Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar, a Roman general, dictator, and leader, is considered to be one of history 's most influential and powerful rulers to this day, in which his rise to power, conquest of Europe, and controversial downfall all remain to be told during modern days. The play Julius Caesar written by William Shakespeare, portrays the events leading up to Julius Caesar’s assassination, and how those who conspired against him banded together and plotted Caesar’s demise. Many of those conspirators assassinated Caesar due to his quick rise to absolute power, his “acts” of disrespect against the senate such as his failing to stand to receive the title of becoming a “god,” and pure jealousy and anger towards Caesar’s success and rule over the Roman empire. Caesar, an ambitious man, was able to conquer many lands and peoples for Rome through successful military campaigns in which he became one Rome’s best generals due to the amount of successful battles he had won and the amount of blood he had shed for Rome’s expansion. However, Caesar’s trait of ambitiousness would prove to be a double edged sword.

Because Antony cannot speak negatively about the conspirators, he uses verbal irony and repetition in his speech to say one thing, but make the audience believe the opposite.  The tone of voice he uses in his speech is one indication that he does not mean what he says.  When Antony calls Brutus and Cassius "honorable men," he uses a sarcastic tone to show that they were actually not very honorable.  Again and again he repeats the phrase "honorable men," and each time the irony is more powerful.  Antony connects the audience's new belief that Cassius and Brutus were not honorable to his message that they should not mutiny.  He says, "O masters, if I were disposed to stir/Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage,/I should do Brutus wrong and Cassius wrong,/Who (you all know) are honorable men" (III.ii.133-136).  The crowd thinks that the conspirators were not honorable, therefore they believe that mutiny would be acceptable.  To gain the full effect, Antony repeats that the crowd should not mutiny five times, so they lose the main point of his message, and only remember from the indignation in his voice that mutiny is a possible solution.

3. (06.04) If you had lived during the time of Julius Caesar, would you have sided with Caesar or with the conspirators? Why?

Salad. A Caesar Salad. Stabbed like a salad twenty-three times. Who was responsible for Caesar’s murder. Julius Caesar had reached the highest point in his life for Rome as a dictator. While some were rejoicing, others were planning, planning the murder that would change Rome forever. According to my findings, Cassius Brutus, and the Senate are responsible for this devastating murder.

Brutus misjudges and underestimates Antony’s abilities and his audience. When giving his speech, Brutus makes the subject on honor and abstract ideas using logos and ethos but no pathos. The mistake that Brutus makes is that he does not appeal to the crowd’s strong feelings over the death of Julius Caesar. Meanwhile, Antony easily overmatches Brutus because he does not overestimate his audience. Understanding the people, Antony begins in his eulogy appealing to the citizen’s feelings. Because of the lack of emotion in Brutus’s speech, Antony’s highly emotional and extemporaneous speech captures the minds and hearts of the crowd through use of pathos and causes them to become an angry mob that sought to scorn those that took part in the murder of

Antony tries to make the audience seem like they have only understood one side of Caesar because he claims that “the evil that men do lives after them;/ The good is oft interred with their bones”(III.ii.84-85). Antony compares the evil that lives forever with the good that dies off. Antony intended for the audience to feel guilty because they have only remembered the evil that Caesar has done, rather than the good. The audience feels they have misunderstood Caesar and are convinced he has also done good for them, even if they don’t remember it. Antony tries to appeal to the audience emotionally by informing them that “It is not meet you know how Caesar loved you/ You are not wood, not stones, but men”(III.ii. 153-155). Antony tries to make the audience feel that Caesar truly cared for them and thought of them as people and nothing else. The audience feels a sense of sadness when hearing this line because they cheered on for Caesar’s death even though, Caesar loved them deeply. Antony wants the Romans to understand that Caesar saw them as more than his people because when he’s about to read Caesar’s will, he informs them“ that [they] are his heirs”(III.ii.158). The phrase “heirs” which describes the people of Rome conveys kinship because the Romans feel that Caesar cares for them greatly and felt they were important enough to be included in Caesar’s will. This is important because Antony wants the people to feel that Caesar thought of them dearly so they will feel more sorrow for his death. Antony’s diction demonstrates significance in the speech because rather than say that the Romans were Caesar’s “subjects” or “people”, using the word “heirs” evokes a sense of closeness the Romans feel toward Caesar. Antony wants to make sure that the people feel special according to Caesar and that they were more to him than just citizens.

The way his speech is said he contradicted everything Brutus had said before about Caesar being to ambitious and that is the reason he had to die. Antony argues that if Caesar was ambitious would he have denied the crown offered to him three times. If he were truly and ambitious man, would he suffer with the people when they were in trouble. As he is talking the crowd gets louder and louder and listen very closely to what he is saying.

One must engage in very close reading of the text to determine the cause and the signs of change. Issues for discussion include whether Antony is carried away by personal power, whether he is driven by desire for vengeance to assuage his personal grief, and whether these things constitute a desire to act for his friend or for himself. Antony's final speech is essentially a repeat of Brutus' rhetoric following Caesar's murder, and Antony's transformation is complete.

Discuss how Shakespeare uses language and dramatic techniques for character development in Act 2 Scene 2 of Measure for Measure.

Although William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar provides a largely accurate and incredibly detailed record of the assassination of its namesake, the play is regarded not as one of the Bard’s histories, but as one of his greatest tragedies. Shakespeare’s poignant lyrical interpretation of the fall of Julius Caesar is defined without a doubt as a tragedy by the sorrowful nature of the development, execution, and aftermath of Marcus Brutus’ betrayal of Julius Caesar.

Act III Scene V - This is a very important scene. Select and comment on

Mark Antony’s funeral speech incorporates the rhetorical devices of sarcasm, irony, and repetition to turn the people of Rome. The ironic use of repetition slowly displaced the conspirators. To exemplify, Mark Antony repeatedly calls the conspirators, “ honorable men” (3.2.79). The habit of repeating the word ‘honorable’ is extremely sarcastic, and Antony is purposefully overusing the word on account that it makes the citizens question the legitimacy of the murder. As a result, the crowd wonders if the conspirators are allowed to get away with the crime solely based on

The audience is privy to a private conversation in Caesar’s home between Caesar and Lepidus, who were the other two thirds of the “triple pillar of the world” – the triumvirate. The triumvirate were a powerful political and military force; they ruled the Roman Empire after the murder of Julius Caesar. During this conversation, they discuss Antony’s debauched life and his former greatness in Caesar’s home where Caesar feels free to express his opinions honestly and he declares that Antony is “a man who is abstract of all faults” and someone who would “give a kingdom for mirth.” This shows us how far he has fallen in Caesar’s eyes as his tone would be scathing and I imagine he would be pacing as he ranted about Antony