Speech Analogy: Antony and Brutus

Julius Caesar’s death was a tragic story in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Brutus with the conspirators(Cassius, Cinna,etc.) and Antony played important characters in the occurrence of his death. The day was to come, when Caesar’s death (ides of March) is to be announced at the capital in front of the people of Rome by Brutus, who offered Antony to speak after. Brutus, in his speech announced that he killed caesar for what he honestly felt was for the better . While Antony, says that actually all of them even including Brutus killed the ruler with envy. Both of these people also play an important role in the different views of Caesar’s death that the people of Rome see by their speeches using certain persuasive techniques in some effective and ineffective ways, having some similarities and differences, and with also setting a certain thought point for the audience at the capital.

Speaking first for the meeting at the capital was Brutus. As he was speaking,he was convincing the Romans that he and the conspirators killed Caesar for the better of Rome ( to prevent ‘Slavery’), doing it as a selfless and noble act(not knowing that the conspirators had a different motive). He addresses himself as a friend and not a foe of Caesar; that he loved him. In lines 21-26(Act 3 scene 2), he says “ If then that a friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer: not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. Had you rather Caesar were living, and die all slaves, than if caesar were dead, to live all freemen?”Brutus uses the effective technique of asking these questions in order to make the audience think in a certain way. He again asks to the people after what he said earlier in lines 30-35(Act 3 scene 2) ...

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...rence between these speeches is obviously that they had different views. As said earlier, Brutus was trying to approach that killing Caesar was a good deed for Rome, while Antony’s view is that Caesar did not deserve to die and that the conspirators were the real enemies. They also used their rhetorical devices in different ways to state their points, persuading different people in the audience.

Antony and Brutus played critical parts into the situation of Caesar’s death.Their speeches represented the different views of Julius Caesar’s death, telling the crowds of the reasons of his death. The speeches both used techniques persuade the Romans with their different beliefs by giving them a thinking point to base their decisions of what side they agree with( eventually creating the armies they join in the conflict to find and prove the truth of Julius Caesar’s death.