“Friends, Romans, countrymen” (IIIii75)
This shows that he sees them (or claims to) first as friends but not just friends, as equals. This is important because in his speech he calls Caesar his friend, in other words equal to him and so the crowd on stage will see Caesar as equal to them. The spectators in the audience will be able to see this and conclude that Anthony understands the crowd better. In just the first few words of each speech we can see Shakespeare’s excellent deployment of language. In just a few words he can shape an entire speech and mould the views of a whole audience.
The endings of the two speeches are also similar in that both finish with a pause. There is a major difference, however, in the purpose and effect of the pause Brutus makes in comparison to the one Anthony makes. Brutus says that he pauses for a reply but in reality, it is impossible for there to be a reply. He has asked questions like,
“Who here is so rude that would not be a Roman?” (IIIii30)
No one is going to actually stand up and say “I don’t want to be a Roman”. So really the crowd are agreeing with Brutus because otherwise they will seem disloyal. They are being forced to agree. Anthony pauses for a different reason,
“My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar and I must pause till it comes back to me.”(IIIii108-109)
He is putting on a big display of emotion for the benefit of the crowd. The crowd feel for Anthony and not only that, they think that if Caesar could inspire such emotion from a man then he must have been a good man. As a result, the crowd agree with Anthony and the big difference is that they are agreeing with him out of choice and so they are more likely to stick with Anthony than Brutus, who forced them to agree.
Both Brutus and Anthony speak of Caesar’s honour and how much they loved him. However in Brutus’s speech he then speaks of Caesar’s ambition. He says that he loved Caesar but he loved Rome more,
“Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.”(IIIii23)
In this way Shakespeare and so Brutus manages to stir the crowd. They are all Romans and so when Brutus talks of his love for Rome being greater than his love for Caesar, the crowd (on stage) feel that he loves them more than he loved Caesar and are moved to him. Consequentially, the language Shakespeare uses here also moves the crowd watching the play. They feel he has killed Caesar for the good of Rome and even if they know that it was not for the good of Rome, the language employed has an effect so they feel that Brutus thought he was doing the right thing and so are moved to him.
Anthony’s speech is similar in the way that he expresses his love for Caesar but his speech is much cleverer than Brutus’. He does not say that his love for Rome is greater than his love for Caesar or visa versa, his love for Rome and Caesar is equal and so the on stage crowd would feel that he loves them just as much as he loved Caesar. In this way he is making a triangle between Caesar, Rome and the crowd. They are all interconnected and because of this Anthony articulates that they should love Caesar as they once did. This is contrasted with Brutus’ speech where he says that he had to make a choice between Caesar and Rome but Anthony says that he didn’t need to make a choice because Caesar was an honourable man whose intentions were pure.
Shakespeare’s language here at first convinces both crowds that Brutus was right, one for the many, but when Anthony speaks we see that killing Caesar was unnecessary and so this language influences both crowds to negative opinions about Brutus and his sense of reason.
Brutus’ speech and his defence of Caesar’s death, relies heavily on Caesar’s ambition and why it was a bad thing. He knows that if the crowd do not think that Caesar’s ambition would have led to tyranny, then he will be charged with murder and killed. That is why he stresses it so much and at the end of the speech he compounds his sentiment by making anyone who is still unsure of Caesar’s danger feel guilty. In particular he uses these words,
“Who is here so vile that will not love his country?”(IIIii32-33)
By saying this, the crowd (on stage) will feel guilty that if they don’t agree with Brutus then they don’t love Rome. Even if they don’t, that is how they would be regarded if they voiced their opinions.
Brutus is a demagogue. He knows how to use the right language to rouse the crowd so that he will have their full support. However, as I mentioned before, Brutus does not understand the crowd in the same way as Anthony. Yes, he rouses the crowd but because he uses abstract language, the crowd do not understand his sentiments.
“Have respect to mine honour, that you may believe: censure me in your wisdom, and awake your senses, that you may the better judge.”(IIIii12-15)
These are simple people and Brutus is trying to talk to them about concepts like respect, honour, wisdom and judgement. They do not understand this and so whilst he may gain their temporary support, they will immediately pledge that support to the next eloquent speaker. Anthony on the other hand talks to the crowd using terms that they can understand, concrete language.
“He was my friend, faithful and just to me” (IIIii87)
The crowd understand concepts such as being faithful and loyalty. This tags on to the idea mentioned before of the crowd, Anthony and Caesar all being equal. If they see Caesar as equal then it is as if he is one of them and so they are likely to be more favourable to him. The crowd are already forgetting their support for Brutus and will be likely to join a war to avenge Caesar. This is another example of how Anthony’s understanding of the crowd’s psychology surpasses Brutus’.
The aim of the different types of language here is so that the audience watching the play can understand how simple the crowd are. They can only understand something if it is put to them in practical terms.
The main difference between the two speeches is in the understanding of the crowd’s psychology. All these points that I have mentioned where Brutus went wrong, they could all have been averted if Brutus would have understood how to work the crowd. He was speaking to them in terms beyond their comprehension and so failed to get his point of view across. This becomes obvious on a number of occasions,
Fourth Cit: “Caesar’s better parts shall be crown’d in Brutus.”(IIIii53-54)
Brutus has just said that he killed Caesar because he wanted to be crowned and the crowd now want to crown Brutus.
That is just the point that Shakespeare is trying to get across. The crowd are ignorant and fickle and Shakespeare is trying to tell us this because it is so crucial later on in the play. That is what Shakespeare is trying to achieve in these two speeches.
