Another advantage for Mark Anthony, was speaking directly after Brutus’ speech. This helped Mark Anthony with his speech, for he was able to build upon his own speech with the aid of what Brutus had said before him. Also, every now and then, Mark Anthony stops speaking and pauses, looking as is if he is too sad to talk, when he is only trying to think of what to say next: (Page 134)
Mark Anthony: “…. My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.”
Anthony Addresses the crowd using a better technique than Brutus. He to them as Friends, Romans and Countrymen: (Page 132)
Mark Anthony: “Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears…”
As for Brutus, he addresses the crowd as Romans, Countrymen and
Lovers: (Page 128)
Brutus: “Romans, Countrymen, and Lovers, hear me for my cause, and
Be silent, that you may hear…..”
The importance between how the both of them started is very vital. Mark Anthony spoke to the crowd in a personal tone, which is what the crowd were after. As for Brutus, he spoke to the crowd about the importance of Rome, which the crowd did care about, but not as much. Brutus is calling the crowd patriots and Mark Anthony is calling them friends.
Once Brutus had got the crowd on his side he thought it would be much easier from there. He made a terrible mistake when leaving the crowd alone with Mark Anthony. He thought that there would be no way to get the crowd on his side, and that he was sure that he had succeeded. However, Brutus was mistaken. He also left Anthony because he trusted him a lot. It was a bad idea to leave him for he did not listen to what he had to say, so that if Mark Anthony said something against Brutus’ speech Brutus would be there to argue against it.
Mark Anthony persuaded the crowd by saying many rhetorical questions: (Page 138)
Mark Anthony: “Will you be patient? Will stay awile?”
These were persuasive for with the question, came an answer.
Mark Anthony also attempts to undermine Brutus by repeating this one phrase a lot, in an increasingly sarcastic way: (Page 134)
Mark Anthony:
“-For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men-“
When he repeats this, he hopes that the crowd will notice that Anthony is trying to point out that Brutus is wrong.
So all in all, both Brutus and Mark Anthony are effective speakers, but eventually Mark Anthony is the more effective one, for he stirs the plebeians up against Brutus. Brutus perhaps makes too many mistakes to be considered a good politician. Brutus speaks first which gives Mark Anthony an advantage.
