aa100 assignment 1. octavian versus plutarch on anthony

Another difference between Plutarch's text and Julius Caesar, other than the tone is the content. Shakespeare omits many events from his play such as Porcia's proving of herself by self-inflicting a wound on her thigh. On the other hand, Plutarch does not go into Brutus's and Portia's conversation of Brutus's troubles. Plutarch describes Antony's great speech at Caesar's funeral, but does not capture the emotional struggle Antony went through to win the hearts of Roman citizens. Shakespeare intensely writes of the crowd's reactions to Antony's speech. "Most noble Caesar, we'll revenge his death." (Shakespeare 3.2.236). This shows that Shakespeare is displaying Antony as a heroic and brilliant defender of Caesar while Plutarch merely states that Antony was not meant to speak at all but was sent to speak after a day of discussion between the conspirators.

Plutarch's account shows Antony represented as an Eastern King, having deserted his country of birth. This then shifts to a tragic hero, misled by Cleopatra.

Even though there are lots of similarity between the two texts they have their differences. One difference is that

In ‘An Ancient Roman Perspective’, Gemma Wilson’s account for Rome’s feelings towards the Queen is one of great hostility. According to Wilson, “at best, the Romans viewed Cleopatra with suspicion. At worst, they hated her.” Cleopatra was of coarse despised for utilizing the two public figures of Rome’s world, Caesar initially and then Mark Antony. Peter Roberts describes how it was Octavian that initiated Rome’s hatred towards Rome, relying on ‘sexual slander’ to tarnish her reputation. Many Roman poets continued this tradition of condemnation such as Lucan in ‘Pharsalia’, referring to Cleopatra as “Egypt’s shame.” Horace continues to embellish this image; “the queen, with a contaminated gang of creatures’ in his Ode XXXVII, referring to

In the provided extract Plutarch gives his depiction of Cleopatra and the leverage she has over Antony. Plutarch (1965) begins by stating, “He [Mark Antony] allowed the

Antony says about how Brutus is an honourable man, and how Brutus said that Caesar was ambitious, but Antony talks about all the wonderful things he had done, which don’t seem very ambitious. Antony talks about how even when presented with the crown, the crown of Rome, he had refused three times. ( THREE? I couldn’t even last one, but alright.) and how this was not

One of the similarities that both passages portray consists of the style of writing, the way the author carries out the messages allow the audience to understand the

Antony tries to make the audience seem like they have only understood one side of Caesar because he claims that “the evil that men do lives after them;/ The good is oft interred with their bones”(III.ii.84-85). Antony compares the evil that lives forever with the good that dies off. Antony intended for the audience to feel guilty because they have only remembered the evil that Caesar has done, rather than the good. The audience feels they have misunderstood Caesar and are convinced he has also done good for them, even if they don’t remember it. Antony tries to appeal to the audience emotionally by informing them that “It is not meet you know how Caesar loved you/ You are not wood, not stones, but men”(III.ii. 153-155). Antony tries to make the audience feel that Caesar truly cared for them and thought of them as people and nothing else. The audience feels a sense of sadness when hearing this line because they cheered on for Caesar’s death even though, Caesar loved them deeply. Antony wants the Romans to understand that Caesar saw them as more than his people because when he’s about to read Caesar’s will, he informs them“ that [they] are his heirs”(III.ii.158). The phrase “heirs” which describes the people of Rome conveys kinship because the Romans feel that Caesar cares for them greatly and felt they were important enough to be included in Caesar’s will. This is important because Antony wants the people to feel that Caesar thought of them dearly so they will feel more sorrow for his death. Antony’s diction demonstrates significance in the speech because rather than say that the Romans were Caesar’s “subjects” or “people”, using the word “heirs” evokes a sense of closeness the Romans feel toward Caesar. Antony wants to make sure that the people feel special according to Caesar and that they were more to him than just citizens.

Antony uses pathos in his speech to make the people of Rome angry, furious, and sad, because Caesar did not deserve to die and he was an innocent man. Throughout his entire speech he uses verbal irony and repetition to get his point across. Antony tells the crowd that he is coming to give a speech about his beloved friend Caesar. As he continues with his speech he get more and more sarcastic. Before Anthony's speech, Anthony enters with Caesar's body so show how sad he is because of his death. Which makes the people of Rome realize what horrible thing Brutus did. In his speech he talks about how Caesar was a great leader. He tells them that Caesar cared about Rome and its citizens very deeply.

While Antony and Cleopatra started a new relationship, this caused Antony to tear off an old relationship with Octavian. After Mark left Octavian's sister Octavia for Cleopatra, Octavian was mad at Antony. He was also not happy about the ceremony that Antony had for Cleopatra, and they started "propaganda attacks" (Mark Antony 2). Antony and Cleopatra's relationship caused the breakup of the Second

Anthony continuously repeats “ Brutus is an honourable man” making others question Brutus's friendship and loyalty to Caesar. Anthony's repetition involves sarcasm. He repeats words like ambitious and honorable because Anthony wants to emphasize the audience to question about Brutus's reasoning to Caesar's death. Anthony

He pressed my cheek so my skull was against his palm; and he said, “Prince, he don’t care today. There ain’t any measuring happening today. No samples.” (Pg 119). He tried to make Octavian feel better and comfort

Octavian enabled the long, nonviolent time of the Pax Romana, (Latin for Roman peace) by changing Rome from a frail, collapsing republican government to a powerful empire. He is known as the first, and one of the greatest, Roman Emperors ever. Octavian was born on September 23, 63 BC, and died in 14 AD. Born with the name Gaius Octavius Thurinus, he was adopted posthumously by his great-uncle Gaius Julius Caesar via his will, and then was named Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus. This happened in 44 BC when his great uncle, Julius Caesar, was assassinated by a group of conspirators. Additionally, he received the name “Augustus” a term meaning “the revered one” from the Roman Senate in 27 BC. Because of the various names he had, it is

This quote clarifies that Antony is only pretending to make amends with