Shakespeare: Rhetoric and the Mob-Mentality

I've been thinking at length about Shakespeare as a philosopher, or rather, examples in his writing that display his views, which brought to my attention Julius Caesar, my favorite of his plays. This play deals at length with the power of the smooth tongue: rhetoric. And, going hand-in-hand with rhetoric, Shakespeare toys with the concept of the "mob-mentality," something he often dwelt on. For these reasons, Julius Caesar became my favorite play, because it so expertly exemplifies how easily people can be swayed by a skilled speaker, and terrifyingly so. This of course is most potently played out in Marc Anthony's famous speech, "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears." That line in itself portrays Shakespeare's critical understanding of rhetoric and the public ear. When juxtaposed with Brutus' opening line. "Romans, countrymen, and lovers! Hear me for my/ cause and be silent that you may hear," it is painfully clear how deeply Shakespeare understands the power of logos, ethos, and pathos. Notice how Marc Antony begins with friends, as opposed to Brutus who began with Romans. In doing this, Marc Anthony is bringing the public to his level and creating an emotional bond with them by calling them his friends. Whereas Brutus gives a much colder and distant plea by simply calling them Romans. Marc Anthony furthers his manipulation through the word, "Honorable." He, quite literally, twists the meaning of the word and uses it against his opponents. Had he outright condemned Caesar's killers, he would have lost his emotional appeal: by calling them honorable and speaking of them as if defending them, Marc Anthony renders himself a wounded victim, as if he were a friend who has been wronged, but still loves those who wronged him. In doing this, the crowd further binds themselves to him, feels sorry for him, and begins to side with him, as seen when one Plebeian shouts, "Poor soul! His eyes are red as fire with weeping," and "There's not a nobler man in Rome than Anthony." Anthony has now established himself with the crowd, and they trust him. From there he begins to stir the crowd to action with emotional appeals over and over again. He brings the crowd over to Caesar's body, to show them the wounds that brought his death. And here, he deals a potent blow; "If you have tears, prepare to shed them now...Look, in this place ran Cassius' dagger through...Through this the well-beloved Brutus stabbed,/ and , as he plucked his cursed steel away,/ mark how the blood of Caesar followed it,/ as rushing out of doors to be resolved/if Brutus so unkindly knocked or no." From here, the mob-mentality takes over, as the crowd becomes blind with rage as they scream, "Revenge! About! Seek! Burn! Fire! Kill! Slay!/ Let not a traitor live!" There is a great deal more in his speech, and in the play itself, that further builds from this, and I highly recommend reading it.