He knows that if Caesar was king he would let the power take him over and nobody would be able to stop Caesar if he went mad with power.
Brutus uses the repetition of 3 in his speech, as he asks 3 rhetorical questions.
“Had you rather Caesar living, and die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live all free men”
“Who is here so vile that will not love his country?”
“Here comes his body, mourned by Mark Antony:
who, though he had no hand in his death, shall
recive the benefit of his dying, a place in the
commonwealth; as which of you shall not?”
Brutus uses these questions to create an atmosphere that will automatically go his way. They bring effect to his speech because the crowd will obviously agree with him because nobody will want to stand out in the crowd by being the odd person out, saying something different. The crowd start to shout things back to Brutus when he asks these questions
“None, Brutus, none.”
When he asks them if any body does not love their country.
Brutus makes it clear to the crowd that he has given Mark Antony permission to make a speech about Caesar to the crowd.
“Do grace to Caesar’s corpse, and grace his speech
Tending to Caesar’s glories, which Mark Antony,
BY our permission, is allow’d to make.”
Brutus does this so that the crowd knows that he is fair and is not biased.
Brutus knows that when it is his turn to die for his country, he will. He has enough honour to do so and will not let any power take him over,
“With this I depart: that, as I slew my best lover for the good of Rome, I have the same dagger for myself, when it shall please my country to need my death.”
Brutus shows the crowd that he is noble with this last comment, he will do anything for his country and if he has to die for it, he will. He says that he will use the same dagger that he killed Caesar with to kill himself when the time comes. The crowd replies to Brutus in a very positive way by saying that they want him to live.
“Live, Brutus! live! live!”
Antony interrupts Brutus’ speech by bringing Caesars dead body out. This catches the attention of the crowd and suddenly, they are no longer listening to Brutus talking. When Mark Antony speaks, he is not allowed to blame the conspiracy for Caesars death, but he must only say good things. He must also say that he is saying his funeral speech by their permission, if he did not do this, he had not part in any thing and would not be able to speak.
“ Mark Antony, here, take you Caesar’s body.
You shall not in your funeral speech blame us,
But speak all good you can devise of Caesar,
And say you do’t by our permission”
Mark Antony does not at any point speak ill of any of the conspirators, but somehow manages to change the crowds mind about Brutus.
Mark Antony does not think that Caesar was ambitious; yet, he does not actually say to the crowd that he thinks this. Instead, he hints at the fact that Ceasar was not ambitious.
“The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious;
If it were so, it was a grievous fault.”
“But Brutus says that he was ambitious
And Brutus is an honourable man”
“He hath brought many captives home to Rome,
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious”
“When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept;
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:”
When he says these words, he sounds like he is in doubt about weather Caesar was ambitious or not, this shows that it might be true, or it might not be. He is not saying that Brutus is lying and is not saying anything bad.
Mark Antony also raises the fact that Caesar refused the crown three times, a man of ambition would have taken it the first time it was offered, so Caesar, was not an ambitious man.
Mark Antony uses the word
“honourable”
time and time again. The words
“And Brutus is an honourable man”
are also used a lot. This makes the crowd think twice about weather Brutus really is an honourable man because if he killed a man, then surely he cannot be honourable?
Mark Antony pauses half way through his speech to give the crowd time to think about what he has said. He turns around and seems to be crying whilst he is doing this and makes the crowd feel sorry for him, automatically making them turn against Brutus and the crowd start to warm to Mark Antony.
“There’s not a nobler man in Rome than Antony”
“Poor soul! his eyes are red as fire from weeping.”
They feel sorry for him because he has lost somebody that he loved, and that he has always been friends with.
Mark Antony produces a piece of parchment from inside his robes; he says that this is Caesars will. Antony keeps tempting the crowd with the ‘will’ so that they get more and more angry at Brutus and the rest of the conspiracy, but then brings them back to tell them what is written in the ‘will’, he does this several times before he finally tells the crowd what is written.
Antony descends into the crowd with Caesars body and puts it on the floor. He points out the wounds that the people in the conspiracy made.
“Look, in this place ran Cassius’ dagger through:
See what a rent the envious Casca made:
Through this the well-beloved Brutus stabb’d;
And, as he pluck’d his cursed steel away,
Mark how the blood of Caesar follow’d it”
This makes the crowd decide that the conspirators are traitors and that they will get revenge on them.
Mark Antony and Brutus are two very different characters. Brutus, is a very honest and noble man. He trusts people too easily and will not take other peoples advice when he is wrong. Although Brutus is a better speech maker than Mark Antony, he does not over power the crowd. This is because Antony uses a shock factor of bringing the body of Caesar out half way through Brutus’ speech.
Antony seems to be very clever in a sense that he knew how to get the crowd on his side again. Antony knows how to please a crowd and how to turn them, whereas Brutus is not as strong as Antony and does not have a powerful enough personality to lead a crowd.
