Mark Antony's Funeral Speech Rhetorical Devices

Mark Antony's funeral speech is widely praised as one of the most masterful examples of persuasive speech ever known to Shakespearian literature, and possibly literature as a whole. In the speech, Antony seeks to turn the Roman crowd against the conspirators who killed Caesar and to seek revenge for his death. He accomplishes this by using a variety of rhetorical strategies and persuasive techniques, including repetition, rhetorical questions, emotional appeals, and vivid language. Ultimately, Antony's purpose in this speech is to incite the crowd to take action and seek vengeance for Caesar, and he achieves this by presenting the compelling argument that Caesar was not ambitious, Caesar was good for Rome, and that he deserves vengeance.
One of Antony’s most striking arguments is that Caesar was not ambitious. He crafts this argument by utilizing rhetorical questions and repetition. A prominent example of repetition throughout the speech is Antony’s repetition of the phrase "Brutus says he was ambitious, and Brutus is an honorable man." Each time Antony says this phrase, he infuses it with irony to show that the conspirators were lying about the circumstances behind

He reminds the crowd of Caesar's love for the Roman people and his accomplishments for Rome, and he asks them to seek revenge for his death. Antony says, “You all did love him once, not without cause: What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?” This quote shows Antony's ability to connect his strong emotions about Caesar's death and the conspirators' actions to the emotions of the people, guiding the crowd to feel the same way about his death. Antony’s ability to manipulate the emotions of his audience effectively allows a strong connection to be formed between Antony and the crowd through the citizen’s underlying desire to seek justice for Rome, through the vengeance of