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Mark Antony's Manipulation In Julius Caesar

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Manipulation is a very important aspect in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. One specific character, Mark Antony, shows to be an eloquent speaker, persuasive, and great at deception, all of which are necessary skills to be a good manipulator. Mark Antony is the most manipulative, and devious character in the play, demonstrated through his funeral speech. When Mark Antony speaks to the citizens at the funeral of Julius Caesar, he immediately earns the respect of his audience. He does this in two main ways. For example, in the first lines of his speech he says "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;" (J.C. 3.2.). By establishing the audience as his friends they immediately feel more attached to him. Mark Antony also speaks to the citizens in metrical iambic pentameter, however, Brutus spoke to the citizens in blank verse. This is very important, because by speaking to them in that pattern, Antony is implying that his audience is on the same social status that he is. …show more content…

He asks rhetorical questions in his funeral speech. He uses them to make the citizens think. For example, when he asks “Did this Caesar seem ambitious?” (J.C. 3.2), Antony wants the citizens to contemplate if Caesar was ambitious, or if Brutus is just saying this to justify the murder that he had committed. He also is very repetitive in his speech. He repeats himself multiple times to get his point across. For example, throughout his speech, he mentions how “Brutus is an honourable man.” (J.C. 3.2). He points this out multiple times so that the citizens start to question the credibility of Brutus. He wants them to believe that Brutus is no longer honorable. He does this so that he can destroy Brutus’ reputation, and turn the citizens against him and the

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Similar to Brutus' speech, Antony starts out by expressing his relatability, beginning with, "Friends, Romans, countrymen . . . " signifying that he speaks to everyone equally (Shakespeare). Concurrently, he addresses his authority by speaking in blank verse, the way in which noble people speak. To contest Brutus' logic, Antony makes multiple conjectures. For instance, "He hath brought many captives home to Rome / Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill," describing how Caesar, too, cared deeply for Rome (Shakespeare).

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