Appealing and relating to the common man are crucial skills for any major leader or head of state. This is no different in Antony’s case, a close friend of Caesar (the ruler of the Roman empire). Antony is attempting to start a civil war in Ancient Rome after the death of Caesar at the hands of Brutus, another Roman noble and other conspirators. To get the Roman common people (called plebeians) on his side, he has to appeal to them and relate to them. Through the use of repetition, Antony successfully relates to the common plebeian Roman. By repeating himself, Antony reminds the plebeians that he has a trait importantly similar to them: He is lower on the social ladder than Brutus, who had just spoken to them. Antony says: “For here, under …show more content…
“I should do Brutus wrong and Cassius wrong, Who, you all know, are honorable men. I will not do them wrong; I rather choose To wrong the dead, to wrong myself and you, Than I will wrong such honorable men.”2 Here, Antony is saying that he does not want to offend Brutus and Cassius by reading Caesar’s will. He basically says that he knows it would “stir the pot,” per se, and therefore doesn’t want to get everyone riled up. He does this with complete knowledge that the people want to be riled up. This again is pathos because he wants to get the emotions of the plebeians going. The contents of the will give each Roman citizen seventy five drachmas, so opening the will is also logos. Antony uses the word “wrong” because as human beings we have a natural inclination to want to do what we’re not supposed to, but it also has a double meaning because when you do something bad to someone, you “wrong” them. The word “wrong” simply gets the plebeians more excited about what is in the will. He is essentially building up the emotions of the commoners, and praying that the release of their emotions is violent. It is. In the next scene, they go on a rampage and riot in the city, on a manhunt for the conspirators who have killed their beloved
Antony asks rhetorical questions and lets the audience answer for themselves. Brutus uses ethos by stating that he a noble man and that is why the people should believe him but infact Antony questions his nobility by saying what Brutus said,” Brutus is an honourable man”(III.ii.79). In a way, Antony states what Brutus states to convince the audience by using examples that Brutus is wrong. Antony himself knows what kind of man Brutus is but lets the people figure it out on their own. In addition, Brutus uses logos by expressing that fact that Caesar died because of his ambition. This argument is severely under supported because his reasons are invalid and simply observations. Antony uses “did this in Caesar seem ambitious” to question Brutus’ argument (III.ii.82). Antony gives examples backing his argument like when Caesar refused the crown thrice to prove his humbleness. The way Antony convinces the people to rebel is by using pathos. He brings the audience in by stepping down to their level and showing them the body of Caesar. While Antony talks at Caesar's funeral, he pauses because” heart us in the coffin there with Caesar “(III.ii.98). When Antony becomes emotional, he reminds the audience about what injust event happened to the much loved
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...
...rpose is to revolt the audience, so by refusing to read the testament, Antony creates the climax within his speech and lights the fire in the crowd. After building the base to his justification, Mark Antony returns to his relationship with the people and ends his speech with an unforgettable stunt that ensures a specific outcome.
Not only does Marc Antony make the plebeians feel good about themselves by pretending to be there friend, but he also complements them: “You are not wood, you are not stones, but men.” This quotation is also foreshadowing what the senators said at the beginning of the play. The senators insult the plebeians by saying “You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things!” Marc Antony later compliments the plebeians by saying that they are the opposite of this.
Antony was devoted and preferred to be dependent upon Julius Caesar since he rather have enjoyed life than to claim the highest position in the government. He wanted the crown to be given to Caesar so that all conflicts could be avoided. However, this additional power contributed to the conspirator's motive to assassinate him. Antony was distraught with Caesar's death and sought revenge first by speaking to the crowd in his speech. He showed how clever and cunning he could be when he convinced the crowd at Caesar's funeral ceremony to side with him and not with the murderers. The people became excited and rowdy when he teased them about the will, waving it in the air and pretending as if he was not going to read it. Reverse psychology is used when he first pretends to respect the conspirators calling them honorable men, and then slowly proving that they are not. He speaks out against them because he wanted power for himself, and unlike Brutus, he is politically ambitious and so believes that if he can take control while the state is in turmoil, he will remain in power. He was alone in making this oration, yet he was confidant in himself and courageous.
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
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.
Mark Antony embodies Caesar’s manipulative, ambitious, and ruthless characteristics. During Caesar’s funeral oration, Shakespeare displays Antony’s manipulative nature when Antony persuades the plebeians to join his cause against the conspirators. Antony begins his speech by praising the plebeians and grabbing their attention. Also, Antony sarcastically refers to Brutus as both an honorable and noble man. Shakespeare further exemplifies Antony’s manipulative nature when Antony presents the plebeians with Caesar’s will. He teases the crowd with the it, keeping it out of their reach. He does this to win their loyalty and to bring them even closer to him. Ultimately, Antony uses the will to seal the deal and fully win over the crowd from the conspirators’ side to his own. Mark Antony puts forth his last tactic of manipulation when he proclaims that he is no manipulator. Using false modesty, Antony says, “For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth,/Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech/To stir men’s blood. I only speak right on” (3.2.218-220). Furthermore, his ambition is evident in the elimination of Lepid...
As well of a speaker Brutus was, Mark Antony delivered a more persuasive argument to win the crowd’s favor over Brutus’, in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Mark Antony did not overestimate his audience, and spoke to the appeal of the crowd, rather than talking above it, as Brutus does in his abstract ideas and lofty speech of honor, and patriotism. Antony’s speech appeals to the basic needs and desires of the working class, using rhetorical devices such as repetition, sarcasm, emotional words, and the topics of pathos, logos, and ethos to change the crowd's’ emotions, and stance on the murder, manipulating the crowd in favor of avenging the late Caesar.
Brutus is seen by all of Rome as a good man and Antony sees the self-important side of Brutus which has developed from this. He notices this and uses it against Brutus. Through repeatedly stating the idea that ?Brutus is an honorable man?, he then points out the fact that Brutus is claiming to be so ?honorable? because he murdered Caesar.
Both Antony and Brutus are persuasive orators and both deliver two influential speeches that successfully persuade the Roman citizens to be on their sides. Brutus successfully convinces the Roman citizens that Caesar’s death is essential to maintaining a Roman republic. In the beginning of Brutus’s speech, he addresses the Roman citizens as “Romans, countrymen, and lovers”. By addressing the Roman citizens as “lovers”, the Roman citizens are then reminded of the ethos of Brutus and his authoritative figure as an honourable and noble man. The Roman citizens can also see Brutus’s devotion to Rome as he starts his speech by saying “Romans”. He explains that he kills Caesar “not that [he] loved Caesar less, but that [he] loved Rome more”. This line convinces the Roman citizens that Brutus places his devotion for Caesar beneath
For the first step in his speech, Anthony needed to establish a sense of mistrust in the crowd without breaking his promise that he would not blame the conspirators for their crime. As he begins to address the people, he assured them that he had not come to praise Caesar, but insisted that “Brutus says he was ambitious, and Brutus is an honorable man.” The purpose of the this repetition is that every time he mentions this phrase, it allows him to gradually gather a sarcastic tone until its meaning had completely changed. Immediately after he says this, he presents Caesar’s “ambition” by reminding the crowd of the wealth that Caesar brought to Rome, his compassion to the poor, and his refusal to the crown when offered it. The effect of this verbal irony allows Anthony to contrast Brutus’s reasoning with evidence, while simultaneously eliminating the force and credibility of his claim. Though not openly, Anthony is not only able to praise Caesar by emphasizing his great works, he is able to recast Caesar as innocent and prove the murder as no longer legitimate...
In Antony’s Speech, he begins with “Friends, Romans, countrymen…” (Act III, Scene ii Line 70) Shakespeare uses this string of words to run parallel to Brutus opening phrase “Romans, Countryman, lovers…” (Act III, Scene ii Line 13) By doing this, it is clear that by Antony referring to “friends” First, he intends to take a more emotional route, and to speak from his heart to the people of Rome. Brutus begins with “romans”, allows the reader to understand that he intends to take a route that allows him to win over the Romans with reason. Antony’s start foreshadows how the rest of his speech will play out. Continuing this, Antony then goes on to use the ironic phrase “I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.” (Act III, Scene ii Line 71) Despite what Anthony says, his true intention is to turn the People of Rome against the conspirators.
Antony is a good friend of Caesar ,and trying to make his death be recognized . In act III, scene 2 Julius Caesar gets killed and Antony say a speech for his funeral .In the play ( Julius Caesar ) by William Shakespeare , Antony is trying to get the people of Rome to see the wrong the wrong that others did and to change their mind to see Caesar is a honorable with a caring heart.
Mark Antony follows Caesar’s word religiously, and states that “when Caesar says, ‘do this’, it is perform’d” (10). Having this mindset shows Antony begins as a convergent thinker, listening and following Caesar without much individual thought at all. While Antony’s actions are mostly fueled by his loyalty, other characters believe he is simply not capable of thinking for himself. As the conspirators are plotting Caesar’s murder, Cassius suggests killing Antony as well, because of his close relationship with Caesar. Brutus immediately rejects this idea, and explains to the conspirators they don’t need to kill Mark Antony because he is “but a limb of Caesar” (165). They believe that when Caesar is murdered, Antony will not be capable taking any significant action-- he will simply disappear into the citizens of