Question 8 (Essay Worth 10 points)
(02.05 HC)
Read the excerpt from Act III, Scene ii of Julius Caesar and answer the question that follows.
FIRST CITIZEN:
Methinks there is much reason in his sayings.
SECOND CITIZEN:
If thou consider rightly of the matter,
Caesar has had great wrong.
THIRD CITIZEN:
Has he, masters?
I fear there will a worse come in his place.
FOURTH CITIZEN:
Mark'd ye his words? He would not take the crown;
Therefore 'tis certain he was not ambitious.
FIRST CITIZEN:
If it be found so, some will dear abide it.
SECOND CITIZEN:
Poor soul! his eyes are red as fire with weeping.
THIRD CITIZEN:
There's not a nobler man in Rome than Antony.
FOURTH CITIZEN:
Now mark him, he begins again to speak.
ANTONY:
But yesterday the word of Caesar might
Have stood against the world; now lies he there.
And none so poor to do him reverence.
O masters, if I were disposed to stir
Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage,
I should do Brutus wrong, and Cassius wrong,
Who, you all know, are honourable men:
I will not do them wrong; I rather choose
To wrong the dead, to wrong myself and you,
Than I will wrong such honourable men.
But here's a parchment with the seal of Caesar;
I found it in his closet, 'tis his will:
Let but the commons hear this testament—
Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read—
And they would go and kiss dead Caesar's wounds
And dip their napkins in his sacred blood,
Yea, beg a hair of him for memory,
And, dying, mention it within their wills,
Bequeathing it as a rich legacy
Unto their issue.
FOURTH CITIZEN:
We'll hear the will: read it, Mark Antony.
ALL:
The will, the will! We will hear Caesar's will.
ANTONY:
Have patience, gentle friends, I must not read it;
It is not meet you know how Caesar loved you.
You are not wood, you are not stones, but men;
And, being men, bearing the will of Caesar,
It will inflame you, it will make you mad:
'Tis good you know not that you are his heirs;
For, if you should, O, what would come of it!
In a well-written paragraph of 5–7 sentences:
Identify two rhetorical appeals (ethos, kairos, logos, or pathos) used by Antony; the appeal types may be the same or different.
Evaluate the effectiveness of both appeals.
Support your response with evidence of each appeal from the text.
