Marc Antony is a character in William Shakespeare’s, Julius Caesar, who gives a eulogy at the funeral of his good friend, Caesar. He uses several rhetorical devices such as tone, irony, and rhetorical questions to persuade the Roman citizens. In the beginning of the speech, Antony says, “I come here to bury Caesar, not to praise him,” to set a sincere tone. To get the sympathy of the people, he showed how he was genuinely upset about the death of his friend. Also, he starts by saying this to appear to be following Brutus’s rules. This strategy is to cover up his use of a sarcastic tone in the rest of the speech. The mood changes when Antony addresses all of the conspirators by saying, “Because Brutus is an honorable man; And they are all honorable men, [...].” He says things like this throughout his speech to emphasize the insignificance of the word honor when it is used to justify a murder. He’s trying to get the citizens of Rome to question the authority of Brutus and the conspirators. This strengthens his argument by allowing the people to think for themselves and showing how the group doesn’t have a strong ethical reason for killing Caesar. …show more content…
Though he insists that he doesn’t “speak to disprove what Brutus spoke,” his intentions for the speech is to do exactly that. Antony only mentions this line and other similar phrases to assure Brutus that he’s following the guidelines; however, the readers know his true motives. After some valid points, Antony pauses for a while, then says, “don’t let me stir you up to such a sudden flood of rebellion.” The purpose of the break is so the audience can process his statements. He does this in hopes of an uprising to avenge Caesar’s death. The subtle pause gave him power over the people’s thoughts in order to convince them that Brutus is
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
Playwright, William Shakespeare, in the play Julius Caesar, utilizes many instances of rhetorical devices through the actions and speech of Caesar's right-hand man, Mark Antony. In the given excerpt, Antony demonstrates several of those rhetorical devices such as verbal irony, sarcasm, logos, ethos, and pathos which allows him to sway the plebeians. The central purpose of Mark Antony’s funeral speech is to persuade his audience into believing that Caesar had no ill intentions while manipulating the plebeians into starting a rebellion against their new enemies, Brutus and the conspirators.
He carried carried out Caesar’s corpse and laid him down before the crowd as he began to speak. Antony has already used pathos as a strong rhetorical device. The sight of a dead body has brought a very serious and saddening atmosphere upon all onlookers. Antony begins by stating “I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones; So let it be with Caesar.” (3.2.2) Explaining to the crowd that he is not going to praise Caesar for the man he was but rather respectively bury him for his funeral has established that he isn’t biased. Conveying that man's good deeds are often forgotten with death has stirred up a feeling of remorse towards Caesar; another usage of
Brutus starts off by saying he was Caesar’s friend, and he loved him, but because Caesar was “ambitious” he had to “slew” him. Brutus knew that everyone in town thought he was an honorable man and he used that to establish his credibility, unlike Antony, who was thought to be a play boy, not serious about anything. He had to work harder to gain the crowd’s attention. The first sentence out of his mouth was that he was here to “bury Caesar, not to praise him” which is a great way to start since most of the people didn’t like Caesar at the time and didn’t want to listen to some silly friend of Caesar’s say wonderful things about him. Antony also mentioned many times that their hero Brutus is an “honorable“ man.
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.
" 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.
In William Shakespeare's, Julius Caesar, rhetorical devices are used throughout Decius Brutus’s speech to Caesar to persuade him to attend the senate, and ultimately meet his demise. Decius Brutus uses repetition to directly play into Caesar’s ego and convince him to show at an event he was previously very unsure of. Decius first uses repetition to make Caesar feel as if he were an irreplaceable addition to the senate. He addresses Caesar as, “most mighty Caesar…” (2.2.74) multiple times throughout his oration. The repetition of “mighty” draws Caesar’s attention away from the fact that he really must not go to the senate and instead focuses on why he must. Caesar is known to be easily persuaded by the promise of attention or rewards. Decius
Although he was allowed to make a speech at Caesar's funeral, he can not speak ill about the conspirators, nor can he start any accusations.Thus, Brutus confirms this for the audience stating, “Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman? If any speak; for him have offended.”(J.C 4.3.6) Brutus deliberately tries to defend his point towards Antony. Antony’s speech also pointed out the type of relationship that he and Brutus share.
Antony first disproves Brutus’ claim that Caesar is ambitious. “You all did see that on Lupercal / I thrice presented him a kingly crown, / which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?”(III. ii. 104-106). This reminds the audience of Brutus’ accusation saying that Caesar is ambitious. Antony’s goal is to make the audience believe Caesar is not ambitious through asking rhetorical questions. Antony is rebutting Brutus’ accusation of Caesars ambition, making the crowd question if Brutus’ accusation is true. If the crowd comes to the conclusion Brutus was lying and Caesar was not ambitious they will turn against al the conspirators. As he gets further into his speech, Antony gets more confident that the Romans will take his side. Antony points out “[he] fear[s he] wrong[s] the honourable men / whose daggers have stabb’d Caesar; [he does] fear it”(III. ii. 164-165). Antony is hiding what he truly wants to say under the guise of paralipsis. By glossing over the fact that he wrongs the honorable men, he is putting emphasis on the fact that the conspirators stabbed Caesar. This guides the crowd to think about the assassination and realize the conspirators are not honorable because they stabbed Caesar. The crowd will than want to confront the conspirators for their
After Brutus gives his influential speech, he allows Antony to give one to the people. Antony was not involved in the coup to murder Caesar. No, not at all, in fact, he was a loyal friend to Caesar and quite distraught
Friendship is something that most people value in life, but some friendships can lead to a negative impact or even a “tragic” ending. In the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Julius Caesar's ambition for power drove the honorable Brutus to think negatively about Caesar’s position of being the king of Rome. The honorable Brutus shows his love by committing an act which seems to him to be the best fit for the city, which is to get rid of Julius Caesar. After Caesar is murdered, Caesars good friend Antony seeks revenge in his honor. Throughout the play, Shakespeare includes many good speeches; one of the best was the one delivered by Antony. Antony’s speech included many persuasive rhetorical devices such as logos, pathos, and ethos. By carefully
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
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
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/
...ve 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 to rip down any respect the Roman people may have built for Brutus and the conspirators. In his funeral oration, Antony insults Brutus ten times by stating that he is "an honorable man" (Act III, scene ii, line 84) in a tone of biting mockery, therefore questioning Brutus's credibility.