In Act 3 of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Mark Antony delivers his funeral address following Brutus’ speech. Without the commoners knowing, he successfully wins them over and pits them against Brutus and the conspirators. He achieves this by cleverly using sarcasm and irony in his speech. Antony makes use of sarcasm in his funeral speech to sway the crowd from being pro-Brutus to being outraged and wanting to mutiny. Following Brutus’ speech, Antony is unable to speak of his true intentions as the crowd has sided with the conspirators. However, by lacing his words with sarcasm, he begins to slowly turn the commoners against Brutus. He achieves this by first stating that Brutus is ‘noble’ before labelling him as ‘honourable’. In his speech, When informing the crowd of its existence, Antony uses irony to mask his true intentions. After mentioning it, he says, “Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read –“. This in itself is already ironic as Antony has no intentions but to read it, or he would not have produced it at all. He appears to be reluctant to share its contents as he is afraid to “wrong the honourable men”, once again sarcastically labelling the conspirators as ‘honourable’. Still concentrated on turning the commoners against Brutus and the conspirators, Antony discreetly plants the idea that the people of Rome should mutiny. This is seen when he says, “And, being men, hearing the will of Caesar, / It will inflame you, it will make you mad. / ‘Tis good you know not that you are his heirs, / For if you should, O, what would come of it?” Without openly stating it, Antony tells the commoners that the will of Caesar should make them want to revolt. The use of the will proves to be effective as the commoners are essentially left begging for Antony to read the will, “They were villains, murderers! The will, read the will!” This rhetoric strategy is completely supported by the use of irony. However, irony is not only found here, but rather throughout the entirety of Antony’s
He wants them to revolt but he says he doesn't, he is getting the people to do what he wants. “ which pardon me, I do not mean to read/ and they would go and kiss caesar's wounds.” It's showing that Caesar's will is meant for the people and Mark Antony is saying that they would love him if they heard it and would love him so much as to kiss his wounds. Antony uses reverse psychology to get the people to do what he wants without the realizing it. He uses irony to prove that Brutus cannot be
Mark Antony’s speech, whose aim is to counter Brutus’ speech, enlightens the crowd on the unjust murder of Caesar. Though he never directly communicates to the crowd of his feeling towards the conspirators, Antony was able to effectively convey to the crowd, through the use of verbal irony and other stylistic devices/techniques in his speech, his true views of the assassination. Moreover, Antony was able to shrewdly emphasize his belief of the undeserved assassination of Caesar through the wide use of epiphoral and anaphoral structure in his speech. Antony emphasizes the wrongdoings of Brutus and Cassius through the ingenious use of the epistrophe along with verbal irony as he notes that “I should do Brutus wrong, and Cassius wrong” (III, ii, 125). Moreover, he stresses the importance of punishi...
" Now that he has the crowd's attention. He needs to put their minds to rest that he is not going to try and contradict what Brutus has just said, "I come to bury Caesar not. " praise him. Antony no uses the first part of his sarcasm, he says that Brutus and his followers have made Caesar pay "grievously" for his ambition, he said.
Through the whole of his spectacular speech, Mark Antony influences the crowd using his distinct diction. He is able to inculcate a fired up anti-Caesar mass of people, and he makes the populace believe that Julius Caesar’s death was a true tragedy. Antony gracefully applies his proficiency with ‘logos’ and ‘pathos’ to his speech and is able to adroitly gain followers. His strong reasoning and explanations allow the Romans to buy what he has to say. Antony’s ability to speak in a roundabout way is a key constituent of his speech. Withal, he is extremely humble and the way he plays down his prowess is impressive. Mark Antony puts all the parts of his remarkable rhetoric together, and the result is a speech for the ages.
Firstly, Antony says a general statement that, “the evil that men do lives after them” (III.ii.74), when in fact he is subtly and sneeringly referring to the conspirators actions. The Roman commoners don’t realize that this general statement is swaying them, but the rest of Antony’s speech further convinces them of the evil the conspirators have done. Later, Antony talks about Brutus says that “sure, [he] is an honourable man” (III.ii.98), emphasis on the sure. Because he uses a scornful tone while sarcastically saying this statement, he is really beginning to show the audience his true feelings on the situation. Knowing that even Antony bitterly disagrees with the choices of the conspirators, it further persuades the common people of Rome to turn against Brutus and the rest of Caesar’s murderers. These occasions show Antony’s sour tone, especially towards the conspirators, and Antony’s tone also riles up the Roman citizens. His tone helps to exasperate the commoners with Caesar’s murder, and therefore assists Antony in achieving his purpose to manipulate the audience to turn against
During Yitzhak Rabin's funeral, Artizi-Pelossof mutters, “Grandfather, you were the pillar of fire in front of the camp and now we are left in the camp alone, in the dark;”(Artizi-Pelossof 1). On multiple occasions Antony voiced, “Brutus says he was ambitious/and Brutus is an honorable man. ”(3.2.88-89). Every time Antony says these words they come off in a sarcastic manner, they are also meant to rile up and cause disruption in the audience to make them want to take action against Brutus and the conspirators.
Throughout his speech, Antony repeats the words “[Caesar] was ambitious” and “Brutus is an honorable man” to create a contrast between the two statements. (3.2.95-96). Through this repetition, Caesar successfully undermines Brutus. Everytime he calls Brutus an honorable man, he lists a positive trait of Caesar that contradicts Brutus’s claim that he was too ambitious. He tells the crowd about the times when Caesar showed compassion for the people and when he refused the crown thrice. Antony’s sarcasm about Brutus’s honor brings into question as to whether his honor deserved. This leads the audience to doubt their feelings upon Caesar’s ambition. Near the end of his eulogy, Antony uses apostrophe when he claims that “judgment ... art fled to brutish beasts” as a reason for why the Roman people believe Brutus. (3.2.114-115). Antony indirectly shames the crowd for their belief in Brutus in that Caesar was a tyrant. Fearing alienation of the crowd, he attributes this belief to a lapse in judgement that beasts have taken. Antony also makes a pun upon Brutus’s name when he comments “brutish beasts.” Antony implies Brutus has caused a lapse in judgement within the Roman people through his oration
& respects the intelligence of the common people to understand a speech given in verse. Brutus's authoritative air is once again illustrated at the very opening line of his oration when he demands the attention of the people, "Romans, countrymen, and lovers, hear me for my / cause, and be silent, that you may hear. Believe me / for mine honor and have respect to mine honor, that / you may believe"(Act III, scene ii, lines 13-16). this one line, Antony uses Brutus's words to his advantage by changing them to make himself sound friendlier. By the very first word of Antony's speech, one can infer that he is about to give a humbling oration; he uses the ethical appeal to convince the people to believe in his cause rather than Brutus's. Finally, while the crowd is in awe of Brutus's raw power and booming authority, Antony uses sarcasm He is "an honorable man" (Act III, scene II, line 84) in a tone of biting mockery, therefore questioning Brutus's credibility. & nbsp; It is true that the Roman people have emotions that sway with the winds, but this is partly due to the great speaking skills of both Brutus and Mark Antony.
Antony reminds the plebeians about the time when he, himself “presented [Caesar] a kingly crown, / Which [Caeasar] did thrice refuse” (III. ii. 97-98). Using logic and reasoning, Mark Antony explains to his crowd that the fallen Caesar couldn’t possibly have been ambitious if he had refused the ticket to become King multiple times. Immediately afterward, Antony made sure to remind the plebeians that Brutus is an honorable man. This use of logos with verbal irony proves to be extremely effective. Since Antony presented the crowd with a compelling fact supporting that Caesar was not ambitious, the phrase “Brutus is an honorable man,” would be even more effective in allowing his audience to realize that Brutus and the conspirators may not be honorable (III. ii. 83). According to Brutus, the conspirator's sole reason to kill Caesar was because they believed he was ambitious, Antony’s statement would then be incredibly useful to turn the crowd against Brutus and his people. The plebeians would start to realize that noble Brutus and his conspirators might not be honorable and could potentially have their own, personal reasons to assassinate Julius Caesar. Once the crowd realizes that Brutus and the conspirators could have murdered their leader for no valid reason, they would begin to feel anger which are the building steps to starting a rebellion just like how Antony
The crowd responds to show what is going on. Antony then responds by reading off of the will of Caesar to gain the attention of the crowd. He is delivering the speech only because he wants to address his feelings and thoughts on Caesar’s death and how he feels about the conspirators. Antony is trying to persuade the crowd to see what he sees and feel how he feels about the whole ordeal. The crowd, of course, is easily moved and persuaded by Antony’s
In William Shakespeare's play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, two speeches are given to the people of Rome about Caesar's death. In Act 3, Scene 2 of this play Brutus and Antony both try to sway the minds of the Romans toward their views. Brutus tried to make the people believe he killed Caesar for a noble cause. Antony tried to persuade the people that the conspirators committed an act of brutality toward Caesar and were traitors. The effectiveness and ineffectiveness of both Antony's and Brutus's speech to the people are conveyed through tone and rhetorical devices.
He had a lot of Irony to inquire the sarcasm . Antony was not only a servant to Caesar , but his wing man . Antony had to stop in mid - speech he said “My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, and I must pause till it come back to me” (Shakespeare Act 3 Scene 2: 106- 107) , you can tell he is in deep grief even the commoners had said it while he was pause and getting himself together . Antony was loyal to Julius he goes to say “ He was my friend, faithful and just to me:”,( Shakespeare Act 3 Scene 2 : 85 ), not only does this show he was more than a servant to Julius but he was a friend , he did everything with him . So how can Brutus say he was so ambitious but how if the friend that he knew and they knew was kind and generous to all
Brutus repeatedly says, “If any, speak, for him have I offended,” (III.ii.25). Brutus’ tactic is to try to force someone, or dare them, to disagree with him, which no one ends up doing. Brutus tries to make people fear him, which works for a brief period of time. Mark Antony, on the other hand, goes on the attack, rather than the defense, by repeatedly saying, “Yet Brutus said he was ambitious; And… he is an honourable man.” (III.ii.89-90). By going on the offensive side, Mark Antony uses the repetition of this extreme usage of irony and sarcasm to make the audience understand that all of this is Brutus’ fault and that he should be punished for his crimes, no matter his intentions. Both groups use similar rhetorical strategies to prove that Caesar should or should not be dead for what he has done, with differing results. Brutus and Mark Antony also use emotional appeals to persuade their audience that they are correct in the matter of the death of their esteemed
Mark Antony's Speech from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar Mark Antony’s funeral oration over the body of Julius Caesar in act three, scene two is the most important speech in the play and effects the development of the play as a whole in many ways. Firstly this speech falls in the play where we have seen Antony’s distraught reaction to the murder of Caesar and his letter vowing allegiance to Brutus in return for being able to live. Act three, scene one prepares us for Antony’s rhetoric as here he states that ‘Brutus is noble, wise, valiant and honest’ which fits in with him repeatedly stating ‘Brutus is an honourable man’. It becomes evident in this scene that Antony has an ulterior motive for forming this allegiance and asking to do the funeral oration when he is ‘swayed from the point by looking down on Caesar’ and then states that ‘friends am I with you all, and love you all’ but still wants to know ‘why and wherein Caesar was dangerous’. Thus we the audience are aware that Antony is not being honest with the conspirators especially when he speaks in a soliloquy of the anarchy he will create when he states ‘blood and destruction shall be so in use…that mothers shall but smile when they behold/
He passionately described the deeds Caesar performed in behalf of the citizens of Rome, which clearly contradict the opinion of the conspirators that Caesar was too ambitious. Antony carefully uses irony in referring to Cassius and Brutus as honorable men; the strategy wins over the citizens and they listen with growing anger to his words. He leads the citizens to the body and begins to show the brutal results of the murder while simultaneously influencing them to believe that the conspirators are murderers and traitors. Ultimately, Antony reads Caesar’s will, which leaves his parks, private estates, and newly planted gardens to the citizens of Rome.