Comparing the Speeches of Mark Antony and Robert F. Kennedy Essay

On a cold January day America’s newly appointed president John F. Kennedy delivered his inauguration address that was incredibly important to America’s success during the Cold War. Kennedy uses his speech as a call to arms, but not only to America but the World and our allies as a whole. He uses his strong powerful voice to appeal to the ethics of the country in the beginning of his speech telling America about the promise we made when we were founded and that we must uphold it still today, telling America we must make a difference. Kennedy also uses ethics to explain that we the people are united no matter what your background or where you are from, he refers to the Americas as one place, because he wants for us to feel unified not divided. Furthermore Kennedy’s use of powerful imagery, logic and pathos allows for him to effectively call the people of the World together during this terrible time.

Clinton and Kennedy took the stage and managed to appease the people and make help them move on. In their speeches, “A eulogy for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” and “Oklahoma Bombing Memorial Address”, Robert F Kennedy and Bill Clinton use ethos, pathos, and logos to convey their sincere feelings and unite people as a whole, but Kennedy used King’s reputation and ideology to connect with the audience while Clinton sympathized and expressed his personal feelings to the

　　By keeping his listeners thoroughly engaged, Antony is able to further develop on his purpose by utilizing diverse rhetorical devices. Near the beginning, he makes effective use of parallelism to list Caesar’s selfless deeds, like “when that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept”, which gives the effect that the list is so long that Antony cannot describe it in unique detail. Additionally, his parallel repetition of “Brutus says he was ambitious and Brutus is an honorable man” serves as sarcasm. By repeating each good action with these two lines, Antony is getting the audience to contrast Caesar’s endless good deeds with Brutus’s repetitive and conflicting argument. Further on in the speech, Antony uses proslepsis somewhat obviously to reveal Caesar’s will to the people. He tells them that he found “a parchment with the seal of Caesar...tis his will”, yet quickly stops himself from telling anymore. Therefore, the audience is intrigued by the will and its mention reengages any listeners who

Robert Kennedy Speech “Remarks on the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.” (1968) explains that the death of Martin Luther King Jr, will affect their community but they must remain calm. Kennedy uses the motivational appeals of Ethos, Pathos, and Logos multiple times in his speech in order to get the message through his audience that went to support his conference campaign.

He starts of by letting the crowd know the very sad news of the King passing away. It touched most citizens who love the peace all over the world. What the united states needed was not hatred, nor division. What the United States needs was the love, wisdom and the compassion of one another. Robert F Kennedy asks the crowd to say a prayer that night of the speech for the people’s families and a prayer for our county. That shows us how Robert F Kennedy’s emotions after the passing of Martin Luther King

I am bewildered by the fact that one of the greatest American speeches ever written is unknown to the majority of the American public. A speech so powerful that it prevented a major city from rioting. The words of Robert F. Kennedy on April 4th, 1968 in Indianapolis, Indiana still persists strong in the sight of his burial in Arlington Cemetery and in the minds and hearts of the individuals who got to witness this live. The speech was known to be so dynamic that some scholarly institutions like that of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Texas A&M regard the speech as the seventeenth greatest American speech of the twentieth century (Wisconsin-Madison & Texas A&M). Whether it is your first or fifteenth time reading or watching the speech, it is still fascinating to grasp how Robert F. Kennedy is able to convey his message of unity and peace in such an equivocal way in order to try to prevent the city of Indianapolis, Indiana from rioting in the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. I believe Kennedy accomplishes this through the usages of rhetorical devices such as ethos, logos and pathos. To further understand this principle, the reader would have to understand the context which led up to the speech and how it affects the speech itself.

“John F. Kennedy will always be remembered for two things- how his presidency started and how it ended.” As the thirty-fifth president, John F. Kennedy presented the citizens of the United States with an inaugural speech on January 20, 1961. His memorable speech consisted of goals Kennedy was determined to achieve in order to promote peace. Standing on the podium before his audience, Kennedy spoke with certainty and confidence. Because of his appeal to ethos, pathos, and logos, John F. Kennedy gained the people’s trust. The rhetorical devices of allusions, juxtaposition, antitheses, anaphora, and parallelism, emphasizes his primary goal of uniting the nation using strength and power, eventually leading to the establishment of a presence in the world abroad.

This sentiment of Robert F. Kennedy has been delivered when Martin Luther King Jr. was shot in Memphis, Tennessee of 4 April 1968. Racism was a huge issue in America and was very prominent to African-American for a very long time. King was the most notable activist during that time because he engaged in various civil rights protest, helping to promote the movement to its victory. King’s speech had a giant impact as it bring awareness to demonstrate the racist problems of the time while giving hope to the African-American population. King’s argument was a success because he precisely architect his speech to relate to every audience with the persuasive appeals of ethos, pathos and logos.

The most predominate and important aspect In the play Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare are the speeches given to the Roman citizens by Brutus and Antony, the two main charaters, following the death of Caesar. Brutus and Antony both spoke to the crowd,using the same rhetorical devices to express their thoughts. Both speakers used the three classical appeals employed in the speeches: ethos, which is an appeal to credibility; pathos, which is an appeal to the emotion of the audience; and logos, which is an appeal to the content and arrangement of the argument itself. Even though both speeches have the same structure Antony’s speech is significantly more effective than Brutus’s.

Kennedy’s inaugural address reveals his legacy by expressing his goal of unifying Americans using antithesis and syntax to contrast selfishness with selflessness, emphasizing that Americans should be working towards selflessness and unification. The photograph of Kennedy taking the oath of office mirrors his legacy of unifying the country and the virtue of selflessness with its wide range, capturing not only Kennedy, but the people around him as well. In his address, Kennedy speaks of how opposing sides in any fight should work together towards a common goal, rather than fight each other and never be able to achieve their goals.

Antony uses repetition to impair Brutus' credibility. Anthony says in the beginning of the speech that “The noble Brutus/Hath told you Caesar was ambitious./If it were so, it was a grievous fault,/And grievously hath Caesar answered it” (III, ii, 76-79). Antony continues to call Brutus honorable, and brings attention to his claim of Caesar’s ambition. This seems counterproductive, until Anthony consecutively disproves Brutus's claim, bringing up examples of Caesar’s selflessness. The plebeians respond to this logic and begin to sympathize with Caesar. Antony uses repetition again, to put blame on the conspirators for killing Caesar. Antony pleads with the crowd, saying that Caesar “is himself, marr’d, as you see, with traitors./Let not a traitor live!” (III, ii, 191-193). As Antony calls the conspirators traitors, the crowd is forced to think of them as common criminals, who should be punished according to the Roman law code. Hearing this, the crowd falls into a mutinous rage, calling for the death of the traitors. It is in this moment that Antony has true control of the people, and has won revenge for

When one hears the name Kennedy, what comes to mind? Many families have multiple icons in the American political scene; the Kennedys are no exception. Many think of President John F. Kennedy and his assassination. Others reflect on Jacqueline Kennedy and her elegance, style, and grace. Still others think of Ted Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy, or Rose Kennedy. Others remember yet another Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, New York Senator and brother of President John F. Kennedy, who sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1968. On April 4, 1968, he spent the entire day campaigning in Indiana. First going to the University of Notre Dame then proceeding to Ball State University and finally finishing in the capitol, Indianapolis, he thought the day successful. Having heard the news of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination, he decided to deliver a speech at the rally to break the news to the mostly African-American audience. While telling of the tragic loss, Kennedy incites the audience to believe that America can overcome King’s assassination by utilizing the rhetorical strategies of pathos, allusion, and anaphoras.

The power of rhetoric is embodied throughout William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Specifically, in the context of Julius Caesar’s funeral, Brutus and Antony demonstrate the influence rhetorical appeals and devices have upon the audience’s opinion. In the justifying the murder of Julius Caesar, both orations appeal to the audience through ethos, pathos and logos. Respectively, the sense of reliability, emotional effects and the rationality executed in Brutus’s speech, yet more effectively accomplished in Antony’s speech, successfully transform the opinion of the audience from one view to the contrary. Brutus speaks first appealing to the audience through logic in hopes of suppressing the mutiny, and illuminating a more rational response. The audience is engaged as Brutus simply states that Caesar was overly ambitious, however, it is Antony’s subsequent oration that fully captivates the audience. Dismantling Brutus’s speech,

In John F. Kennedy’s (JFK) 1961 inaugural address, he began by acknowledging the audience, including former presidents and vice presidents before he brought his message of a “new generation of Americans- born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, [and] proud of our ancient heritage…” This new generation was to inspire and change, not only the America they lived in, but the world. His message was empowering and direct while effectively persuading his audience, of both United States citizens and citizens of the World. Through his use of anaphora, parallelism, and pathos, President Kennedy was able to portray the picture and message in his mind.

Men and women throughout history, such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, are not only known for their actions, but also for the words they speak. The advice and beliefs of inspiring individuals takes an important spot in historical textbooks, which future generations study and use as examples in their lives. The authors use rhetorical devices to express their message with sophisticated, academic English language. One such influential individual is the 35th President of the United States, also known as John F. Kennedy. On January 20, 1961, Kennedy inspired the nation with his inaugural speech which called the people into action and expressed the need for every individual to contribute. At the end of his speech, Kennedy conveys his message that American citizens and citizens of the world must collaborate to defeat the common enemies of man--despotism, penury, infection--by appealing to logos, pathos and ethos.