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/ Their
infants quartered with the hands of war’. This shows the extent of the
anarchy he will
unleash on Rome.
Furthermore Antony’s funeral oration is important as it follows
Brutus’s speech in
the play, where he has turned public opinion around to favour him, as
he has been
able to persuade and convince the crowds, through his rhetoric and
oratory that Caesar
...
... middle of paper ...
... pardon me, I do not mean to read,
And they would go and kiss dead Caesar`s wounds,
And dip their napkins in his sacred blood,
Yes, beg a hair of him for memory,
And, dying, mention it within their wills,
Bequesthing it as a rich legacy
Unto their issue.
Fourth Cit. We`ll hear the will: read it, Mark Antony.
Citizens. The will, the will! we will hear Caesar`s will.
Bibliography
============
Primary Resources
Stephen Green Blatt, Walter Cohen, Jean .E. Howard, Katharine Eisaman
Maus, The Norton Shakespeare, Based on the Oxford Edition, United
States of America.
Secondary Resources
===================
www.sparknotes.com
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[1] www.sparknotes.com
[2] www.sparknotes.com
[3] www.sparknotes.com
In act III, scene ii, Antony proves to himself and the conspiracy, that he has the power to turn Rome against Brutus. He deceived the conspirators with his speech during Caesar’s funeral. In this speech, Antony pulls at the heartstrings of the countryman by showing emotions and turning them against their beloved leader, Brutus. The scene takes place the day of Caesar's death. Leading up to this point the people loved Brutus because, reasonably he explains of them about Caesar's death and told them it was necessary. In Antony's speech he showed signs of hatred towards Brutus and the conspirators. He thinks for himself and deceives the people, when he explains how Brutus lied to the people . The plot depends on Antony’s speech.
Every person has their own individual beliefs and values that they live by. There is a line that one believes they will never cross. However, people can also be easily persuaded to abandon these values if the reasoning is fair enough. This is human nature. To manipulate someone is to use or change them for a specific purpose. In Shakespeare's play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, he illustrates how easily people can change their minds through manipulation. He conveys how people can be manipulated, how they manipulate themselves, and how they manipulate others.
middle of his orchard on the morning of the ides of march the day that
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
He had changed his political preference to accommodate for Julius Caesar’s friendship. He put his life on the line on multiple occasions to prove his loyalty to Caesar. Even though Julius Caesar’s party sought his demise Mark Antony stayed true to Caesar. After the death of Julius Caesar, Mark Antony proved his love for Caesar by giving a eulogy at his funeral. During the eulogy,which Brutus gave permission to Antony to give, Antony cleverly made Julius Caesar look good as he sarcastically destroys the reputations of the conspirators ”
There are many parts to a speech that make it powerful. The three main categories that can decide how good a speech is are logos, ethos, and pathos. Logos is a person's logic and reasoning behind their argument, ethos is the trust between the speaker and the crowd, and pathos is the emotion in a speech. All of these are important to helping a speech be as strong as possible and without them, a speech with a lot of potential can seem dull and unimportant. When comparing and contrasting speeches, these are some key components to look for. If we compared Martin Luther King Jr's “I Have a Dream”speech with Mark Antony’s speech in the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, Martin Luther King Jr's speech is more powerful because although they both had a firm belief that they deserved what they were protesting for, Martin Luther King Jr. had much more pathos, with emotional pauses and analogies.
The Shakespearean play Julius Caesar, tells the behind the scenes story of the conspirators plan to kill the influential ruler, Caesar. In the play Caesar makes a speech referring to himself and describes his method of ruling Rome while comparing himself to the North Star. Prior to the speech the conspirators have come to the Senate to convince Caesar to forgive and restore Cimber after his banishment. But Caesar responds with this speech about him being persistent about his decisions. The speech that Caesar makes about himself can be considered an Epideictic or a Forensic speech, for the reason that he commends himself while creating an opinion of his past actions. This excerpt from the play leads up to the devious conspirators plan unfolding and the upsetting death of Caesar. Rhetoric is used throughout the speech in order to manipulate and convey how invincible Caesar is as well as express the overall theme of the play, be means of delivery, disposition, and style.
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.
“Julius Caesar” by William Shakespeare is the story of the assassination of Julius Caesar. Two speeches were made after his death, one being by Mark Antony. He uses many rhetorical devices in this speech to counter the previous speech and persuade the crowd that the conspirators who killed Caesar were wrong. Rhetoric is the art of persuasion and these many devices strengthen this by making points and highlighting flaws. Antony uses many rhetorical devices, all of which are used to persuade the crowd that the conspirators are wrong and Caesar did not need to be killed.
This turns out to be very foolish by Caesar, not. Long after this mockery, Caesar is stabbed by a group of conspirators. After Caesar is murdered, Brutus allows Mark Anthony to address the crowd at Caesars funeral. However, there is one condition, Brutus. instructs Anthony "You shall not in your funeral speech blame us."
It was the citizens’ positive reaction to Caesar during his triumphant return after his victory over the sons of Pompey that fueled the fear of Caesar’s becoming king. The citizens’ opposition to Pompey’s allies caused great disturbances in the streets because a short while ago, Pompey was their hero. Now Caesar, victorious, is the hero of the hour. Their response also influenced the idea that Caesar was becoming too ambitious. Thus, the citizens of Rome had a role in the fate of Julius Caesar.
On Caesar’s Death Fellow citizens, good Romans, the struggle between our emotions: love, passion and anger that fill our souls and sweep us away, and our thoughts: the cold, calculated reasoning that threatens to separate us from those pesky emotions, is a struggle we all must contend with. In other words, we must make sense of the struggle between our hearts and our minds. That is certainly a battle I have fought myself in my relationships with my friends and family. Yet in the end, I have found that the heart must triumph. As a humble citizen of Rome, I do not know much of complicated politics and the sort.