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- QUESTION
Read the excerpt from Julius Caesar in which Antony delivers his funeral speech for Julius Caesar.
excerpt from Julius Caesar
by William Shakespeare
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it.
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest--
For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men--
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
He hath brought many captives home to Rome
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?
O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.How does Shakespeare use personification, metaphor, and symbolism to develop tone in the excerpt from Julius Caesar? Remember that tone can change throughout a text, depending on what the author is trying to convey. Use evidence from the text to support your determinations about how the figurative language in the text creates tone. Your response should be at least three complete paragraphs.
2. Read the text then answer the 2 questions:
Sidestepping Student Debt
Graduating from college with limited financial debt remains a challenge in these hard economic times. According to experts, the average student uses student loans to pay for school and then carries a median debt of $35,000 upon graduation. It is a significant sum for any recent graduate. The annual college tuition for a typical private school exceeds $50,000. Students attending those schools accrue crippling debt by the end of college. How is a recent college graduate supposed to pay back such a debt? The hourly minimum wage hardly covers the rent in urban areas across the country, leaving graduates scrambling to cover loans and other expenses. Finding entry-level corporate jobs is difficult for young graduates without career experience. Nonetheless, banks do not hesitate long before demanding payment on school loans. Smart students everywhere are refusing to accept the unwritten law that attending college results in overwhelming debt. Instead, these smart students sidestep serious college debt before college even begins.
One way to avoid a hefty college loan is to start thinking about that debt before applying to colleges. Savvy students consider not only the schools that offer the best education, but also those schools with reasonable tuition rates that fit within a set budget. Budgeting requires a breakdown of all school expenses. It also ensures students that they will be able to pay for tuition without the use of student loans.
Even those students who work within a budget may find it necessary to take out a small student loan to ease the burden of paying outright for college. The monthly payback rates of those loans need to be considered carefully. Wherever possible, the payback rate should be relative to a student’s projected income upon graduation. For example, students can calculate the monthly salary of their chosen profession and make sure it adequately covers their monthly loan payback. If a salary projection covers the monthly loan amount, then the student can feel safe in taking on the loan.
Another way smart students avoid serious debt is by applying for scholarships. Landing a scholarship is as easy as filling out a form. These awards range from minimal, such as a token gift of a few dollars per semester, to significant, such as complete tuition remission. Some scholarships award excellence in non-academic activities, such as sports and the arts. Students use scholarship monies to pay for school-related expenses such as books, academic equipment, and computers.
Finally, colleges themselves offer creative ways for students to avoid student debt. One such way is through student employment services. College students can work on campus in jobs ranging from tutoring and assisting in campus offices to more difficult jobs, such teaching classes through a teaching fellowship. Jobs like these can reduce tuition or provide direct income for students. All students can use extra pocket money, and campus employment can offer both immediate and long-term financial help.
Avoiding crippling college debt is crucial. It requires smart thinking before school begins in September. It requires careful forethought and active planning. It requires a thorough understanding of career-level salaries and typical real-life expenses after college. Scholarship money and campus employment offer financial help with tuition and other college expenses. By following the example of smart students everywhere, college applicants can avoid overwhelming student loan debt before applying to schools.2. What is the author's viewpoint in “Sidestepping Student Debt”? How does the author use rhetoric to advance a viewpoint? Use evidence from the text to demonstrate your understanding of the rhetorical devices the author uses and their effect. Your response should be at least two complete paragraphs.
3. Writers of persuasive texts use a number of techniques to advance their viewpoint and argument. What are some examples of the author’s use of false statements and of fallacious reasoning in “Sidestepping Student Debt”? Use evidence from the text to support your response. Your response should be at least two complete paragraphs.
This is high school freshman level english. Vocab/words used should sound like a 14-15 year old, not such large vocab it isn't appropriate.
| Subject | Literature | Pages | 3 | Style | APA |
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Answer
Figures of Rhetoric
Use of figures of rhetoric remains the most effective way of persuasive writing. In this work, an excerpt from Shakespeare’s Caesar and an article on sidestepping student debt are analyzed. The paper begins by analyzing the use of personification, metaphors and symbolism by shake pear in the excerpt to develop tone. It then advances to the author's viewpoint in sidestepping student debt followed by an analysis of the rhetoric used to advance viewpoints in the article. It then concludes by analyzing the use of false statements and fallacious reasoning in the article to advance viewpoints concerning sidestepping student debt.
Shakespeare uses personification in the excerpt to develop a somber tone. Personification is best identified as giving human characters to inanimate objects. In the excerpt, Antony has been forced by Brutus and other conspirators not to blame them for Caesar’s death. Reflecting on this death, he is overwhelmed by emotion. He therefore personifies his heart when he says, “My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, And I must pause till it come back to me.” By doing so, a somber tone is developed showing just how sad the whole situation is. Hence, Shakespeare uses personification in the excerpt to develop a somber tone.
Shakespeare also develops a somber tone in the excerpt through the use of metaphorical allusion. Metaphors can best be explained as the application of a phrase to an object it is literally not applicable to. In the excerpt Antony expresses his grief and thus develops a somber tone when he states, “My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, And I must pause till it come back to me.” He expresses the depression he feels following Caesar’s death by comparing his life (his heart) to Caesar’s dead body (in the coffin). To him, both are in the same place, a sad state. Thus, we can infer that, a somber tone is developed through Antony’s metaphorical allusion.
Symbolism is also a tool used by Shakespeare to progress a somber tone. Use of a symbol to represent a quality or idea classifies as symbolism. This is evident when Antony declares, “My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar.” He makes use of his heart to represent his life at that point. He feels depressed following Caesar’s death. Therefore, he feels as though his heart (his life) is in the coffin ready to be buried just like Caesar. By this symbol, a somber tone is set up and one can actually feel his grief. Thus, through symbolism, Shakespeare advances a somber tone towards the end of the excerpt.
The author views sidestepping student debt as an active pre-planned activity. The author begins by providing statistics on how difficult it is to pay up the student loans before offering techniques on how to avoid such debt. The techniques are centered around pre-planning for effective sidestepping of the debt. The readers are advised to plan which schools to join so as to get the most reasonable tuition fees, do monthly salary projections of their chosen profession to determine whether a student loan is worth the risk among other pre-planning techniques. Hence, the author views sidestepping student debt as an active pre-planned activity.
The author makes tactful use of rhetoric to advance viewpoints. To express how hefty the student loan is by the end of college, the author personifies debt and describes it as “crippling”. Furthermore, the author adds a rhetorical question to drive home the point that the loan is too much a burden, “How is a recent college graduate supposed to pay back such a debt?” The author’s viewpoint on sidestepping student debt is made clear through a metaphor. The author contrasts the idea that college results in overwhelming debt to an unwritten law. “Smart students everywhere are refusing to accept the unwritten law that attending college results in overwhelming debt.” Hence, the author makes tactful use of rhetoric to advance viewpoints.
The author makes prudent use of false statements to advance the argument that sidestepping student debt is possible. “Landing a scholarship is as easy as filling out a form,” these words present a false statement as filling a scholarship is not always an easy task. Nonetheless, it is meant to spur the readers to view it differently so at to sidestep student debt. Thus, the author makes prudent use of false statements to advance the argument that sidestepping student debt is possible.
The author also uses fallacious reasoning to advance the article’s viewpoint. “Smart students everywhere are refusing to accept the unwritten law that attending college results in overwhelming debt.” From these words, it is evident that the thought that college should always result in debt is fallacious reasoning. It helps the readers view it as such so that they can work so sidestep student debt. Hence, the author also uses fallacious reasoning to advance the article’s viewpoint.
In summary, use of figures of rhetoric remains the most effective way of persuasive writing. Through personification, metaphorical allusion and symbolism, Shakespeare adequately develops a somber tone in the excerpt. In the article, the author views sidestepping student debt as an active pre-planned activity and tactfully uses rhetoric to advance viewpoints. The author also prudently uses false statements and fallacious reasoning to convince the audience of the article’s viewpoints.
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