Mark Antony Speech Analysis

Rough Draft “Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.” - Antony. In William Shakespeare’s, “The Tragedy of Julius Caesar”, Brutus betrays Julius Caesar. He ends up being persuaded into joining the conspiracy against Caesar, in order to save Rome. The conspirators end up killing Caesar at the foot of Pompey’s statue.

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

"Friends, Romans, and Countrymen lend me your ears"(49). In the play Julius Caesar written by William Shakespeare, Mark Antony is given an opportunity to speak at Caesar's funeral. In his speech, Antony addresses the death of Caesar and draws attention to the foul play at hand. Not only that, but he also discusses the legacy that Caesar left behind. In doing so, Marc Antony uses verbal irony to being to light the conspirator's betrayal toward not only Caesar, but to the people of Rome.

To start his speech, Antony opens with some kind words about Caesar. Antony uses ethos by speaking kindly of Caesar and saying, “He was my friend, he was faithful and just to me” (line 81). Antony appears to be a honest and humble man mourning for his friend. By saying “Brutus is an honorable man” (line 83), Antony places himself on the crowd’s side because up to this point the crowd is in favor of Brutus. Antony has made himself seem more trustworthy which also utilizes ethos. He then continues to speak of Caesar’s great deeds that do not support Brutus’s claim of Caesar’s ambition. For example, Antony tells of Caesar saying, “He brought many captives home to Rome whose ransoms brought wealth to the city” (line 83). This is all Brutus wants Antony to say but Antony continues and asks the crowd, “Is this the work of an ambitious man” (line 89)? Antony is using logos to influence the Roman people because he provides a counterexample to the claims of Caesar’s ambition. Furthermore, Antony places doubt in Brutus by saying, “Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, and Brutus is an honorable man” (lines 91-92). This use of logos allows Antony to prove Brutus wrong, even if he does not say it out loud.

Because Antony cannot speak negatively about the conspirators, he uses verbal irony and repetition in his speech to say one thing, but make the audience believe the opposite.  The tone of voice he uses in his speech is one indication that he does not mean what he says.  When Antony calls Brutus and Cassius "honorable men," he uses a sarcastic tone to show that they were actually not very honorable.  Again and again he repeats the phrase "honorable men," and each time the irony is more powerful.  Antony connects the audience's new belief that Cassius and Brutus were not honorable to his message that they should not mutiny.  He says, "O masters, if I were disposed to stir/Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage,/I should do Brutus wrong and Cassius wrong,/Who (you all know) are honorable men" (III.ii.133-136).  The crowd thinks that the conspirators were not honorable, therefore they believe that mutiny would be acceptable.  To gain the full effect, Antony repeats that the crowd should not mutiny five times, so they lose the main point of his message, and only remember from the indignation in his voice that mutiny is a possible solution.

Mark Antony’s speech also provided use of the rhetorical device pathos in order to sway the citizens of Rome to his side. His most prominent use of this rhetorical device is when he sobs, “Bear with me; My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, And I must pause till it come back to me”. In saying this, Mark Antony allows for the Romans to empathize with him and gives a pause for them to think for a moment and feel pain with him. By trying to provoke emotion in the citizens of Rome, he creates a better use of the rhetorical device than his fellow Roman.

It was, however, the most apparent example of repetition in the epistrophe, “Brutus is an honourable man” (III, ii, 84, 89,) that outlines the heart of Antony’s speech – that the conspirators were, in fact, not the least bit honourable in their murder of Caesar. Antony uses the epistrophe again to illustrate the other major concept in his speech; Caesar wasn’t ambitious – he didn’t deserve to die. “Brutus says he was ambitious.” (III, ii, 88, 96, 100). Through the heavy-handed use of repetition in Antony’s eulogy to Caesar, he delivers a strong message to the crowd. More importantly, however, such repetition was able to compel the audience into believing his words instead of Brutus’.

Antony’s ability to make things happen by words alone is the strongest type of power and authority. Antony’s manipulation of words and scenarios ensure that his control over Brutus and the other conspirators allows him to give Julius Caesar a funeral speech succeeds. Antony’s use of persuasive rhetoric, “Let each man render me with his bloody hand” demonstrates to the audience how Antony cleverly convinces the conspirators of his desire to side with them. Whilst appearing to make a gesture of reconciliation, Antony silently marked all the conspirators as guilty. It is under the guise of friendship that readers can see Antony want vengeance.

Roman politician and popular figure in the Roman Republic, Mark Antony, uses the rhetorical devices of pathos, logos, and ethos in his funeral oration for Julius Caesar, in order to deem the assassination of Caesar by Cassius, Brutus, and their conspirators, wrong. The speech conducted by Mark Antony, a good friend of Caesar’s, has a sorrowful tone due to the fact that Mark Antony wants the crowds of Romans to agree with him. Antony conducts his speech in such a way to strike pity and regret in the assassinators and conspirators of Julius Caesar. Usage of pathos, ethos, and logos is essential in winning over the plebeians trust and respect.

In William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Brutus and Antony delivered speeches on behalf of Caesar’s tragic death at the Forum. While their messages have various differences, many similarities can also be concluded from their presentations. Brutus, Caesar’s trusted servant, acted solely upon his loyalty for the country of Rome whereas Antony, a close friend of Caesar’s, believed more in loyalty to his friend. This influenced their diction and tone which were exhibited through the writings of their speeches.

plebeians in Act 3 Scene 2. He uses this in order to create a sense of

Then Antony holds up what he claims to be Caesar’s will and tempts the crowd with its contents. He pretends that he is reluctant to read it because it would wrong “the honourable men/ whose daggers have stabbed Caesar.” The crowd goes into rage upon this and cries out, “Honourable men!” “villains, murderers!” Their greed has come to make them think that the conspirators would have cheated them of their inheritance. Antony takes immediate advantage of their self-interest:

Antony first discredits himself by praising Brutus saying he is “an honorable man” (III, ii, 27) and saying he speaks “not to disprove what Brutus spoke” (III, ii, 29). By appearing humble, Antony gains the attention and sympathy from the Plebeians he needs to manipulate the crowd. The noblemen then proceeds to credit his argument by calling Brutus “Caesar’s angle” (III, ii, 13), making Brutus appear to be one of Antony’s idols. The beginning of Mark Antony’s monologue is spent agreeing with Brutus and the other conspirator’s version of the truth, but takes a dramatic turn. “They that have done this deed are honorable” (III, ii, 3), Antony tells the crowd, “what private grief’s they have alas, I know not” (III, ii, 3).

Antony gave an emotionally charged speech today at the funeral of Caesar. Antony is a member of the senate and worked closely with Caesar and was not involved in his gruesome murder. He calls the member of the senate that participated in his murder “”[t]he evil that men do lives after [Caesar].”. Antony is dismayed at their actions of stabbing a promising leader to death. Antony mentions that Caesar was a humble man who he “thrice presented... a kingly crown, [w]hich [Caesar] did thrice refuse: was this ambition?” and after which say [y]et Brutus says he was ambitious. Antony contradicts the statements of Brutus in a mournful tone. The Romans rally around him remembering the ruler that they all trusted. The Romans know Antony as a senate member