speech in full as he addresses the Roman mob:
Be patient until I've finished. Romans, fellow citizens, and friends, listen to me explain my reasons, and be silent so that you can hear. Believe me on my honor, and respect that honor so that you will believe me. Judge me with appropriate wisdom, and awake your senses so that you can judge me more accurately. If among this assembly there is any dear friend of Caesar's, I say to him that my love for Caesar is no less than his own. If that friend then demands why I rose up against Caesar, this is my answer: it is not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. Would you prefer that Caesar was alive and you all die as slaves, or that Caesar were dead and you live as free men?
Caesar loved me, so I weep for him; Caesar had good fortune, so I celebrated it; Caesar was valiant, so I honored him; but Caesar was also ambitious, so I killed him. Here are tears for his love, celebration for his good fortune, honor for his valor, and death for his ambition. Who here is so lowly that he would willingly be a slave? If any, let him speak for I've offended him. Who here is so barbaric he doesn't want to be a Roman? If there is any, let him speak for I've offended him. Who here is so vile that he doesn't love his country? If there is any, let him speak for I've offended him. I'll pause for a response.
The rhetorical approach used in this speech is pathos. Brutus is appealing to the emotion of the crowd. There is a strong current of logic being used here, but it is false logic. Brutus argues that Caesar sought to enslave Rome:
Would you prefer that Caesar was alive and you all die as slaves, or that Caesar were dead and you live as free men?
This is an exaggeration. Even if Caesar became king, this would have little to no effect on the “freedom” of ordinary Roman citizens. It would mean that power would shift from the elites of the senatorial class and their families and into the hands of Caesar. So, its logic is emotional, not rational.
Brutus is appealing to the Roman hatred of monarchy and kings. It's comparable in some ways to Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, where he appeals to the American ideal of freedom. He also balances this with the “love” and popularity that the Roman crowd has for Caesar. He acknowledges their grief and includes himself as part of the public mourning when he says:
If among this assembly there is any dear friend of Caesar's, I say to him that my love for Caesar is no less than his own.
He solves the seeming contradiction of loving Caesar and killing Caesar with this brutal and brilliant sentence, which we have quoted before:
Caesar loved me, so I weep for him; Caesar had good fortune, so I celebrated it; Caesar was valiant, so I honored him; but Caesar was also ambitious, so I killed him.
This excerpt is doing so many things all at once. It uses anaphora (i.e., repetition in the beginning), isocolon (parallel structure), and contrast or antithesis through chiasmus (or reversal of structure). Caesar is portrayed and celebrated as a whole and complete man, who loved and who was loved. But he had to die because he was rising tyrant.
The last characteristic is the only negative trait of Caesar, but it was heavy enough to earn him his death. The structure or logical chain used in this argument has two effects. It portrays Brutus as being selfless and killing for the sake of Rome as opposed to killing Caesar to gain power. It also shows that Brutus values Rome more than his love for Caesar, casting himself as a heroic statesman who is willing to sacrifice his own friends for the greater good of the republic. This idea reaches a climax later in the scene when Brutus says:
With this final word I leave you—just as I killed my best friend for the good of Rome, I have the same dagger myself, when my country needs my death.
Brutus does all this without being too critical of Caesar. He emphasizes his duty to the Roman Republic and preserving that Republic against tyranny than he does criticizing Caesar. This makes sense as he was known to be Caesar’s good friend. In short, Brutus cancels out the dichotomy between his love for Caesar and his murder of Caesar by using rhetoric to cast his love for the Republican ideals of Rome above his private friendship with Caesar.
Rhetorical devices used in Brutus’s speech
Brutus uses a range of rhetorical devices in his funeral speech. We first begin with repetitive rhetorical devices. The table below names, defines, and gives examples of each
Repetitive rhetorical devices
Rhetorical Device | Definition | Example |
Repetition at the start | As he was fortunate, I rejoice at it. As he was valiant, I honor him. But, as he was ambitious, I slew him. | |
Repetition at the end | As he was valiant, I honor him. But, as he was ambitious, I slew him. Who is here so base that would be a bondman? If any, speak, for him have I offended. Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman? If any, speak, for him have I offended. Who is here so vile that will not love his country? If any, speak, for him have I offended. |
Structure-based rhetorical devices
Structure-based rhetorical devices work by maintaining, enhancing, or changing the normal structure of a phrase, sentence, or utterance. They are the main devices that Brutus relies on for his effect and take the form of isocolon and chiasmus.
Isocolon maintains a parallel structure for phrases or sentences that occur in succession, whereas chiasmus repeats elements but reverses their structure. The table below provides definitions and examples from the speech by Brutus. Brutus uses isocolon and chiasmus to portray his actions as balanced, fair, and just.
Rhetorical Device | Definition | Example |
Words, phrases, or sentences arranged in parallel structure | Romans, countrymen, and lovers, hear me for my cause, and be silent that you may hear. Believe me for mine honor, and have respect to mine honor that you may believe. Censure me in your wisdom, and awake your senses that you may the better judge. As he was fortunate, I rejoice at it. As he was valiant, I honor him. But, as he was ambitious, I slew him. | |
Repeating elements with their structure reversed | . . . hear me for my cause, and be silent that you may hear. . . . not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. Had you rather Caesar were living, and die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live all freemen? |
Dramatic rhetorical devices
Dramatic rhetorical devices focus on encouraging the audience to participate or at least making a show of allowing them to. The most famous example would be erotema or rhetorical questions. Erotema gives the audience the impression that they are being engaged in conversation, as opposed to being lectured to.
Rhetorical device | Definition | Example |
Breaking off in midstream | Who is here so vile that will not love his country? If any, speak, for him have I offended. I pause for a reply. | |
Rhetorical use of the negative | Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman? . . . Who is here so vile that will not love his country? | |
Rhetorical questions | Who is here so base that would be a bondman? If any, speak, for him have I offended. Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman? If any, speak, for him have I offended. Who is here so vile that will not love his country? | |
Anticipating questions and meeting them. | If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer: not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. |
How Brutus’s speech reflects his character arc
Brutus's speech, as I mentioned before, was a brilliant piece of rhetoric that did the impossible. It justified him in killing his best friend by portraying the act as noble and carried out in the service of Rome. Nonetheless, Brutus failed, and his speech reflects both his personal character arc and the narrative arc of the play. Mark Antony and the other allies of Caesar were able to crush the conspirators and their play on power and successfully avenge Caesar, even after the early success of Brutus.
The character flaw in Brutus that led to the failure is partly reflected in his rhetoric. His rhetoric uses devices like isocolon and chiasmus to provide a kind of balance and sense of fairness and justice. Caesar was his dear friend, and he loved Caser for it. Caesar was ambitious, and he killed Caesar for it. From a rhetorical perspective, this is effective.
From a moral perspective, it's hypocritical. There is no such thing as morally hacking your best friend to death. Brutus made the mistake of confusing effective rhetoric and politics with morality and fairness. You could say that Brutus's character arc was unchanging. We see his fortunes rise and fall, but his fate is decided by his fatal character flaw of being politically naive and confusing empty political symbolism with effective political action.
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The assassination of Caesar was politically effective. There was zero chance that Brutus and his allies could have possibly defeated Caesar in open warfare. Caesar, a few years earlier, had beaten Pompey in battle, a man who was thought to be superior to him in military skill. Before that, he had a reputation for being invincible in battle. His defeat of Pompey revealed that even when he was outmatched, he had fortune on his side. Brutus admits that much when he says, "Caesar had good fortune, so I celebrated it."
In short, assassination was their best bet. The funeral speech was just as politically effective, as it was able to calm the fickle and dangerous Roman crowd. Brutus's fortunes take a turn for the worse just before the speech when he decides to allow Mark Antony to speak at Caesar's funeral, in the climax or turning point of the play.
The fatal flaw of Brutus was trying to achieve the fairness and moral balance he displayed in his rhetoric in his politics. This is what he attempted by foolishly allowing Mark Antony to speak at the funeral. Brutus saw allowing Antony to speak as a symbolic gesture of magnanimity to demonstrate that he might have killed Caesar for his ambition, but would not be excessive and kill Caesar's friend. He made the decision one scene earlier, even after being warned against it by one of his fellow conspirators. The effective political action to take would have been arresting or even assassinating Mark Antony, along with all the influential military allies of Caesar.
All Rome knew that Antony was a skilled rhetorician. All Rome knew that Antony was a wily political player. All Rome knew that Antony was a dear friend and comrade whom Caesar trusted with all his affairs and who was likely to avenge Caesar. Brutus sealed his fate after allowing Antony to speak at the funeral. For all intents and purposes, even during his speech, Brutus was a dead man talking.
Cite this EminentEdit article |
Antoine, M. (2025, November 29). Brutus Speech: Rhetorical Analysis. EminentEdit. https://www.eminentediting.com/post/brutus-speech-rhetorical-analysis |
