I believe Marc Antony is the noblest character in the play Julies Caesar by William Shakespeare. This is not saying much, in that all are murderers and conspirators' who have motives of power and greed. Before Julius Caesar is assassinated, Marc Antony only makes a few statements indicating that he is loyal to Caesar as dictator and as a friend. Caesar's confiding to Antony shows he trusts Antony and looks upon him as a friend in return, perhaps even as an ally. When Caesar describes Cassius as “a dangerous man”, Antony defends him as "a noble Roman and well given." Antony does not realize at that time that Cassius is dangerous. Antony sees the good in people, without realizing who could be motivated by power and greed. Following the murder, Antony quickly understands he must deal with Brutus, and he has the intelligence to take advantage of Brutus' innocence. When he has his servant say that "Brutus is noble, wise, valiant, and honest," it is clear that Antony intends to flatter Brutus and to work …show more content…
He is not worried about honesty when dealing with those he wishes to do his bidding. He knows that Brutus wants to believe that Antony will join the conspirators' cause, and he takes advantage of Brutus' hope when he falsely tells the conspirators, "Friends am I with you all, and love you all." He will also freely use half-truths and outright lies to get the mob at the Forum to do what he wants. He keeps directing his and mobs attention to the more powerful Brutus, whom he keeps on the defensive by repeating that he will be friends if he receives a good reason for the conspiracy. He keeps turning the citizens to rebellion by professing that he does not want to stir them up. Antony wants two things: to avenge Caesar's murder and to rule
Antony uses his speech as a way to counteract everything Brutus states and to win over the people. Antony's credibility is being Caesar's friend and not once backstabbing him in the back like Brutus did. Antony is able to prove to the people that he is an honorable man as he did not go against Caesar and was a true friend to him. He relies on repetition as a way to get his point across and facts to counteract Brutus' claims. He states how although Brutus claims that Caesar was ambitious his actions do not prove that to be so as he cared for the poor and treated them with kindness, paid for the ransoms of prisoners, and declined the crown three times in a row, "He hath brought many captives home to Rome/ Whose ransom did the general coffers fill: Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
Antony was devoted and preferred to be dependent upon Julius Caesar since he rather have enjoyed life than to claim the highest position in the government. He wanted the crown to be given to Caesar so that all conflicts could be avoided. However, this additional power contributed to the conspirator's motive to assassinate him. Antony was distraught with Caesar's death and sought revenge first by speaking to the crowd in his
All throughout Rome, Brutus is known as being nobleman, yet, in his funeral speech to Caesar, he purposely talks in prose, a way of speaking or writing that is not formal. Brutus’ ethos of nobility is so strong that patricians, noblemen, and plebeians, commoners, directly address Brutus as “the noble Brutus” (III.ii.11) Being as noble as he his, the commoners have a difficult time relating to him; yes, they may respect him, but believing or being convincing in what he says is more difficult for Brutus than Antony. In contrast, Antony can relate to the commoners and is not seen to have an overruling ethos; so, this is why Antony ultimately has a more persuasive speech. At the beginning of his speech, he is presented as not being at all against the conspirators, the group Brutus was apart of. He repeatedly kept reassuring the crowd that the conspirators were "all honorable men" (III.ii.81). By reassuring that the conspirators are honorable, the commoners believe in Antony's statement, which increases his authority power. Noticing that his authority is becoming more powerful, Antony decides to secretly turn against the conspirators. He questions on Brutus’ statement, again, on his reasoning for killing Caesar; yes, Antony is well aware that “[Brutus] is an honorable
The play Julius Caesar, end with Antony refers to Brutus by Saying “This was the noblest Roman of them all.” “This was the noblest Roman of them all”, refers to Octavian. Octavian was strong smart, ambitious and .irrational. Octavian was young and had a lot of good characteristic. Octavian strengths and weakness will be told so he can be the “noblest Roman of them all.”
Cassius’s thinking is that when Caesar falls, Antony is not to be trusted and will most likely seek revenge. However, Brutus once again disagrees with Cassius’s opinion thinking that Antony is an honorable man who, without Caesar, is too weak to actually take revenge against them. Brutus and Cassius’s contradicting thoughts on Antony are shown when Brutus says,
He wishes to change Caesar’s will so the Romans will receive less than what they were promised in his funeral speech and he also doesn’t want to rule with Lepidus. Antony is manipulative. He persuades the crowd to change their opinions on Brutus in act 3 scene 2 by saying, “Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, and sure he is an honorable man. I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke, but here I am to speak what I do know. You all did love him once, not without cause.What cause withholds you then to mourn for him? O judgement, thou art fled to brutish beasts, and men have lost their reason! Bear with me; my heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, and I must pause till it come back to me.” Antony clearly states that he is not trying to disprove what Brutus said but he does in the act of his speech manipulate the minds of the Romans by asking for sympathy which he
Antony and Cassius, unlike Brutus, never separate their private affairs from their public actions while Brutus tries to prove himself by acting only with respect to honor and virtue, completely ignoring his personal concerns. For example, Cassius disliked the fact that Caesar became “godlike” in the eyes of the Romans, so he leads Brutus to believe that Caesar had become too powerful and must die by sending him forged letters claiming that the Roman people support the death of Caesar, ultimately converting Brutus to his cause. At last Brutus ends up murdering his good friend in an act he truly believed was honorable. Marc Antony, who also shares in Cassius’ selfish trait, persuaded the conspirators that he is on their side, therefore gaining their leniency. He proceeds to persuade the plebeians of the conspirators’ injustice and gains support of the masses.
In truth, Antony only wants to gain the conspirator’s trust to be able to defeat them through the citizens of Rome. We can easily see how Brutus was manipulated in this part of the story by the conspirators and Mark Antony. Brutus has great sense of honour and he thinks that others think the same way. It is this weakness in Brutus that makes him so easy to be manipulated.
Antony's small speech depicts Brutus as a noble being and the ideal image of a man. Stating that nature would `stand and say to all the world', that Brutus was a man illustrates Brutus as being the idyllic man to become. Brutus is the only conspirator to maintain an honorable reason to assassinate Julius Caesar. Antony believes this, and states how only Brutus `in general honest thought and common good to all made one of them', implying that Brutus is the only one who possessed moral reasons for assassinating Caesar. Both Antony and Octavius, who were two of Brutus' most critical adversaries, state how Brutus is a dignified Roman.
In his speech he uses the repetition of his sarcasm to make people think about what is really going on. While Antony is making the citizens of Rome think, they soon begin to catch on to his sarcasm. One thing Antony continuously repeats throughout his speech is how Brutus is an honorable man. Anotony would explain something Caesar did for the good of Rome and then say how even though Caesar did all this good, Brutus said he was ambitious, but Brutus is an honorable man. Antony mentions this about six times in his speech which lead citizens to question Brutus’s
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
I think the noblest character is Antony himself. He always supported Cesar even if it did not seem like it. He took the side of the murders to survive but never forgot what they had done. An example of this is at Cesar's funeral he speaks up against Brutus and everyone else because he was smart he knew everyone there was a supporter of him and Cesar. H was very well with words he managed to turn supporters of the murders against them and he was very ambitious because he didn't let anyone else in on it besides octaves.
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.
On a slightly different note, Antony later expresses an opinion that causes the reader to question the validity of his earlier statements. “This is a slight unmeritable man, / meant to be sent on errands” (JC 4.1.13-14). While speaking directly to Lepidus, Antony seems to be remotely kind and friendly. However, once Lepidus leaves the room to complete Antony’s requests, Antony complains about him endlessly to Octavius... If he is capable of being that secretive of his true opinions about Lepidus, who is to say that he is not doing something of a similar manner whilst speaking of Julius Caesar? How can he be sure that his cover, word and plot manipulation, will keep everybody happy forever? There seems to be no one-hundred percent certainty that Mark Antony is truly a whole, good, and honest man.