The art of persuasion as revealed through Marc Antony’s speech in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.
The art of persuasion as revealed through Marc Antony's speech in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.
In Act III scene 2 of the play Julius Caesar, Marc Antony delivers a powerful speech to the citizens who have assembled in the Forum after the assassination of his friend, Julius Caesar. The citizens have just finished listening to a speech by Brutus in which he has tried to justify the killing of Caesar, explaining that Caesar was too ambitious and had to die for the good of Rome. Brutus succeeds in persuading the crowds, who are ready to
"Let him be Caesar" (l. 43)
Marc Antony successfully sets out to defend Caesar against the accusation of ambition and to turn the crowd against Brutus and the conspirators by a very skillfully constructed and manipulative speech.
Marc Antony immediately captures the hostile crowd's attention, using tone and visual effects. He walks in carrying Caesar's body, making a very dramatic entrance. Then he starts to speak, using words that can only be uttered in a soft tone:
"You gentle Romans",
and the result is that it is not he but the citizens who are telling each other to be quiet so they can hear what he has to say. He addresses them as friends (l. 65), careful not to antagonise them.
Throughout his speech Marc Antony uses irony to convey to the crowds the complete opposite to the actual words he uses. He combines the irony with repetition, thereby creating a feeling of swelling emotion and increasing sense of injustice at what has been done. This is especially evident in Marc Antony's repeated use of the word 'honourable' and the phrase
"And Brutus is an honourable man"
and referring to the conspirators as "honourable men" throughout his speech, thereby raising increasing doubts in the minds of the citizens. He balances the repetition of this phrase with something ...
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Throughout his speech Marc Antony uses irony to convey to the crowds the complete opposite to the actual words he uses. He combines the irony with repetition, thereby creating a feeling of swelling emotion and increasing sense of injustice at what has been done. This is especially evident in Marc Antony's repeated use of the word 'honourable' and the phrase
"And Brutus is an honourable man"
and referring to the conspirators as "honourable men" throughout his speech, thereby raising increasing doubts in the minds of the citizens. He balances the repetition of this phrase with something positive about Caesar or something negative about his death. An example of this is when Marc Antony says:
"He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man." (ll. 76-78)
At the very end of the speech, the irony is used to maximum effect when Marc Antony portrays himself as Brutus' inferior in oratory:
"I come not, friends, to steal away your hearts.
I am no orator, as Brutus is,
But - as you know me all - a plain blunt man..." (ll. 206-208),
Marc Antony tells the crowd, that if he and Brutus traded places, Brutus would speak so skillfully that it
"Would ruffle up your spirits and put a tongue
In every wound of Caesar, that should move
The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny." (ll. 218-220)
As intended, the crowd immediately seizes upon that last word 'mutiny':
"We'll mutiny." (l.221),
and it almost seems as if Brutus himself has incited the crowd to riot, and not Marc Antony, a real stroke of rhetorical genius!
In order to show Caesar as a generous and humble leader, Marc Antony asks the crowd rhetorical questions reminding them of these qualities, at the same time making them feel guilty for their ingratitude. For example:
"He hath brought many captives home to Rome,
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill;
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?" (ll. 80-82)
and
"I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition?" (ll.87-89)
He asks the people if they consider this ambitious, obviously implying it was not, because Caesar's deeds were for the good of Rome, not for Caesar himself.
Marc Antony uses the dramatic pause very skillfully when he breaks into tears and tells the audience, using an evocative and powerful metaphor:
"...Bear with me,
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me." (ll. 97-99)
He thereby allows time for his words to sink in and for the citizens to start talking among themselves, voicing their doubts about whether Caesar was in fact ambitious and expressing their sympathies with Marc Antony.
The words that Marc Antony uses throughout his speech are cleverly chosen to influence the crowd: he refers to Caesar's "sacred blood" (l. 125), implying that the idea of Caesar as emperor (and therefore a deity) was correct. Brutus stabbed Caesar and withdrew his "cursèd steel..."(l. 168), words that reinforce the idea that Brutus has committed sacrilege by murdering Caesar. The death of Caesar amounted to "bloody treason" (l. 183).
Marc Antony continues to build up the dramatic tension and suspense using visual effects by showing the crowds the scroll containing Caesar's will and hinting that if they knew its contents,
"...they would go and kiss dead Caesar's wounds
And dip their napkins in his sacred blood,
Yea, beg a hair of him for memory,
And, dying, mention it within their wills,
Bequeathing it as a rich legacy
Unto their issue." (ll. 124-129)
Without actually revealing the will's contents yet, Marc Antony has now succeeded in totally winning the crowd over to his side when he persuades them to form a ritualistic circle around Caesar's body. He continues to reinforce his words visually showing them Caesar's cloak, pointing to the holes and graphically linking each hole to the stab by a conspirator:
"Look, in this place ran Cassius' dagger through;
See what a rent the envious Casca made;
Through this the well-belovèd Brutus stabbed..." (ll. 165-167)
The mob has already started to leave to mutiny and
"burn the house of Brutus." (l. 223),
when Marc Antony calls them back and reveals how generous Caesar has been to the public in his will.
Marc Antony's goal has been achieved. The crowd is totally on his side and on the
rampage. Marc Antony comments to himself with satisfaction:
"Now let it work. Mischief, thou art afoot,
Take thou what course thou wilt." (ll. 250-251)
Emily Giles, 11T
