This essay will prove that out of two ancient Roman legends’ speeches, Mark Antony and Marcus Brutus, that Antony’s speech was superior. The story takes place in one of Shakespeare's most acclaimed plays, “Julius Caesar”. The main characters in the play are Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, Marcus Brutus. But the only people this essay will center on is Marcus Brutus and Mark Antony. Brutus performs his speech because he is one of the major conspirators in the murder of Caesar, and he needs to try to gain the people's favor in order to protect himself from his own murder. Antony performs his speech because he is one of Caesar's best friends and he wants vengeance on the conspirators.
Now, to whom Brutus is and his speech. Brutus is the best friend of Caesar, but he thinks that he saved Rome from Caesar. He says that Caesar was going to enslave all of Rome, and he had to kill Caesar to save Rome. He wants to save his skin from angry Romans, so he gives a speech to the fickle Romans and is able to win their favor, but not for long. His speech is smart and uses many fallacies and many persuasion tactics to assure the audience. He is nonchalant after the speech because he expects the fickle Romans to join his side. So, he makes a mistake and he
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Antony is also a good friend of Caesar, but unlike Brutus, is not a conspirator and cares for Caesar more than Brutus. When he gives his speech, he is trying to provoke hatred and fury from the audience to get supporters to hunt down and kill the conspirators. His speech is also brimming with fallacies and literary devices, but he uses facts to persuade the audience that Caesar was the ruler they all loved and when he was killed they did not do anything for him. Antony’s speech persuades the fickle crowd to switch sides again and support Antony. He expects this reaction too because he is prepared to take action immediately. He also feels that he will avenge Caesar and that he has done
In Brutus’s speech he talked about how he loved Rome more than Caesar. Brutus was very gullible, stoic, and also easily persuaded. Throughout his speech he uses fallacies. One example of a fallacy he uses is the either/or. “Had you rather Caesar were living and die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live all free men“ (III, i, 22-24). This makes the Roman people believe that either they going to be slaves or free men. One other thing Brutus uses are logos and ethos. He says, “As Caesar loved me, I weep for him; as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was valiant, I honor him; but, as he was ambitious, I slew him” (III, i, 24-27). In that quote he tries to
After Brutus finishes his speech, Antony speaks about his opinion on the issue; unlike Brutus, Antony acts slyly and communicates a very manipulative tone to persuade the Romans to rebel. Because of Antony's use of parallelism, he creates vivid reasoning for his speech. He states, “ I come here to bury Caesar, not to praise him” (III.ii.44). By using this device, he shows the people of Rome that he isn't praising Caesar, he is putting the leader to rest. This particular line creates a very manipulative tone, because his speech is all about what great this Caesar has done and how he wants to rebel against the conspirators. Further more, Antony uses a lot of irony to slyly get his point across. One example that he uses throughout the speech is “Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, and Brutus is a honorable man” (III.ii.44). Because of the repitition of this ironic statement, the meaning of it changes and intensifies. At first, his tone was sincere, but as the speech progresses, you can see his sarcastic tone increases. Antony does this because he has to use this device to surpass the regulations of Brutus, as well as make the romans listen. Lastly, he uses personification to give life and further meaning to a word. Early in the speech, Antony says, “The evil
In William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, although Marc Antony is allowed to make a speech at Caesar's funeral, he must not speak ill of either the conspirators or Caesar. Antony was infuriated with Caesar's assassination, and wants to seek revenge on his killers as well as gain power for himself in Rome's government. He must persuade the crowd that has gathered that Caesar's murder was unjust, and turn them against Brutus and Cassius. He tries to stir his listeners' anger, rousing them into action and yet say nothing bad about his enemies. Marc Antony uses several persuasive devices in his speech, which allows him to successfully convince the citizens of Rome to turn
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.
In his soliloquy, Antony praised Caesar’s great personality but at the same time, he would keep saying positive things about Brutus. An example is when he says, “He was my friend, faithful and just to me; / But Brutus says he was ambitious, / And Brutus is an honorable man.” (3.2.85-87). The way in which he spoke and by telling the citizens the context of Caesar’s will, turned the mob against Brutus and the rest of the conspirators. The anger possessed by the countrymen can be shown when a plebeian says, “Most noble Caesar! We’ll revenge his death!” (2.2.244). This betrayal by Antony caused Brutus to break off their friendship.
Is the man who calms the crowd is more persuasive? Or is the man who can angers one more effective? It is very obvious that Antony's speech was more effective after he convinced all of rome that Brutus killed Caesar in vain. Antony used many pieces of evidence to sway the opinion of the romans to believe that Brutus was wrong. He also uses emotion and establishes more credibility or effectively than Brutus. These arguments are far more effective than Brutus saying that he killed Caesar because he could have been ambitious.
Brutus then talks about how what they had done to Caesar he will do to himself if the time should ever come up. This shows another theme: Ethos. He then says how Caesar's
Brutus speaks to the citizens of Rome to tell them why he killed Caesar, so that they will not turn on him. He talks about how he killed Caesar, not for his personal wants, but for the good of Rome. He tells the people that allowing Caesar to rule and fulfill his
Julius Augustus Caesar, he started out as a Roman commander, and his life was ended by forty senators stabbing him. Included in the stabbing was his best friend, Marc Antony. Caesar's death has been in history since it happened, it was one of the biggest scandals in Rome, and the people were not happy about it. This is important to history, because it is the first time that a tyrant has slowly made his way in without a majority of people noticing. Without Caesar’s death Rome would not be what it is today and history would be completely different.
“Great Caesar, My lord, you must not attend the meeting at the senate today. I have heard a great conspiracy among the senators to take your very life. While I do not know the names of those involved I know there are many. If you go to the senate today as planned you will surely be murdered. There are men in the senate who are jealous of your power my lord and will do anything to stop you from taking your rightful place as ruler. Please, do not
Julius Caesar was a strong leader for the Romans who changed the course of the history of the Greco - Roman world decisively and irreversibly. With his courage and strength he created a strong empire. What happened during his early political career? How did he become such a strong dictator of the Roman Empire? What events led up to the making of the first triumvirate? How did he rise over the other two in the triumvirate and why did he choose to take over? What happened during his reign as dictator of Rome? What events led up to the assassination of Caesar? What happened after he was killed? Caesar was a major part of the Roman Empire because of his strength and his strong war strategies. Julius Caesar was a
“ Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower” -Steve Jobs. Nobody wants to be a follower, but everyone wants to be a leader. There are too many followers in this world today. People need to step up and lead this country. “Good” leaders are hard to come by and not all the people that say their a leader, aren’t “good “ leaders. In the past presidential election, there were some “good” leaders and there were some not so good leaders. In the tragedy of Julius Caesar, the people of Rome thought that Caesar was a good leader, but some of the senators were scared what he was going to do.
Mark Antony in ‘Julius Caesar’ abandoned Caesar as soon as he is killed and to seek his own glory. Being a true friend of Caesar, Mark Antony promises Caesar’s soul that he would seek revenge against the conspirators for his brutal murder, “And Caesar’s spirit, ranging for revenge, with Ate by his side come hot from hell...That this foul deed shall smell above the earth with carrion men, groaning for burial.”. Shakespeare utilizes dramatic irony when Brutus takes Antony’s promise of not saying anything against the conspirators in front of the crowd for the audience know
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