When a hero dies, it is difficult to process why the tragic loss occurred. When a hero is murdered by a former companion, it is even more difficult. Brutus, however, seemingly unafraid of challenge, attempts to help the Roman’s through this process. In his act three scene two funeral speech, Brutus not only explains why Caesar was killed, but he also gets the Plebeians to agree with the reasoning. Through syntactical choices such as prose, and diction choices such as reactionary phrases and rhetorical questions, Brutus delivers a speech that honors Caesar, but rallies the Roman people to support his action of murdering Caesar. Brutus uses prose to align himself with the crowd, causal phrases to justify his actions, and rhetorical questions to further engage the crowd and solidify their support.
In his funeral speech in act three scene two, Brutus breaks from his normal iambic pentameter and speaks to the crowd in prose. In most of his plays, Shakespeare’s comical or lower class characters speak in prose in order to relate to the commoners in the audience. Similarly, Brutus makes this transition in order to lower himself and relate to the crowd he is speaking. Criticizing Caesar for his loftiness and thirst for power, Brutus knows he cannot project himself with a sense of superiority or else appear hypocritical. For this reason, it is necessary Brutus speak in prose. In doing so, Brutus equates himself with the common Plebeians and is able to appeal to them and rally their support for his decision to murder Caesar.
After appealing to the Plebeian’s pathos and aligning himself with them, he appeals to their logos and attempts to show that Caesar’s murder was warranted, justifying his actions. Brutus does this primarily through his use of causal phrases. He begins with cause and reactions regarding his emotions such as, “As Caesar loved me, I weep for him”, “ As he was fortunate, I rejoice at it” and “As he was valiant, I honor him” (III.ii.24-26). These initial phrases continue to play off the pathos that he previously employed and establish. Brutus then says, “but as he was ambitious, I slew him” (III.ii.26). Although this may seem difficult for a citizen dedicated to Caesar to believe, Brutus’ use of parallelism makes it appear logical. This final phrase is different from the three prior, but because it uses the same structure that appealed to their pathos, they go along with the claim that Caesar deserved his death and Brutus’ actions were justified. The parallelism calls upon the Plebeian’s logos; just as being fortunate warrants rejoicing, and valiance warrants honor, so too must ambition warrant being slain. Brutus repeats this structure as he says, “there is tears for his love, joy for his fortune, honor for his valor, and death for his ambition” (III.ii.26-28). In using this set of phrases, Brutus again appeals to the logos of the Plebeians and justifies his actions of killing Caesar.
In the final part of Brutus’ funeral speech, he uses rhetorical questions in an effort to further engage the crowd and solidify their support for his murdering of Caesar. Brutus asks the Plebeians “who is here so base that would be a bondman?”, “who is here so rude that would not be a Roman?”, and “who is her so vile that will not love his country?” (III.ii.28-29,30-32). In asking these questions, Brutus is engaging the crowd, challenging them to think for themselves and giving them time to respond. By doing this, Brutus is asking them to not simply go along with what he is saying, but truly believe and support it. His rhetorical questions make his speech appear less like a lecture and more like a conversation, emphasizing the crowd unity. Knowing that no one would answer the accusatory questions and be labeled as “base”, “rude”, or “vile”, Brutus crushes any remaining opposition (III.ii.28, 30, 32).
With these final rhetorical questions, Brutus solidifies the support of the crowd that is aligned with the understanding that it was necessary to murder Caesar.