Cicero's Orations Literary Elements

by Marcus Cicero

Cicero's Orations Literary Elements

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Genre

Philosophy

Setting and Context

Rome

Narrator and Point of View

Marcus Cicero is the narrator.

Tone and Mood

Philosophical, ethical, critical, political, moralistic, oratory, and persuasive

Protagonist and Antagonist

The protagonist and antagonist are absent.

Major Conflict

Defining the yardsticks of honorability.

Climax

Cicero does not include a climax in the oration.

Foreshadowing

Flashbacks dominate Cicero’s orations.

Understatement

N/A

Allusions

Historical allusions relating to Caesar’s reign and predicaments. Allusion to the philosophy of Plato and allusion to poetry.

Imagery

Honourable behaviour is founded on virtues. The behaviour is mandatory for humans to discharge their duties.

Paradox

N/A

Parallelism

The theme of honour (and its constituents) is expounded in all the three books.
Usury and murder are paralleled.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

Julius Caesar is synonymous with the Roman Empire.

Personification

Power and freedom are personified.

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