When he says ‘I did love thee Caesar’ he faces the corpse and his words are uttered with intensity and sincerity, which reflects his loyalty to Caesar. He suggests to the audience his mixed feelings because he says ‘if then thy spirit look upon us now, shall it not grieve thee dearer than thy death’ Even Cassius is confused by Antony’s acting because when he asks ‘shall we on, and not depend on you?’ Mark Antony replies ‘That you shall give me reasons why and wherein Caesar was dangerous.’ He is implying that they have to give him proof that Caesar was indeed becoming a tyrant. He asks if he can speak at Caesar’s funeral.
At this point in the play Cassius suspects that Mark Antony can alter the people’s opinions about the death of Caesar. Brutus nevertheless agrees to Mark Antony’s request. Antony stares in contempt at the conspirators as they leave. The following soliloquy is important because this gives Mark Antony the chance to reveal his true feelings about what has happened. The actor will take centre stage, face the audience and the lights will dim except for the spotlight on Mark Antony’s face. The actor addresses Caesar’s dead body ‘O pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth’ which are strong words to begin a speech which is full of remorse and anger at how he has behaved towards the conspirators. Antony should walk around the stage clenching his fists in determination. The actor should be furious and really emphasise the word ‘butchers’ then gnash his teeth trying to keep himself in control. He shouts these words to show his anger and uses a prophecy ‘ A curse shall light upon the limbs of men’ to reflect his helplessness at not having been there to protect Caesar.
Act 3 scene 2 is one of the highlights of the play. It follows the climax of Caesar’s death, and a great amount of tension builds up as the crowd waits to find out if the conspirators, led by Brutus, succeed in their cause, or if they are punished for their crime. The main threat to the conspirators after Caesar’s death is Antony, a very loyal friend of Caesar’s. Brutus speaks first at the funeral and gives his reasons why Caesar had to be murdered ‘ not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.’ Brutus has won the support of the crowd ‘ Live, Brutus! live! live!’ which was his intent to begin with. Antony must convince the crowd that Caesar was not too ambitious, which was Brutus’ argument for killing Caesar, but he must accomplish this indirectly. Antony is very clever in his speech, he knows he must engage the crowd’s opinion and he does this by aiming his speech at the people’s hearts not their heads. As Antony is a strong Roman soldier, he should come in his armour. The famous words ‘ Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears’ should be said slowly in a loud, deep masculine voice to show his power. Antony says ‘I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.’ This is a clever phrase as if he starts to criticise Brutus in an aggressive way, the crowd would not be likely to respond in his favour. ‘Brutus is an honourable man, so are they all, all honourable men’ this should be said in sincerity and the crowd should agree. Now Antony says ‘He hath brought many captives home to Rome’ followed by ‘But Brutus says he was ambitious And Brutus is an honourable man.’ This implies that Brutus was wrong, Antony is being ironic and it should be said in a respectful, persuading tone, as this is his first reason. ‘When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept; ambition should be made of sterner stuff.’ This is Antony’s second reason, and should be said in a questioning tone because he is trying to get the people to see how valid Brutus’ claims are to kill Caesar; he is not trying to attack Brutus directly but uses irony and subtleness to make the crowd turn against Brutus. The use of repetition until the words ’honourable and ambitious’ are connected with Caesar and Brutus but are swapped around until they are meaningless or seemingly the word ambitious is linked to Brutus and honourable is linked to Caesar. ’Yet Brutus says he was ambitious and sure, he is an honourable man (meaning Caesar) Perhaps he is also simply being sarcastic.
Antony ask the audience ‘what cause witholds you then to mourn for him?’ The use of rhetorical questions allows time for Mark Antony to persuade them that he is loyal ‘My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, And I must pause till it come back to me.’ When this last line is spoken by Antony he should appear overcome with emotion and perhaps wipe a tear from his eye. The citizens then talk amongst themselves about Antony’s emotional speech.
Antony then talks about the conspirators and calls the citizens ‘masters’, which implies that they control his fate and yet he emphasises the words ‘honourable’ again in connection with them but surprisingly, then produces the will of Caesar. He teases his audience with it saying ‘I must not read it’ but then goes on to paraphrase it saying that ‘Caesar lov’d you’ but if you hear it ‘it will inflame you, it will make you mad’. The actor should say these words dramatically knowing full well that the audience (citizens) will want to know the contents and Antony understands it will arouse the crowd. He admits he should not have told them but straight away links ‘honourable men’ to ‘those daggers have stabbed Caesar.’
Antony then changes his tone and becomes sentimental and reminisces about Caesar’s past using Brutus’ stab wounds as the chief reason for Caesar’s death. ‘For when the noble Caesar saw him stab ingratitude...Quite vanquish’d him: then burst his mighty heart.’ The actor would appear tearful and overcome with emotion in the first part of the speech. Here finally Antony tells the truth about Brutus and his betrayal. The words the citizens say echoes, first fears, and then revenge on the traitors. But in this case Antony calms them ‘let me not stir you up’ first and then seems to lack confidence saying ‘I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth…to stir men’s blood’ but the imagery of the words he uses to say were that he Brutus and then he Antony ‘would ruffle up your spirits and put a tongue in every wound of Caesar.’ At this stage the actor would use his hands to point to the crowd to encourage them to respond to the rousing words ‘to rise and mutiny.’ This last line would be shouted in triumph.
When he has finished this powerful speech and is left on the stage alone Antony says: -
‘Now let it work: mischief, thou art afoot, take thou what course thou wilt!’
The actor portraying Antony should smile in a self satisfied way. He is totally aware of the affect this speech had and knows that he has won the hearts of the people.
