| Summary: | 碩士 === 世新大學 === 口語傳播學研究所 === 105 === Abstract
This study focused on drama communication. and rhetoric of persuasion
Thesis presents a quality analysis of Brutus’ and Marc Antony’s speeches in Shakespeare’s play ,Julius Caesar, in terms of the application of the rhetoric of persuasion. The texts of the two speeches are judged by the standards of both classical and modern rhetoric, namely
Aristotle's Rhetoric and the five keys to persuasion thereof ,and the NCA’s eight key speech techniques. The thesis also covers theory and its application and compares their differences and evolution.
Available literature suggests that both Brutus’ and Antony’s impromptu speeches achieved their desired results. Brutus’ speech was of self-defense nature, manifested in his famous quote “not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more” and his anti-dictatorship argument, which for a moment acquitted himself of the crime of murdering his senior leader, Julius Caesar, secured the understanding of the crowd and won their support for replacing Caesar as the leader. However, when a tearful Antony counted Caesar’s feats and extolled how Antony cared for the people, the dead king’s bloody body aside, the crowd’s sentiments and emotions reversed from support for Brutus to hatred, resulting in Brutus’ residence being set ablaze. Indeed, the two speeches demonstrate the power of persuasion of speech that is capable of swaying the crowd’s sentiments.
The two speeches in the Shakespearean play can be analysed and evaluated by using the five keys to persuasion of Aristotle and the NCA's eight key speech techniques, through which one can appreciate the subtlety of the two speeches. This kind of evaluation also demonstrates the value of the five keys to persuasion of Aristotle and the NCA's eight key speech techniques in terms of evaluating the rhetoric of persuasion.
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