preview

Julius Caesar Speech Analysis

Decent Essays

The Tragedy of Julius Caesar chronicles the final years of the Roman Republic. This was a time of great political and civic turmoil. Nearly all major political figures of the day participated in some form of political deception. From the killing of an innocent man because of his name to assassination, no act was deemed too immoral, and no moral boundary was left uncrossed. Amidst all of this chaos one character stands above the rest. Antony is the most manipulative character because he is able to hide his true intentions from and falsely befriend the conspirators and trick them into allowing him to speak at Caesar’s funeral. Antony exploits this opportunity as a medium through which to get revenge on the conspirators, and uses numerous deceptive techniques in this speech in order to control the public. Antony’s first display of manipulation is his false alliance and “cunning [bargaining]” with the conspirators (Bevington 1023). Rather than try to convince every conspirator of his good intentions, he recognizes that he can “avoid the more difficult questions” of Cassius by “[directing] his attention to the more powerful and gullible Brutus” (Perry 81). Antony, knowing that “Brutus wants to believe that [Antony] will join the conspirators’ cause,... takes advantage of Brutus’ hope” (Perry 81). He claims to harbor no ill intentions towards the conspirators as long as he is to receive adequate reasoning for Caesar’s assassination . By pretending to confirm Brutus’ assumption

Get Access