Critical Analysis of Mark Antony’s Funeral Speech Essay

Of all Shakespeargons works , Julius Caesar is a play that hinges upon blandishment both as the art of persuasion and an artifice officed to veil intent. The near striking of Shakespeare is his command of language. In Mark Antonys funeral utterance for Caesar, we switch not only one of Shakespeares most recognizable opening spots hardly one of his finest examples of rhetorical irony at work. The manner of saying could serve as a thematic synopsis to Julius Caesar. One of the most great and significant parts in the play is the funeral linguistic communication addicted by both Brutus and Mark Antony.At origin, the funeral rowes seem to start no true significant meaning. How ever so in further investigation it is conventional that the speeches in the end serve as the basis for the final outcome of the play. By exploring the speeches of both Brutus and Mark Antony we are able to focus on the important details which alter one from the other. Through this analysis we are withal able to realize why Brutuss speech becomes one of his justifications and explanations, term Antonys becomes one of manipulation and sk spastic. It is cognize that both Brutus and Antony desired to supplication to the common plenty.However, the way in which each man went about it differs drastically. not only did it influence the outcome of the play, only if each speech in any case offers a unique perspicacity on each of the speakers. Brutuss speech Brutuss speech becomes one of acquittal, not only for the people of Rome, but for Brutus himself. He uses his honor and nobility as a shield to view as and justify his actions to the clustering. Brutus states that he has carried out this horrendous act because of his delight for Rome, and for the salutary of the people.This is my answer, not that I fox loved Caesar less, but that I love Rome more (3. 2. 21-22). In his speech he requests that the people use their reason to judge him. Although this seduces the concour se, it is not until after one of the common people cry Let him be Caesar. (3. 2. 51) that it is realized the speech is merely overly straightforward for them. Brutus arrays to realize that liberty is not what the people wanted, but quite an that they desire a powerful leader. Although his speech serves the purpose for its practical effectiveness, Brutus afterward comes to discover that his lack of insight of gay nature aided in the apparent hopelessness of his cause.In comparison Mark Antony fully understands human nature and uses his awareness of it in his speech. Antony appeals to the passion and the grief of the people. What Brutus failed to recognize in the people, Antony used to his best inte end. He realized that the people of Rome were tout ensemble incapable of acting with reason and he employed this inability to set and control their emotions and actions. By using Brutus own explanations for Caesars death to begin his speech, Antony proves his validity to the gang .By headspringing Caesars ambition, yet neer truly humiliating the conspirators He succeeds in purposely lea blareg the crowd apart from any rational defense provided by Brutus. Antony uses his own grief along with a series of lies to remove the sympathy of the people. Through his powerful and true speech he is able to cast a shadow of query into the minds of the people, and the crowd begins to gaze at the true motive behind Caesars murder. Antony understands the needs and wants of the people and uses this to prey upon their emotions and passions.He dangles Caesars Will in front of the people and thusly quickly puts it away again, knowing that the crowd will demand that it be read. Antony also recalls memories of the cloak Caesar now wears, tour revealing his bloodied body, fully aware of the havoc it will reek, but gruesome in his quest for revenge. Antonys Speech Antonys performance on the bully pulpit came as no surprise. To be sure, Antony does not form it easy. He is already a man distrusted by the conspirators for his friendship with Caesar.Brutus lets him speak at Caesars funeral, but only after Brutus,a great public speaker in his own right, has spoken first to show the reason of our Caesars death. Burtus makes it very clear that Antony may speak whatever good he wishes of Caesar so long as he speaks no ill of the conspirators. Obviously Antony has two advantages over Burtus his subterfuge and his chance to have the fail word. It is safe to say that Antony makes the most of his opportunity. He even mocks the senators and merely sets the card for dissent. He progressively hits upon the notes of ambition and honourable in a musical bout that soon calls both terms into question.Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears From a rhythmic perspective, the trochaic feel of this opening immediately commands attention. The succession of hard stresses is also Shakespeares way of using the verse to help Antony cut through the din of the crowd. A ntonoy also echoes the opening line that Brutus uses Romans, countrymen and lovers,but conspicuously rearranges it where Brutus begins with Romans to reflect his appeal to their reason, Antony begins with friends, which reflects the more emotional tact he will take passim the rest of his speech.Remember also that Antony has entered the Forum with Caesars body in pull and will use corpse as a prop throughout his oration. Antony follows with a line of straight iambic pentameter punctuated with a feminine last I come to bury Caesar, not to panegyric him. Here is the first irony of Antonys speech, in that he is unequivocally here to praise Caesar. Antony is, in fact, lying. Come I to speak in Caesars funeral,Antony returns to the real(a) predicate of his statement with innocuous metrical regularity. The line is all but a throway Antony doesnt want the crowd dwelling on the base that he is speaking here by permission.The preceding parenthetical interpolation of Brutus and the res t being honourable men displace his emphasis and lessens the pestle that Brutus holds sway over him. In doing so, Antony effectively obeys the letter of his agreement without yielding to its spirit. But Brutus says he was intriguing Antony contrasts his experience with what Brutus has said. The obvious implication is that Brutus and Antony have different views of Caesar. The more subtle implication is that since both men have claimed him as their friend, they have equal authority to speak on the assailable of Caesars disposition.Antony, however, has the advantage of not needing to justify his actions. Instead, Antony can focus on sawing the limb out from under Brutuss argument. And Brutus is an honourable man. At this point, Antony is subdued ostensibly speaking well of Brutusat least to the crowd. A plebian energy think that at worst, perhaps, either Antony or Brutus has made an honest slip in his judgment of Caesar. On the other hand, the words says, ambitious, and honourab le are becoming impossible to miss. Yet Brutus says he was ambitious This is the third sequence in this speech that Antony utters this refrain.Every quantify he says this, it draws Brutus in an progressively harsher light. The recurring repetition amplifies the question in the mind of the audience, There is a rather obscure rhetorical term for this technique its known as repotia, which describes using the same phrase with minor variations in tone, diction, or style. My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, The regular iambic rhythm of the line and the feminine ending both help soften this lines tone, which contrasts the high fervor of O judgment Its a simple metaphor that holds up well four centuries later.To Antonys credit, the image is grounded in his love for Caesar its also quite telling of the purpose that hes able to use this emotion in such(prenominal) a cynical enterprise. Throughout his speech Antony calls the conspirators honorable men. He then says, You the cro wd all did love him once, not without cause. What cause withholds you then to mourn for him? This question goes against Brutus by questioning his speech when he betrayed Caesar. Now the crowd is startle to turn against the conspirators and follow Antony.Even though in his speech Antony never directly calls the conspirators traitors, he is able to call them honourable in a sarcastic manner that the crowd is able to understand. He starts out by citing that Caesar had thrice refused the crown, which refutes the conspirators main cause for killing Caesar. He reminds them of Caesars graciousness and love for all, humanizing Caesar as innocent. Next he teases them with the will until they demand he read it, and he reveals Caesars gift to the citizens. Finally, Mark Antony leaves them with the question, was there ever a greater one than Caesar? which infuriates the crowd. He then turns and weeps.Antony then teases the crowd with Caesars will, which they beg him to read, but he refuses. Antony tells the crowd to have longanimity and expresses his feeling that he will wrong the honourable men whose daggers have stabbed Caesar if he is to read the will. The crowd yells out they were traitors and have at this time completely turned against the conspirators and are inflamed about Caesars death. Antony uses the ceremonial mode of persuasion in localize to convince his audience that Caesar is not worthy of honor and praise.Antony moldiness use pathos in order to appeal to the emotion of the audience. He must understand the disposition of the audience in order to successfully persuade his audience that Caesar truly was an ambitious man. Bear with me / my heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, / And I must pause till it come back to me. (JC III ii 47) Marc Antonys speech at Caesars funeral was so cunning and powerful that it caused the crowds loyalties to sway. Prior to Marc Antonys oration the crowd favored Brutus and the conspirators.However, Marc Antonys compell ing discourse caused the plebeians to support him, and not Brutus. Marc Antony used three literary devices during his funeral oration, rhetorical question, sarcasm, and repetition, to successfully persuade the crowd. Although the crowd was supportive of the conspirators after Brutuss speech, Marc Antonys use of sarcasm in his funeral oration caused them to rethink who they should support. final stage Although both of Caesars funeral speeches seem to serve the basic purpose of harmonic to the people, their dissimilarity serves as a great significance.Brutus speech, which appeared to be, honest becomes a speech of symmetrical structure, balanced sentences, ordered procedure, rhetorical questions and abstract subject matter, and ultimately became a speech of utter dishonesty. This along with Brutus lack of human insight aided in his inevitable downfall. Mark Antonys speech on the other hand, for all its playing on passions and all its lies, proved to be at the bottom a truly honest s peech because of Antonys unconditional love for Caesar. To that extent Antony had truth on his side, making him cover and real rather then abstract, and with this aided in his successful victory.