Poetic Devices In Antony's Speech

Julius Caesar, written by William Shakespeare, encompasses many themes, speeches, and poetry devices that help to further the characters in the play. Leading up to Antony’s riveting speech in act III, scene ii, lines 103-143 to his fellow Roman friends, Brutus and the conspirators committed a horrible crime: the murder of Julius Caesar. This act of taking a life completely changed the way Antony thought. Now that Caesar no longer lives, Antony realized that in order to get revenge, he needed to convince the Roman people that Brutus and his conspirators executed a heinous act. As Antony’s speech occurred toward the middle of the plot, the audience of the play knew an abundance of information about each character. Everyone knew that Brutus’ loyalty

This speech affected every single Roman in the Roman Empire. As Antony needed to take a step toward leadership and away from the easy-going lifestyle, Brutus and Cassius realized their mistake of not killing Antony with Caesar, and the people of Rome erupted in chaos. The chaos that erupted from the impact of Antony’s speech alteredchanged the whole plot, as the audience thought the end would come with Caesar’s death, but they may not have thought of the same end as Shakespeare did. Shakespeare used idioms, metaphors, and irony throughout Antony’s riveting speech to further the intensity of the plot, as the people turn against Brutus and lead to the conspirators their

Most of Antony’s life and country changing speech was imbedded with irony, and the two examples illustrating this device go hand-and-hand with one another: “I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,” (act III, scene ii, line 99) and “I rather choose/To wrong the dead, to wrong myself and you/Than I will wrong such honorable men,” (act III, scene ii, lines 114-116). These two lines from Antony’s funeral speech both consist of not wronging Brutus and honorable men. Contrary to what he says, Antony actually does wrong Brutus, and the conspirators, by successfully turning the Roman people against him. This line is also ironic as not only did Antony wrong the conspirators, but he inadvertently wronged the countrymen of Rome. Another thing that needs to come to light consists of Antony himself. Antony had stated that he would rather wrong himself and the people, than wrong the honorable men. Although Antony said he would wrong himself, he comes out of the war spotless. This portrays irony because instead of wronging himself like he stated to the people, he chose to wrong everyone else, excluding himself. Although this line from Antony’s speech caused a violent outcome, it also helps to further on what the plot could have been. Antony did wrong to the people, as he lead them into a civil war, where many people perisheddied. If he had not