Essay on persuasive techniques

Writers throughout their work applies various forms of styles and techniques in an attempt to capture the attention of their audience while at the same time bringing out the theme of the piece of work they are presenting. Marc Anthony in his speech tried to bring the perspective of both the citizens and some individuals on the view of Caesar’s rule and life in general. At the funeral, there were those who supported Caesar while others opposed him and his methods of leadership, forcing Anthony to illustrate both sides of the coin.
What is evident from the start of Anthony’s speech is that he was supporting Cesar ideas and was bitter towards his conspirators. What is so visible in the speech is the use of verbal irony. Here we see Anthony describing the conspirators as honorable men. This is pure irony, because there is no way the conspirators can be honorable men. They planned and succeeded in killing Caesar, which was the worst form of addressing issues. According to Anthony, they killed him because they were not satisfied of Caesar’s rule, thus wanted to bring change to the country. Thi8s is because they were referred to as honorable.

In the speech, we also see that Anthony repeated so many words in an attempt to emphasize on his feelings. He was bitter about the acts of the conspirators and he wanted the public to feel and know that there was no justice at all. The term honorable man has been used several times in the speech as an illustration of the evil men trying to be good in the eyes of the public. Brutus was the man referred to as being honorable yet according to the eyes of many citizens, he was opposing Caesar’s rule. On the other hand, Anthony has also repeated the word ambitious. According to Brutus, being ambitious is wrong for a ruler. This is the ground in which Brutus plotted to kill Caesar. However, Anthony states clearly in his speech that Caesar brought back so many captives from Rome, was weeping with the poor when they were faced with problems. In fact he also refused to be crown the king since he wanted to lead a life like the ordinary man, but all this acts summed up to being ambitious on the side of Brutus. The term was therefore, repeated so many times to stress the allegations for Caesar leading to his death.

The tone of the speech is a mourning tone and Anthony feels sorrowful together with the citizens. This speech being delivered on the day of burial, everyone thinks carefully of the good and bad things that had befallen the deceased. Weighing on these grounds, the citizens felt that the conspirators had done the worst thing by killing their ruler who was good and helped them in so many ways. The citizens spoke in low tones truing to come to terms with what had happened. Other could not bear the acts of the conspirators and felt that they should take revenge to avenge the death of Caesar. Alongside the pitiful tone, the citizen together with Anthony were unified against the injustices that had occurred and in unison they chanted words filled with revenge and destruction for they need not be forced to accept the actions of weaken men who claimed to be honorable yet what they are doing is against their words. They used loaded words to express their anger and sorrows.
Developing and setting up a story needs the use and application of various techniques. For instance, writers determine what they want to write about and use the appropriate techniques to draw the attention of everyone. In this speech narrative, the public needed to know what had happened to their leader and who was responsible for his death. Therefore, he applied various persuasive techniques such as tone variation, repetition, verbal irony, and application of loaded words to illustrate the feelings and desires of the citizens. Depending on the subject of discussion, writers use various techniques to make the readers understand the mood and feelings of those affected which on the other hand ensures the story is interesting.