Marissa Cheslock
Mrs. Satchwell
Honors English 9 B3
9 October 2017
The Power of Loyalty William Shakespeare, one of the most profound writers in all of history, skillfully used the character of Mark Antony in his play, Julius Caesar, in order to verify true the theme that loyalty and respect are two of the most extremely convincing tactics. He demonstrates the power of speech as he is manipulating words in order to prove a certain point in the speaker’s favor, whoever that may be. Mark Antony was a man who enjoyed spending the majority of his time at extravagant parties and receiving everything he wanted at his sudden demand. Shakespeare created Antony to be an expert in speech manipulation, which ended up making Julius Caesar to be what
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On a slightly different note, Antony later expresses an opinion that causes the reader to question the validity of his earlier statements. “This is a slight unmeritable man, / meant to be sent on errands” (JC 4.1.13-14). While speaking directly to Lepidus, Antony seems to be remotely kind and friendly. However, once Lepidus leaves the room to complete Antony’s requests, Antony complains about him endlessly to Octavius... If he is capable of being that secretive of his true opinions about Lepidus, who is to say that he is not doing something of a similar manner whilst speaking of Julius Caesar? How can he be sure that his cover, word and plot manipulation, will keep everybody happy forever? There seems to be no one-hundred percent certainty that Mark Antony is truly a whole, good, and honest man. Finally, at the very end, Antony makes one last scholarly remark, truly convincing the audience that he is deserving of respect, simply because of his own policy of loyalty. “This was the noblest Roman of them all” (JC 5.5.74). In this line, Antony is referring to Brutus, after he had killed himself alongside the assistance of Strato, who held his sword as he ran into it aggressively, because Brutus would rather have died than remained with the gruesome thought that if he and Cassius had lived, they would simply be forced into slavery if they returned home. Shame, in
I thrice presented him a kingly crown, which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition?" (Shakespeare Act 3 Scene 2 Lines 86-89, ). Every time Antony is able to counteract something Brutus says with facts he repeats the same few words, "Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, and Brutus is an honorable man." (Shakespeare Act 3 Scene 2 Lines 80-81, 84-85, 92-93). Antony makes sure to never directly say that Brutus is not an honorable man, but as he continuously states that Brutus is honorable it begins to lose meaning and worth. Antony indirectly shows that Brutus is not as honorable as he proves to be and deteriorates Brutus' justification for Caesar's death, his ambition, "I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke, but here I am to speak what I do know." (Shakespeare Act 3 Scene 2 99-100). Antony then closes his speech by showing a vulnerable side of himself in which he mourns for his friend, "Bear with me. My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, and I must pause till it come back to me." (Shakespeare 103-105). He gets the last word and successfully wins over the
Mark Antony’s use of emotional appeal is one of his strongest uses of rhetoric. First, he puts himself on the same level as the commoners and then begins to attack the sentiments of the Roman people. Antony uses a plain folks appeal to put himself on common ground with the commoners, “Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears;” (3.2. 74). This is an important strategy because in this period of time aristocrats would not dare speak to commoners yet alone call them a friend. To show the commoners how much Antony actually adored Caesar he says, “My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar” (3.2. 107). This makes the commoners have a
Marc Antony’s eulogy wins the heart of his fellow Romans by undermining and destroying the conspiracy. The conspirators claim that it was necessary for the good of the republic to murder Caesar and convince the crowds of Romans to believe so. After he wins over the crowd, Brutus, a conspirator, allows Marc Antony to speak considering him as no threat to the conspiracy. However, Brutus is proven wrong when Antony’s oration manipulates the crowd into a mob thirsty for the blood of the conspirators. Marc Antony’s eulogy is more compelling to the crowd with his use of rhetorical appeals, ethos, pathos, and logos, compared to Brutus in the tragedy, Julius Caesar.
Antony and Caesar were good friends, and when Antony learned of Caesar’s murder, he began plotting to dethrone the conspirators who had planned his death. He sent a citizen to the palace where the traitors were and told him to relay a message; “If Brutus will vouchsafe that Antony may safely come to him and be resolved how Caesar hath deserved to lie in death, Mark Antony shall not love Caesar dead so well as Brutus living, but will follow the fortunes and affairs of noble Brutus through the hazards of this untrod state with all true faith.” What Antony is saying to Brutus is that if
Mark Antony, in the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, was a brave, intelligent, pleasure-loving, and cunning man. He was loyal to his friend, Caesar, whom he considered a true friend. He looked at life as a game in which he had a signified part to play, and played that part with excellent refinement and skill.
Mark Antony and Marcus Brutus from the play of “Julius Caesar” written by William Shakespeare, both try to persuade their audience if Julius Caesar is ambitious or a noble man. They both use rhetorical devices and persuasion very well, but unlike Brutus, Mark Antony is more persuasive in convincing his audience because he appeals to the audience’s emotions by embedding rhetorical questions, physically displaying emotions and sympathy, and capitalizing on his relations with Caesar throughout his funeral speech.
In William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, although Marc Antony is allowed to make a speech at Caesar's funeral, he must not speak ill of either the conspirators or Caesar. Antony was infuriated with Caesar's assassination, and wants to seek revenge on his killers as well as gain power for himself in Rome's government. He must persuade the crowd that has gathered that Caesar's murder was unjust, and turn them against Brutus and Cassius. He tries to stir his listeners' anger, rousing them into action and yet say nothing bad about his enemies. Marc Antony uses several persuasive devices in his speech, which allows him to successfully convince the citizens of Rome to turn
Mark Antony appeals to the Romans' sense of ethos to establish himself in their eyes as a noble man, and to surreptitiously separate the conspirators' from their lofty reputations. Specifically, Antony mentions that he has the power to "do Brutus wrong and Cassius wrong, who, you know, are honourable men", but he "will
To keep the people from becoming too hostile during his eulogy, Antony refrained from speaking ill of Brutus and repeated multiple times "And Brutus is an honorable man," (). This repeated sarcastic remark proves how Antony did have the speaking skills he needed to slowly guide the townspeople towards his side. He used sarcasm to falsely portray that he has respect for Brutus when in reality, he knows just how to handle the crowd.
During most areas of Brutus’ speech he wanted to be portrayed as an authority figure and more noble than Caesar was. When Brutus attempts to justify how ambitious Caesar was and why he had to be killed he questions the citizens by asking “Had you rather Caesar were living, and die all slaves, than Caesar were dead, to live all freemen”(45)? By saying this Brutus tried to prove Caesar's ambition, but this quote was based purely on the observations that Brutus had noticed about Caesar. He had no way of being absolutely sure Caesar would have done something this malicious. Antony began with a different approach and addressed the citizen as “Friends, romans, countrymen”(46). By starting out addressing them as “Friends” it confirms that Antony is trying to show them that he is one of them and cares for them as well as that he is trustworthy. Then in his speech he begins to challenge Brutus’ argument
To make a strong argument, Antony must first make himself credible to the audience. The first time he does this in the text is in line one when he refers to the people of rome as his friends and countrymen. When he does this, he asks the people of rome to see him as a peer and trust what he says. He builds credibility again in the next line when he tells the audience that he has come to bury caesar, not praise him. After Brutus’ speech, the audience does not like caesar. In order to be able to make an argument, Antony must at first seem to agree with Brutus in order to build credibility with the audience. He does this more when he repeatedly says that Brutus is an honorable man. Antony builds his credibility yet again later in the speech when, in line 192, he refers to the conspirators as wise and honorable, saying that they must have reasons for committing such crimes, and telling the people not to
In his speech he uses the repetition of his sarcasm to make people think about what is really going on. While Antony is making the citizens of Rome think, they soon begin to catch on to his sarcasm. One thing Antony continuously repeats throughout his speech is how Brutus is an honorable man. Anotony would explain something Caesar did for the good of Rome and then say how even though Caesar did all this good, Brutus said he was ambitious, but Brutus is an honorable man. Antony mentions this about six times in his speech which lead citizens to question Brutus’s
After Brutus finishes his speech, Antony speaks about his opinion on the issue; unlike Brutus, Antony acts slyly and communicates a very manipulative tone to persuade the Romans to rebel. Because of Antony's use of parallelism, he creates vivid reasoning for his speech. He states, “ I come here to bury Caesar, not to praise him” (III.ii.44). By using this device, he shows the people of Rome that he isn't praising Caesar, he is putting the leader to rest. This particular line creates a very manipulative tone, because his speech is all about what great this Caesar has done and how he wants to rebel against the conspirators. Further more, Antony uses a lot of irony to slyly get his point across. One example that he uses throughout the speech is “Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, and Brutus is a honorable man” (III.ii.44). Because of the repitition of this ironic statement, the meaning of it changes and intensifies. At first, his tone was sincere, but as the speech progresses, you can see his sarcastic tone increases. Antony does this because he has to use this device to surpass the regulations of Brutus, as well as make the romans listen. Lastly, he uses personification to give life and further meaning to a word. Early in the speech, Antony says, “The evil
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