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Verbal Irony In Julius Caesar

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In Antony’s speech in the play Julius Caesar, he shows various cases of verbal irony in which he says one thing yet means another. He uses this technique to manipulate the crowd with sarcasm and disprove the acts of Brutus against Caesar. His key purpose is to get them to rally against Brutus, after his speech persuaded them that killing off Caesar was the right thing to do. Also, by disproving Brutus with his opposite meanings, the crowd begins to realize the depth of his betrayal. Multiple times, Antony refers to Brutus as an “honorable man” (lines 10, 15, 22, & 27); however, he is blatantly refuting that statement by proving exactly why Brutus’ honor should not be. Brutus was being praised for the murder of Caesar, turning the people against Caesar, for no good reason. This is where Antony believes using verbal irony could persuade them to think differently, like they did before when they were loyal to their leader. Also, this shows that he is outraged at Brutus for turning so quick on his own close friend. The repetition of this phrase along with its rebuttal, reveals that Antony believes Brutus to be ambitious and …show more content…

Antony has a way of using people’s words against them, and making the whole counter argument based on the betis of his enemy in this case. Brutus and Antony have obvious different views on the situation that had just happened. Antony, however, does not have to fight for the meaning of his actions like Brutus does. He simply manipulates the key points of Brutus’ deception to provide himself with a support from the people. By definition of verbal irony, manipulation of a contrasting phrase is a good way to persuade anyone to at least see what you are speaking about and

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