Cambree Torma Mr. Ioannidis English 10B 27 January 2023 So Much for Brutus Being an Orator Antony was Caesar's loyal follower and dear friend. After Caesar was killed, he proclaimed a curse on the conspirators and a civil war in Rome. When he gave his speech at Caesar's funeral, he persuaded and manipulated the people into rebelling against the murderers. Antony's speech was far superior to Brutus' speech by one thing, emotion. He appealed to the audience's emotion using pathos. Antony was also smarter than Brutus by speaking to them in blank verse, which is unrhythmically and easier for commoners to understand. The people then could understand him, not Brutus, who used pros. Another way he appealed to the people's emotion is by …show more content…
When the poor cried, Caesar cried too. Ambition shouldn’t be so soft. Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, and Brutus is an honorable man.”(II,ii,90-93) Antony was basically doubting Brutus’s words, yes Brutus is trustworthy and honorable, but were these acts of ambition? The people believed Antony more than Brutus since they saw Caesar refuse the crown thrice. Antony during his speech also kept repeating “honorable men” which by the end of his speech the people yell at saying “They were traitors. “Honorable men!””(II,ii,150-152) Antony said he didn’t want to turn the people against the conspirators but he knew exactly what he was doing. By doing little things that would anger the crowd even more, he pulled them onto his side. Brutus never once showed he had any remorse for killing Caesar, or had any guilt; he should've acted somewhat sad for just murdering his best …show more content…
He read Caesar's will and showed them his bloodied corpse. Antony mentioned to the crowd “You aren’t wood, you aren’t stones—you’re men. And, being men, the contents of Caesar’s will would enrage you. It’s better that you don’t know you’re his heirs, for if you knew, just imagine what would come of it,”(II,ii,140-145) Seeing how much Caesar loved them and seeing he wasn't ambitious, would just enrage the civilians even more and that's what Antony was saying he was not trying to do. Even though it was, he was doing it in a secretive way so that the people would turn against them. Caesar wrote in his will that he leaves the people 75 drachmas each. Just showing this, Antony showed the people Caesar loved them and wasn't ambitious, for if he were, he would not give up his money to commoners. He also showed them the body, pointing out each individual slice and cut and who did it. When he pointed out Brutus’s he satd “For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar’s angel. The gods know how dearly Caesar loved him! This was the most unkind cut of all. For when the noble Caesar saw him stab, he understood his beloved Brutus’s ingratitude,”(II,ii,173-175) How could he do this to his friend? Brutus betrayed Caesar and by stabbing him Caesar couldn't live with that