Analysis Of Persuasive Techniques Used By Portia In Shakespeare’s The Tragedy Of Juliet Caesar
In William Shakespeare's play the Tragedy of Juliet Caesar, Portia, Brutus’s wife, is the most persuasive character in the play because she gets Brutus to tell her the secret he was hiding by using persuasive techniques such as reasons, evidence, name calling, and loaded words. Portia also uses rhetorical devices to get her point across to Brutus. Portia use of reason to know the secret is she states, because of her respectable rank she deserves to know the secret that Brutus is carrying: “I grant I am a woman; but withal a woman that Lord Brutus took to wife. I grant I am a woman; but withal a woman well reputed, Cato’s daughter”. Her relation to Cato, who is her father and also a “respected man who was famous for his integrity,” and her relation with Brutus qualifies her to know all his thoughts. Portia proficiently flatters Brutus using the logical appeal reasoning.
In the play Portia is Brutus devoted wife and she knows how to appeal to ethos and logos while talking to her husband Brutus, which makes her significantly persuasive. Portia used her love and beauty, toward Brutus to get the information she wanted. Because, when Brutus refuses to confide in Portia, she takes issue with his secrecy, as a married couple she said, they should have no secrets. Portia is extremely tired of being excluded from Brutus’s world just because she's a woman. She also suggested that when Brutus keeps things from her, he’s treating her like a “Harlot” not his wife, meaning she is just a hooker there for his entertainment. She successfully managed to use persuasion on Brutus by applying offensive names to herself. She wanted to know what Brutus was doing because she worried about him all the time. To prove to Brutus, she could take the secret Portia stabs herself in the thigh without flinching and also kneels by his side and demands that he treat her with a little bit of more respect. As Portia makes her case and argues her point about the whole trust, marriage situation, Brutus feels the emotional pressure: 'O ye gods, Render me worthy of this noble wife!' he says . Brutus understands his wife's position, and he honors her role and her worry as well as their marriage, and he knows that he is doing her wrong by keeping the secret. This reveals that Brutus is just as attached to Portia as she is to him. For her doing that she made Brutus feel guilty by questioning his love for her, this caused him to agree that he would tell her what he was about to do.
Portia also uses rhetorical devices to make her claim more believable. Her use of rhetorical questions, and strong diction also helps get her point across. Portia uses an Ad Hominem by calling Brutus ungentle, causing him to feel terrible about not telling her, so he proceeds to tell her his deeply held secret. By using name calling, Portia effectively persuades Brutus. When Portia used passionate dialogue as, “angry, fear, strength, impatience,” and “enkindled,” that allowed her to guilt trip Brutus to the point he had to tell her the secret. Loading words also played an important role in Portia’s successful attempt of swaying Brutus. Portia complains in Act II, Scene 4 that she has “a man’s mind, but a woman’s might”.
In conclusion, Portia easily convinces Brutus because of her effective persuasive techniques to learn the secret that he held so securely which was that he and his Roman citizens were going to assassinate Julius Caesar. She provides evidence of her ability to keep secrets by showing him a cut she gave herself that no one else knows about. Name calling is another persuasive technique she applies to herself in order to make Brutus feel bad for not telling her the secret. Name calling is once more applied in order to make him feel blameworthy and make him want to “clean the slate.” Persuasion is a powerful weapon, how you choose to use to will determine who you are.
