Joshua Kim Kim 1

Schaadt

Lit/Composition 2

1 April 2010

Cassius’ Persuasion Techniques

In Act 1 Scene 2 of Julius Caesar, Cassius uses persuasion techniques to persuade Brutus

to turn against his friend Caesar and join the conspiracy. In this scene, Cassius talks to Brutus to

convince him that Caesar is not a good ruler. Cassius is jealous of Caesar’s overall rise to power.

Cassius uses the tools of persuasion to convince Brutus to join in on the conspiracy. The tools of

persuasion that Cassius uses are evidence, loaded words, repetition, and emotional appeals.

Cassius uses evidence to convince Brutus to partake in the plan to assassinate Julius

Caesar. For example, he talks about how one time how the Tiber River almost swallowed Caesar

up. Caesar commanded Cassius to swim across the river with him. This point right here proves

that Caesar is a fool and is weak. This also says that Caesar was just a pitiful sight to behold. The

second evidence that Act 1 scene 2 provides is when Caesar had a fever when he was in Spain.

He cried out for Titinius to give him a drink like a sick girl. This proves how Caesar is just a

mortal but people think of him as a god or a king. They wanted to crown him and offered the

crown to him three times but he refused three times. Three times can you believe it and three

times he refused. The last and final evidence that Cassius uses to persuade Brutus is when Caesar

faints because he has epilepsy. Now this proves that just because the Caesar is praised as a god

or a king by the people that he isn’t going to be a god or a king. The reason is being if he was a

god, he would be able to not get a disease or get sick. Problem is that he has epilepsy.

Cassius then uses loaded words to argue to Brutus in the partaking of the complot.
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The first instance in where Cassius uses a loaded word is when he talks about how he knows that

the virtue is in Brutus. Cassius talks about honor and how he doesn’t know what other men think

of him in this life but, that he doesn’t want to worship a man that is ordinary as him. He doesn’t

want a person that is like himself to worship. He wants someone that is extraordinary /that can do

things that man can’t do. If he worshiped a person like himself, then it would just drive him

insane because he would rather die than worship someone like him. After all a person is just a

normal person. The second example that Cassius uses a loaded word is love. He uses it in the

sense that someone cares for him. He says that he is adamant to Cassius. In this context, Cassius

cares for Brutus. He is affectionate of Brutus. The third and final example of a loaded word that

Cassius says is respect. The word respect has a bunch of words within a word. For instance there

is listening, integrity, trustworthiness, paying attention to the person talking (if there is a person

speaking), etc. He says this to Brutus because he is jealous of Caesar’s rise to power but, also

wants Brutus on the conspirator’s side. He also says this because he knows that next to Caesar

that Brutus has a reputation with the people. He wants Brutus to take the fact that he is popular

with the people and to manipulate Brutus using the plebians and Brutus.

The third way that Cassius uses to persuade Brutus to join in on the conspiracy is by

repetition. One example is when Cassius says why Caesar’s name should be said more than

Brutus’ name. This means that Caesar is just as good as a name as Brutus, so why shouldn’t

Brutus’ name be said? Cassius is saying that a name is just a name and that Brutus should be in

Caesar’s position. Again, Cassius is envious of Caesar. Another example is when he asks the

questions about how Caesar grew so great. Is it his food that he eats or the drinks that he drinks?
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He means that what has Caesar done that he grew so great? Was it his victory? Was it his service

to Rome? No, it was only because of the people decided to go with him. The last example is

when Cassius speaks about Rome and how it lost the noble bloods. This explains that the people

only saw Caesar as king because of what he did and the only thing that he did was win the war

against Pompey.

The final way that Cassius tries to persuade Brutus to partake in the conspiracy is through

emotional appeals. For instance, in line 68 of the play Cassius talks about how he would be his

glass/ reflection to Brutus. This explains how Cassius is trying to make Brutus feel sad or

dejected. The second example that Cassius uses is in line 135 of the play when he speaks about

how Caesar is like a huge statue of Helios and that the upper class walk under his legs and find

dishonorable graves. This means that Caesar is the giant statue of Helios and the upper class only

look forward to death. This also brings up the emotion of jealousy. The third example of

emotional appeal is when Cassius asks Brutus if he fears the people of Rome choosing Caesar as

their king. This brings up the emotion of fearfulness. This also brings up that the people should

be fearing Caesar and not Brutus because Brutus isn’t the so called “king”.

In conclusion, we see that through out the story that Cassius tries to convince Brutus to

join in on the conspiracy of Caesar. There is the example of the glass or a reflection to Brutus or

when Cassius told the story of Caesar almost drowning in the Tiber River or the story of Caesar

in Spain when he had the fever. Through all the examples we saw, we see that Cassius tried in

many ways to convince Brutus of going to partake in the conspiracy. Cassius was pretty sly in

trying to convince Brutus of joining in on it. All in all, Cassius persuades Brutus to join in on the

conspiracy by evidence, loaded words, repetition, and by emotional appeals.