After the assassination of Caesar, Brutus explains his reasons for committing such an act. Antony deceives Brutus into believing that Antony understood their reasons and would join them as an ally. By becoming a supposed ally, Antony gains the advantage of trust, as Brutus trusts him to speak at Caesar’s funeral. At Caesar’s funeral, Antony goes against Brutus’ trust, and reveals Caesar’s will, and incites the plebeians to come to the conclusion that Caesar had been a good man, and that Brutus was in the wrong. Antony reveals his true intentions when he says to himself, “Mischief thou art afoot; / Take thou what course thou wilt” (III. iii. 275-276). Antony had taken advantage of the trust bestowed upon him by pulling off a brilliant act on his part, that effectively persuaded Brutus. Not only that, Antony also takes advantage of the trust that the plebeians had given him. His ulterior motives are revealed when he criticizes Lepidus’ ability to stand besides them and asks, “Is it fit, / The threefold world divided, he should stand / One of the three to share it?” (IV. i. 15-17). This shows how Antony has no intention of fulfilling his promise made to the plebeians to uphold Caesar’s will. Instead, he wants to gain power for himself, and gets rid of Brutus and the other conspirators to get his way. He had acted as a perfect friend/ally to the plebeians as he acted to Brutus, and he also took advantage of them as well.…
There is a large amount of differences between the play interpretation of Julius Caesar and what really happened. For instance, Brutus in the play was extremely different than real life Brutus. In the play, he was best friends with Caesar-well, until he killed him. However, in real life, Brutus hated Caesar. He was never supportive of Caesar, and truthfully never loved him.(Musaj and Prezi Inc.) In Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, he uses Brutus’s strong love of Rome, his honor, and his willing to do anything for the good of Rome to show that Brutus is the tragic hero.…
In his speech during Caesar's funeral, Mark Antony tries to persuade the Plebeians that what the conspirators did to Caesar was not acceptable and something must be done, and this creates a critical and disappointed tone. During the beginning of Antony’s speech, he established his main ideas, and showed that he was different from Brutus. In fact, his first line, “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears”(3.2.82) tells a lot. Antony uses the word “friends” first, and this differs from Brutus because he said “Romans” first. This shows what Antony thinks is most important, which is friendship.…
In Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Mark Antony proves himself to be the most effective manipulator. This feat was the product of many factors that Antony both took into account, and employed to a greater effect than his counterparts. Using the illustrative Rhetorical Triangle of Aristotle, Antony was able to convey the three main ingredients of good rhetoric to convince the Roman mob to turn upon the conspirators, mere moments after being told by Brutus that they had acted with “honor”. Using Logos, Antony’s logical argument that Caesar was not ambitious made the mob begin to doubt their current suppositions that Caesar deserved death for his ambition. With the emotive appeals of…
Mark Antony deftly speaks to his audience in a way that requires them to challenge their preconceived characterizations of Brutus and Cassius. He intentionally expresses the deliberate opposite of what he genuinely wishes and excessively compliments the people to the point that they forget their own seemingly unwavering convictions. His finesse and dexterity in bending words and minds ultimately works to his favor. Antony accomplishes his initial goal to convince the Roman people to revenge Caesar’s demise. This achievement in and of itself exhibits…
He delivers a convincing speech on how the assassination was just and was for the benefit of Rome. The sheepish commoners are easily satisfied by this explanation and when Antony arrives he has to bellow to gain their attention. Antony then commences a skilfully rhetoric argument against the conspirators. The repetition of the word ‘ambitious’ by Antony in act 3, scene 2 subtly ridicules and discredits Brutus and wins over the crowd. By using this rhetoric dialogue in Antony’s speech, Shakespeare communicates Antony’s perspective and personality. The clash of the two personalities and perspectives of Brutus and Antony in this scene extends the drama and emphasizes the contrast of characters included in ‘Julius Caesar’.…
Within The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, it is argumentative that Julius Caesar appears to fit the definition of a tragic hero, however it is also believed by a large sum of individuals that Marcus Brutus is found to be a more fitting character to the definition of a tragic hero. Written by William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar is based upon a plot which revolves around the common theme of a tragedy, which can be perceived as a dramatic composition that often involves verses as well as a death of a high class individual, during the Elizabethan era.…
The story of Julius Caesar is a time period where Caesar was the noblest men of all of Rome. It's a famous time were there was a lot of tragic events. For example in act 3 scene 1 Cesar is stabbed and killed by the conspirators at the senate. The fall of their King was a tragic event. Also Brutus committing suicide who was also one of the noblest man of Rome. A tragedy is a powerful impact in a story. Which in ties in with a tragic hero who is the main protagonist {character} in the story but they will most likely will not achieve their ends they will most likely die in trying. Brutus in my opinion is a tragic hero in the story of Julius Caesar. Brutus is a character that we learn about who he really is. We learn what his motives is in the…
Before his speech begins, the whole crowd is going wild with overwhelming support for Brutus. Knowing this, Antony is quickly able to capture the attention of the people by saying, “For Brutus’ sake, I am beholding to you” (64). By starting off with saying that Brutus endorses whatever Antony is able to say, they are suddenly more curious to hear what he say and what exactly their beloved Brutus approves of. By saying this, Antony is able to borrow Brutus’ honest reputation and use it as his own. Towards the end of his speech, Antony borrows Caesar’s renewed ethos, once again merging voices and giving Antony even more credibility. He asks the audience, “Wherein hath Caesar thus deserved your love?” (234). Antony successfully borrows Caesar’s great reputation and increases his credibility for the people to trust him.…
Building upon Brutus’s opening statement, Marc Antony begins his speech with “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;” By putting “Friends” first, Antony appeals to the people on a more personal level than Brutus, and sets a more informal tone for the rest of his speech, making himself part of the crowd instead of someone above it. Throughout his speech, he also predominantly uses “you” and “your”, only using personal programs when relating anecdotes about Caesar. This draws attention to the people…
Antony proves strong in all of the ways that Brutus proves weak. His impulsive, improvisatory nature serves him perfectly, first to persuade the conspirators that he is on their side, thus gaining their leniency, and then to persuade the plebeians of the conspirators' injustice, thus gaining the masses' political support. Not too scrupulous to stoop to deceit and duplicity, as Brutus claims to be, Antony proves himself a consummate politician, using gestures and skilled rhetoric to his advantage. He responds to subtle cues among both his nemeses and his allies to know exactly how he must conduct himself at each particular moment in order to gain the most advantage. In Both his eulogy for Caeser and the play as a whole, Antony is adept at tailoring…
Brutus only has two choices in act II of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, to kill caesar or to let the roman republic fall under caesar. Brutus decides to kill Caesar under the manipulation of Cassius. But to be able to make that decision he had to be under a certain mindset which involved many different things. In the beginning of act II Brutus decides that he must kill Julius Caesar but, with that he must have been under a certain mindset which was contributed to by many things.…
Antony was a devoted follower of Julius Caesar. Because he was a good friend, he was willing to be second hand to Caesar, the new king. Whilst Caesar would become the king, the most valuable but least powerful piece in chess, he would become the rook, a semi-valuable, very important piece. He wanted the crown to be given to Caesar so that the political vacuum would be filled and no conflicts would occur. Antony was unsettled by Caesar's death but mainly sought to use this to his advantage and gain power. 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. Antony took advantage of the public idiocy when he first pretended to respect the conspirators calling them honorable men, and then slowly proving that they were not. He spoke out against them because he wanted power for himself, and unlike Brutus, he was politically ambitious and so believed that if he could take control while the state was in turmoil, he will remain in power. He was alone in making this oration, showing he had the confidence and courage needed to take charge.…
On the other hand, Antony’s speech was more personal and sarcastic. First of all, Antony enters dramatically to the pulpit with Caesar's body to win the sympathy of the mob. In contrary to Brutus he opens his speech with “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears”. This sets up his later statements of being Caesar’s friend and also a patriarchic. It also conveys him as a friend to listeners unlike Brutus who gave speech as a ruler to Romans.…
One of the many ways that Mark Antony is an excellent speaker is how he uses the rhetorical device ethos. He persuades the crowd by giving them compliments such as, “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.” This shows that Mark Antony is getting into the crowd’s heart with his status as a trustworthy man. Furthermore, Antony is familiar with the crowd, and he knows how to get into their heads. He also persuades them using an ethical argument by saying, “Come I to speak in Caesar’s funeral. He was my friend, faithful and just to me.” Mark Antony is telling the plebeians that he was close to Caesar and that he knew him very well - that they should believe his word. Mark Antony’s speech was success at persuading the crowd because he used his own characteristics to his advantage (III, ii, 73-86).…