How Does Shakespeare Present Mark Antony Speech

In William Shakespeare’s, The Tragedy of Julius Shakespeare, characters Marc Antony and Marcus Brutus deliver funeral speeches to the Roman public. They share their perspectives on the recent death of soon to be crowned king, Julius Caesar. Along with several other conspirators, Brutus brutally murders Caesar, ceasing his rise to power. Brutus delivers a dramatic, yet persuasive speech to explain his intentions for participating in the conspiracy. Antony was a loyal friend of Caesar, fixed on avenging Caesar’s death. He makes a fiery and provoking speech to rally support from Rome and instigate a rebellion against the conspirators. Antony’s speech is more effective in conveying his thoughts through his effective uses of pathos and ethos to

He draws sympathy from the audience as he describes the Caesar he knew: Humble and attentive. He declares that, “When the poor cried, Caesar cried too” (Shakespeare 3.1. 89). Later in his speech he says that, “ You all saw that on the Lupercal feast day I offered him a king’s crown three times, and he refused it three times” (Shakespeare 3.1. 93-94). Antony explains that Caesar was not ambitious; in fact he was benevolent to the poor and content with his current place in the government. The story reiterates how humble Caesar was instead of the ambitious leader Brutus depicted. Additionally, Antony appeals to the emotions of the audience, eventually, overwhelmed by his own grief. He says that, “You all loved him once, and not without reason. Then what reason holds you back from mourning him now? Men have become brutish beasts and lost their reason” (Shakespeare 3.1 100-103)! Antony brings up a series of questions to the audience, wondering why the audience’s loyalty quickly shifted from Caesar to Brutus. Antony expresses his concerns with the audience’s fickle loyalty, which is now to the conspirators. He guilts the audience through his questioning and his emotional breakdown to sow the seeds for a rebellion. He creates a sense of obligation to Caesar, especially during a time of political corruption. Antony knew he could provoke his audience - hence he preyed on their ignorance and

Brutus emphasizes that, “ …it’s not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. Would you rather that Caesar were living and we would all go to our graves as slaves, or that Caesar were dead and we all lived as free men” (Shakespeare 3.1 20-23)? In his eyes, the death is justifiable to the extent that his intentions were to protect the public from Caesar’s potential, but expected, oppressive rule. Ultimately, the ends may have justified the means, but Brutus failed to communicate this to his uneducated audience. Afterwards, Brutus calls on the crowd to see if anyone disagrees with him, discouraging his audience from speaking out. Brutus may have had valid reasons to support the conspiracy, yet he does not effectively simplify them for his audience. He creates a hostile atmosphere and demonstrates a lack of accountability. This makes it fairly simple for Antony to undermine his claims and indirectly call upon the audience to avenge Caesar. Rather than focusing on one main point like Brutus, Antony takes several approaches to strengthen his argument. Antony begins with establishing the purpose of his speech, meant to be a funeral oration than to praise him. He describes his friendship with Caesar and his public actions that disprove Brutus’ speech. Finally, he shares that Caesar wrote a will, refusing to read it until the crowd seems to completely support him.