Clavis Libri

Literary device

Rhetorical Question

A question asked without expecting an answer, either because the answer is already implied or because what matters is the doubt it exposes.

In Julius Caesar

Et tu, Brute? Then fall, Caesar!

"And you, Brutus?" is asked without expecting an answer: Caesar already sees that it is Brutus who wounds him. The question serves to express the pain of betrayal rather than to learn anything.

Act III: The Assassination and the Forum, Julius Caesar