Julius Caesar Rhetorical Analysis

In William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, Mark Antony uses rhetorical devices of verbal irony and the use of props throughout his speech at Caesar's funeral in order to convince the plebeians to rebel against the conspirators in Act 3 Scene 2. First, Antony uses verbal irony to frequently mock the idea of Brutus being honorable. For example, he says to the crowd, “He was my friend, faithful and just to me, / But Brutus says he was ambitious, /And Brutus is an honorable man.” (3.2.94-96). It is clear that Antony does not actually find Brutus honorable because he just stabbed Caesar and to Antony, that is unjustified because Caesar has not yet done any harm to Rome. The reason why Antony claims that Brutus is honorable is because it is unfathomable that a man who contributes to a murder could possibly deserve respect.

It also shows the Romans that just because Brutus had once been considered a man of honor does not mean that he can change and become villainous.

Secondly, Antony says to the plebeians, “For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth, / Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech / To stir men’s blood.” (3.2.233-235). Antony undersells himself with these words and claims that he is not intelligent enough to form an argument against the conspirators because of the conspiracy’s prior belief that he is just a party-goer that could not fight back against injustices. In reality, Antony knows that he is a great speaker but he instead brings attention to the fact that he is falsely seen as an irresponsible drunkard that could never do any harm. Another technique Antony uses to persuade the Romans to side with him is the use of props. First, Antony displays Caesar’s will to show the crowd his generosity and thoughtfulness for the well-being of Rome. For example, Antony reads “To every Roman citizen he gives, / To every several man, seventy-five

drachmas. [...] Moreover, he hath left you all his walks, / His private arbors, and new-planted orchards,” (3.2.255-256,261-262) These lines from Caesar’s will grant the people of Rome seventy-five silver coins each and it allows his orchard to be a public place to all which the people of Rome are ecstatic about because their late ruler was considerate enough to help them even after his death. This display of generosity urges the Romans to turn against the conspirators even more because they were claiming that Caesar was an unruly tyrant that only cared about himself and not the common civilians but clearly if he was thoughtful enough to include them in his will than this theorized selfishness must be a lie. Similarly, Antony unveils Caesar's corpse to the crowd and then announces, “Here is himself, marred as you see with traitors. [...] Show you sweet Caesar’s wounds, poor poor dumb / mouths,” (3.2.209,237-238) Antony exposes Caesar’s bloody corpse in order to bring attention to the brutality and mutilation caused by the conspiracy and make them see how he was murdered out of malice and poor reason. Also, Antony’s words in regards to the wounds shows the scars to be created from idiotic motives and speculations. Antony showed himself to be a persuasive speaker during Caesar’s funeral by incorporating verbal irony and props into his speech in order to show Brutus’s true colors to the plebeians and convince them to side with him.