Mark Antony
It is human nature to change one’s personality to fit the situation. People behave differently when speaking to a dignitary that when talking to a friend. Over time one can change due to a loss or gain of power, sometimes for the better or worse. In Julius Caesar, for example, Mark Antony goes through several changes. Mark Antony loved Julius Caesar, yet when he passed away Mark Antony swears vengeance, and ultimately is corrupted by the power of running a country.
At the beginning of the play Antony is harmless and extremely loyal to Julius Caesar. Mark Antony is about to run a race, but “When Caesar says ‘Do this,’ it is performed.” It is almost as if Mark Antony
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When Caesar dies Mark Antony has “Fled to his house amazed” because one of his closest friends has been killed. The conspirators have judged Antony to be a coward, and therefore do not respect him. He sends his servant to see if it is safe to speak with the conspirators. When they finally meet, he shook everyone’s hand, “but was indeed swayed from the point by looking down on Caesar.” By seeing the corpse of his friend, he has been moved to tears. When they leave, “Over thy wounds now do I prophesy” to seek vengeance on those who murdered Caesar. As the day progresses, Mark Antony would like to hold a funeral service for Caesar. Brutus speaks first, yet he allows Antony his say, even after he has left. He admits that “The evil that men do lives after them, the good is oft interrèd with their bones.” He gives the crowd a reason to hate Brutus by contradicting every single point that he made. By gaining the crowd’s approval he is able to display the conspirators not for the heroes that they claim to be, but the butchers which they are. This leads to Antony having a part in the second triumvirate.
While in the second triumvirate, Antony is corrupted and becomes greedy. As the conspirators were driven away, the new leaders of Rome are making a list of the people who were associated or that they just plain don’t like. This has made Mark Antony callous, as “These many then shall die; their names are pricked.” Two names on
Antony- Caesar's biggest follower. After Caesar's death; Antony claims to be join the conspiracy in order to save his life and say his speech about Caesar to the crowd. After Brutus leaves, Antony persuades the crowd that the conspiracy killed Caesar out of hate and not for Rome. Antony makes the crowd go on a rampage. Later Antony meets up with Caesar's adopted son Octavius and kills the conspiracy.
In Roman history, some elite men held certain values that they felt strong enough to take their life in order to defend it. In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, there are certain characters portrayed to show how a person’s values or ideas can change their behavior and influence some significant decisions. The protagonist of the play, Marcus Brutus, supports this thought by having an idealistic view on the world and by showing his patriotism toward Rome. In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Shakespeare uses Brutus as an honorable, idealistic man in order to show the depth that a high-class Roman man will go through in order to defend his honor.
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
Shakespeare’s complex play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar contains several tragic heroes; a tragic hero holds high political or social esteem yet possesses an obvious character flaw. This discernible hubris undoubtedly causes the character’s demise or a severe forfeiture, which forces the character to undergo an unfeigned moment of enlightenment and shear reconciliation. Brutus, one of these tragic heroes, is a devout friend of the great Julius Caesar, that is, until he makes many execrable decisions he will soon regret; he becomes involved in a plot to kill the omniscient ruler of Rome during 44 B.C. After committing the crime, Mark Antony, an avid, passionate follower of Caesar, is left alive under Brutus’s orders to take his revenge on
He explains to them that he did not kill Caesar based on a personal grievance; “As Caesar loved me, I weep for him; as he was fortunate, I rejoice him; as he was valiant, I honor him; but as he was ambitious, I slew him” (lines 23-25, Shakespeare). He also explains that he feared if Caesar obtained more power, he would change the way he helped Rome and would become power hungry and selfish. He wanted to stop the evil, power-hungry ruler before he let his ambition ruin Rome. Mark Antony uses logos in his funeral speech after Brutus has stirred up the crowd, and they are beginning to think Caesar was ambitious and would become power-hungry. Antony tells the crowd that they once adored Caesar, and they should mourn him instead of being angry with him; “You all did love him once without cause: what cause withholds you then, to mourn him?” (lines 100-101, Shakespeare). He shows the crowd that Caesar was loved by Rome, and would not do anything to harm the city that he loved. This gave reason to why Caesar was such a great leader and made the Roman people realize that they loved
Julius Caesar’s death came about by the betrayal of the conspirators. Brutus was one of Caesar’s closest friends, but his dagger was the last to break through Caesar’s cloak. The commoners and Antony were shocked to see the whole scene as the conspirators “stream forth thy blood” from Caesar. (III, i, 201) This image allows the reader to really visualize how Caesar actually died in the hands of the other conspirators. Mark Antony felt betrayed by not just Brutus, but all of the conspirators. He was devastated, but managed to stay dignified by “shaking the bloody fingers of thy foes”. (III, i, 198) The image of blood on each of the hands of the conspirators resulted in Caesar dying by betrayal. Blood and betrayal make the reader think that it would lead Mark Antony’s actions to reflect those of the conspirators, but he perseveres and just asks for one chance to speak at Julius’ funeral. Betrayal by one person can lead to the leadership of another.
Brutus first states, “[Would you rather Caesar] living, and die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead to live a freemen” Then Antony came back with “You all did love him once, not without cause. What cause withholds you, then, to mourn for him?” After Brutus’ speech, Antony was able to evoke the feeling of the audience and bring them back, before his death and see what they had loved within Caesar before his death. All of his accomplishments were able to evoke the emotions they had before his death and then wanted to actually kill Brutus. In the next Scene, it mentioned a major consequence of the words that Antony had spoken. The famous poet Cinna was killed. However, he wasn’t even involved in the assassination of Caesar. That was how much emotion he was able to evoke in the people in Rome. Although ethos could establish the cold, hard truth, pathos can get under peoples skin and effect them and draw them into your cause. In which case it is Antony's'
Mark Antony, in the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, was a brave, intelligent, pleasure-loving, and cunning man. He was loyal to his friend, Caesar, whom he considered a true friend. He looked at life as a game in which he had a signified part to play, and played that part with excellent refinement and skill.
Mark Antony convinces the audience to turn against the conspirators by destroying their reputation and reliability and making himself seem trustworthy.
Marc Antony is known in the play as the right hand man of Julius Caesar. After the death of Caesar, Antony is outraged and sad about the death of his dear friend. He wants revenge with the conspirators for what they have done. He asks Brutus, knowing he is an honorable
Therefore, Antony is trying to prove that once the conspirators are in his sights, no one is getting out alive. While Marc Antony is giving his speech to the common people trying to persuade them that the conspirators are in the wrong: “In every wound of Caesar that should move the stones of Rome to rise and mutiny” (131). From this moment every action that Antony does will in turn affect the stability of Brutus’ physical and mental well being. Also, Brutus does not realize how close Caesar and Antony are, which can only lead to his demise because Antony is trying to kill him and he does not realize it. During Antony’s speech, to persuade the common people, he walks over to Caesar’s body to show the people all the wounds: “Which all the while ran blood, great Caesar fell. O, what a fall was there, my countrymen! Then I, and you, and all of us fell down, Whilst bloody treason flourish'd over us” (129). Antony is exaggerating, in a light hearted way, the fact that Brutus stabbed Caesar; for the conspirators told
In Act II of the play, Julius Caesar, the character says “ You came just in time to convey my greetings to the senators and to tell them that I will not come today” (II, ii, 60-61). Caesar says this to Decius and commands him to go tell this to the senate. Caesar is not going to the senate, even though he knows its because they want to crown him king. He is not going because his wife has had terrible dreams about it but Decius talks him into going anyway. Caesar ends up getting killed at the senate by the conspirators, who are the group of men who want Caesar dead. The lead man in the group, Brutus, is one of Caesar’s close friends and Caesar is heartbroken when he turns and Brutus puts the final dagger into his side. Marc Antony is Caesar's right hand man and he is very upset and angry about Caesar's death. Marc Antony and Brutus both give speeches at Caesar’s funeral about their sides of the story. Marc Antony gave a more outstanding speech compared to the one Brutus gave and he gained the most followers from it.
Ever wondered what it takes to be a good king or ruler? Julius Caesar is one of the most famous rulers of all time. He was one of Rome’s greatest and most powerful leaders. His changes to the empire helped take Rome to new levels of success. The life of Caesar was short, yet great. It is important to learn about this great man and his many accomplishments.