This
paper explains that the primary use of
rhetoric is to
convince the reader to take the author's side of an
opinion; but sometimes the author, as in Machiavelli's "The Prince", has hidden his opinion so deeply in the rhetoric that it is
misunderstood. The author points out that Shakespeare used rhetoric in his plays, especially in his
political tragedies, to demonstrate how easily men and women were corruptible by power. The paper relates that in "Julius Caesar" Cassius was totally corrupted by his quest for power and brought down ignominiously in battle; however, Brutus, whose
flaw was poor judgment and needed to be "one of the gang", was permitted to honorably commit suicide rather than be tried and executed. Many long textual examples. Table of Contents Uses and Abuses of Rhetoric Rhetoric in "Julius Caesar" Machiavelli's "The Prince" Rhetoric Unveiled
More summaries about the The Rhetoric of Machiavelli and Shakespeare