Brutus is willing for Antony to come so that Brutus can provide explanations. He naively believes that Antony will be convinced by reason and will be an ally.
This contrasts to Cassius as he thinks otherwise. He considers it foolish to let Antony speak at Caesar's funeral:
"you know not what you do; do not consent.
That Antony speak in his funeral.
Know you how much the people may be mov'd
By that which he will utter?"
This turns out to be ironic as that is exactly what happens.
Brutus delivers the speech to the people of Rome at The Forum. The citizens are demanding to know why Caesar was murdered. The opening of his speech is formal as he addresses them as "Romans". Brutus stands in the pulpit and has distanced himself from the citizens which makes him seem superior to them. Brutus begins to speak in the third person instead of second person address. He does however, make use of effective rhetorical questions:
"Caesar were living, and die all slaves,
than that Caesar were dead to live all
free men."
This explains what might have happened if Caesar had stayed in control and is the first of several effective rhetorical questions intended to pursuade.
Repetition is also used for reinforcement, as is the posing of questions:
"If any speak; for him have I offended.
Who is here so vile that will not love
His country? If any, speak; for him
have I offended. I pause for a reply."
The speech is written in prose, lacks emotion but is calm and controlled and also clarifies the reasons for the murder.
Brutus allows a pause for reflection, as the citizens were not very intelligent and could not digest to much information.
There is a dramatic effect when Antony enters carrying Caesar's body. With this Brutus is quick to tell the crowd. Antony had nothing to do with murder:
"here comes the body,
Mourned by Mark Antony; who, through
had no hand in his death,
Shall receive benefit"
Also Brutus adds Antony will benefit from Caesar's death and offers his own life of Romans request this, all of which is very persuasive.
After this the citizens cry:
"Live, Brutus! Live! Live!"
This shows the crowd are easily won over. With this Brutus requests the crowd pay their respects to Caesar by listening to Mark Antony which turns out to be a serious mistake!
As Brutus stood away from the crowd Antony stands amongst them. He speaks in blank verse appealing to emotion, rather than reason, which contrasts to Brutus' speech.
Antony opens on a more informal note than Brutus:
"Friends, Romans, Countrymen."
From the outset, he has a greater affinity with the crowd. With Brutus repetition is used for reinforcement of the word honourable. Antony does not want to offend the crowd as they all like Brutus and so he praises him.
True Romans had to have good reasons for their actions, so they would be respected. Brutus is very idealistic and must follow what he believes is a noble cause, yet his honourable decisions and actions bring disaster for himself and others. The issue of personal honour would capture the interests of Elizabethans, aware of the treacherous politics o their own time.
However Antony is trying to turn the citizens against Brutus:
"But here I am to speak what I do know."
These are simple, direct, forceful monosyllables Antony openly shows, emotion and has a deliberate pause:
"My heart is in the coffin there with
Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me."
Personally I think this is delayed to allow a period of reflection for the crowd, and the emotion clearly affects them:
"Poor soul! His eyes are red as fire with
weeping."
The citizens are fickle and have once again changed their mind, having pledged total support for Brutus moments earlier:
"There's not a nobler man in Rome
than Antony."
When Antony starts to speak again, he stirs the interest by mentioning, and showing as a visual aid, Caesar's will. He hints to the citizens they are to inherit, yet he withholds the information from them.
The crowd's reaction is predictable: they beg him to read it. The will also keeps the simple minded citizens interested.
He tells them to stay and uses powerful words and effective assonance when referring to the conspirators, "whose daggers have stabb'd Caesar."
Antony then walks near the body after asking the crowd for permission which makes them feel empowered. He then asks them to show Caesar some respect by encouraging them to shed tears.
Moving towards the corpse, Antony uses it as a visual aid, showing the individual stab wounds to the crowd, even though could not possibly know who has delivered each stab wound. He makes emphatic reference to the mark left by Brutus:
"This was the most unkindest cut of all."
Not surprisingly, this upsets the crowd and changes their opinion of Brutus: now, they want to kill him and all the other conspirators.
All the time Antony is also complimenting Caesar:
"Which all the while ran blood, great Caesar fell."
The emotive word "traitors" is at the end of this line for effect:
"here is himself, marr'd, as you see, with traitors."
Brutus tried to give reasons in his speech; Antony uses more influential methods!
When he eventually reads the will, the citizens are told they each have seventy five Drachmas and Caesar's' gardens to sit and walk through. With this, the citizens become angry and leave to go and burn Brutus' house down! This also highlights their lack of intelligence and fickle nature. Antony and Brutus are both opposed to what they regard as tyranny, each believing in the good of Rome and each resenting the abuse of power. Each is keen to gain support of the crowd, following Caesar's death, and each employs different techniques, as we have seen. There is a clear parallel with modern day politics! In Shakespeare's dramatic version of events, we witness the extent to which Brutus, the lofty, noble idealist, believes reasons will satisfy a crowd; he clearly underestimates the power and eloquence of shrewd Antony's funeral oration. Antony's exploitation of public emotion inevitably makes him the more successful of the two in gaining control. Just as Antony would have been aware of the impact of Caesar's bloody wounds on the Roman citizens, so Shakespeare would have been aware of the dramatic impact on Elizabethan who relished blood sports.
While the play in general reflects past historical events, Shakespeare's purpose as a dramatist in these scenes is to make a modern day audience identify with, and be entertained by, the actions and speeches of public figures embroiled in political debate.
