Following this, he uses a rhetorical question to make the crowd agree Caesar should have been killed. They have to agree; otherwise they would condemn themselves by saying they should be slaves. The way the question is structured is interesting, i.e. ‘were living – die – all slaves’ in opposite to ‘were dead – living – all free men’ (L.22-23) This balance makes the question sound logical. In the film version Marlon Brando uses gestures and body language to get his points across, and his expression is significantly earnest.
Appealing to the crowd’s sense of logic is quite a major tactic in Brutus’ speech. He uses parallel structure similar to a list, ‘loved me…weep for him’ ‘fortunate…rejoice at it’ ‘ambitious…slew him’ (L.23-24) This sounds logical, so the first three points mask the fact that ‘ambition…slew him’ is not logical, i.e. Caesar’s ambition alone was not a ground for his death.
In the same way, Brutus lists Caesar’s traits again to emphasise this, ‘tears…love’ ‘honour…valour’ ‘death…ambition’ (L.25-26) He repeats the word ambition to make it sound like the thing that made Caesar’s death inevitable. Also, this structure mimics the sentence before it, to reinforce his inevitable downfall. Brutus cleverly uses repetition although it is not obvious, i.e. tears and weep, rejoice and joy, valiant and valour.
Brutus asks certain rhetorical questions to ensue the crowd’s support. He uses alliteration such as ‘base, bondman’ and ‘rude, Roman’ (L.27-29) to make the words sound harsher, and the way he ‘pauses’ for their reply gives them the impression that he actually cares about their opinions. As it is, they cannot argue or disagree with him, so their answer can only be ‘none, Brutus, none’ (L.32) In the film version, however, he does not sound caring – the questions are put in a rather forceful way, so Joseph Mankiewicz maybe interpreted it as Brutus is daring the crowd to answer him.
It is interesting that Brutus starts to refer to himself in third person, ‘than you shall do to Brutus’ (L.33-34) Here he is acting as arrogantly as Caesar, although it suggests to the crowd that he is, after all, above them, almost like a leader figure. This is also evident when he refers to Rome as ‘my country’ (L.43)
Although Antony has cut Brutus off in his speech, Brutus does subtly imply that Antony is in the wrong, that he has no reason to mourn as he ‘shall receive the benefit of his dying’ (L.39-40) (a place in the commonwealth) This is belittling to Antony so it could give the crowd the impression that he is foolish (this being one interpretation.) In the film Antony’s entrance is quite dramatic, with him silently appearing with the corpse. It is quite shocking – and the crowd is shocked too, as several people scream and gasp. I think Joseph Mankiewicz wanted it to seem as if Brutus had been directly cut-off.
Brutus is being very dramatic when he declares he would kill himself, ‘when it pleases my country to need my death’ (L.42-43) It is all for effect, and Joseph Mankiewicz adds to this as in the film Brutus actually draws out his dagger for all to see. This shocks the crowd, but it could also be a way of regaining their attention.
Brutus uses the phrase ‘for the good of Rome’ (L.41-42) to remind the crowd this was the reason for Caesar’s death. The words ‘slew (L41) and ‘death’ (L.43) are repeated when Brutus is talking about himself, perhaps to shock the crowd that he would meet the same terrible fate as Caesar.
When Brutus has finished speaking, the citizens comments are quite ironic. Contrary to have been listening intently to his carefully calculated arguments, they are requesting that he ‘be Caesar’ (L.47) This is ironic because Brutus has killed Caesar because he didn’t want a dictatorship to arise, so the crowd have only been swayed by his manner of speaking, not what he has actually said.
Antony greets the crowds in a similar way to Brutus. The fact that he addresses them as ‘friends’ (L.70) first shows his main goal is to make the crowd feel he is coming to them as a friend, not as a person trying to gain power.
As Antony aims to build up the crowd’s trust gradually, his first point is to make clear he comes to ‘bury Caesar, not to praise him’ (L.71). The word ‘bury’ makes it sound as though he wants nothing more than a dignified funeral for Caesar. He makes no implications that he wants to do anything else at this point.
The first time Antony compliments Brutus as ‘noble’ (L.74) he sounds sincere, but he also manages to unsettle Brutus’ firm accusations of Caesar being ambitious by saying ‘if it were so’ (L.76) The ‘if’ implies that Brutus could be wrong in calling Caesar ambitious.
By repeating ‘grievous’, Antony strikes a balance between Caesar’s crime of being ambitious, and the price with which he ‘answered it’ (L.77) i.e. death. Therefore he is neither for nor against what Brutus has said at this point; he is merely stating fact. Which will help to gain the crowd’s trust. Marlon Brando uses the ‘hand over heart’ gesture in the film when he mentions Caesar was ‘ambitious’ so it seems he is showing that he doesn’t agree with this claim at all.
Antony flatters Brutus and the conspirators by calling them ‘honourable’ (L.79) By using repetition of ‘all’, he makes what he is saying sound earnest and genuine. Just the fact that he repeats it so many times makes it sound sarcastic, yet technically Brutus hasn’t said anything against the conspirators. This is a clever tactic, as the repetition makes it clear that the conspirators were not honourable at all. Just this one word is enough to mock Brutus, although Antony claims he speaks not to ‘disprove what Brutus spoke’ (L.97) Obviously this is ironic, as this is exactly what he is doing!
Unlike Brutus, who made outright claims against Caesar, Antony uses examples as evidence, which cannot be argued against, especially as they are things the crowd has witnessed, ‘thrice presented him a kingly crown’ (L.93) The emphasis on the word ‘thrice’ makes it seen more impressive.
As Antony appeals to the crowd’s sympathy, he also manages to make them feel guilty too. By asking them ‘what cause withholds you to mourn for him?’ (L.100) This rhetorical question is effective because the citizens really don’t have an answer. They cannot repeat anything Brutus told them, as he gave them no reason why they should not mourn Caesar.
He also makes appeals to their judgement, but more importantly, their emotions. By pausing, he gives the impression that this sadness is all too much for him, and he influences the people to feel the same. This is not the first time he has used dramatics – entering with the body, stating that his heart is still with the body and now ‘weeping’ to ‘reflect’ are all dramatic effects. However, it is possible that he has only paused to think of what to say next. The Elizabethan audience may have seen what his real expression was, as we did in the film – Antony looked angry and determined rather than upset.
The citizen’s comments after this show they are fickle, but it is interesting that we can tell by ‘marked ye his words’ (L.108) that they have actually listened to Antony; they did not to Brutus. Also they are able to make judgements from what they have heard already.
It is quite ominous when Antony mentions the words ‘mutiny’ and rage’ (L.119) The crowd won’t realise this, but it is ironic they way he puts it, as if stirring the hearts of the crowd to mutiny would be a bad thing, when actually this is what he wants.
Caesar’s will helps Antony in his argument – but it is the way he talks about it that makes it effective. ‘pardon me, I do not mean to read’ (L.128) is using reverse psychology to some extent – the crowd will want to hear anything that is not meant to be read, and Antony uses this to build tension. Saying he ‘must’ (L.137) not read it is more effective than ‘will’ not as it makes it seem more secret and forbidden. The fact that he has ‘o’ershot’ (L.147) makes it more intriguing for the crowd, as it gives the impression they can get more information out him. He has o’ershot by telling they are Caesar’s heirs. He is tantalising them.
Having the crowd actively stand around the body is another dramatic effect. ‘Tears, shed them now’ (L.166) is an appeal to the crowd’s pity. Asking them to prepare to shed them in this way actually makes the crowd believe what they will see and hear next is going to evoke tears.
By using harsh, powerful imagery Antony can provoke shock and sympathy. Certain words such as ‘rent’, ‘stabbed’ and ‘cursed’ (L.172-4) actually create pictures in the citizens minds before they have even seen the body. The twist of Brutus being Caesar’s ‘angel’ (L.178) is bitterly ironic – the people cannot deny that someone who mutilated Caesar like this could ever be his angel.
‘Most unkindest’ (L.180) may be grammatically incorrect, but it puts emphasis on Brutus’ unkindness, so Antony has deliberately used it. He makes the murder sound very brutal and horrible, especially when describing the blood. The sort of language he uses builds the crowd up to see something horrible when he unveils the body, so it doesn’t really matter what they actually see. It is evident that this has worked in the film – the crowd gasp horribly when they mantle is lifted.
Antony uses the clever tactic of comparing himself to the ‘orator as Brutus is’ (L.214) Contrary to making himself look bad, it actually implies that Brutus is the one who has calculated his speech, who has led the people on. Antony, in comparison, looks genuine, ‘I only speak right on’ (L.220). He uses alliteration ‘wit, nor words, nor worth’ (L.218) to make it sound as if he has nothing over the wise Brutus. By using opposites, ‘But I were Brutus’ (L.223) he achieves the desired effect of the citizens being stirred to a rage.
The repetition of ‘poor’ (L.222) when describing Caesar’s wounds evokes pity once again, as well as Antony’s use of metaphors, i.e. referring to the wounds as ‘dumb mouths’. They make Caesar seem exposed and unguarded.
Drawing out the part of the will that will concern the crowd most, Antony appeals to their sense of greed, ‘seventy-five drachmas’ (L.240) Antony knows this will incite the citizens into a mutiny. In the film Antony cleverly holds the will freely and points it at the citizens – the closeness of it will make them more desperate to hear what it says. He mentions the money first as this will be what they are most eager to hear, then other things such as ‘his private arbours’ and ‘common pleasures’ (L.246-8) After hearing this, they storm off ready to revenge the conspirators.
I think Antony’s speech is more successful, as he achieves his goal – to stir the crowd to mutiny. There are many reasons why his speech was most successful, but I think the main one was that he appealed to emotion. Brutus tended to sound arrogant in his speech, and although it swayed the crowd temporarily, it was nothing over Antony. Brutus’ main appeal was to the crowd’s sense of logic, but he did not have any evidence. Antony used real-life examples of Caesar so the crowd had something to relate to. He also manipulated the crowd’s emotion well – he made them feel sad, angry, guilty and pitiful. This could be why his speech was more engaging than Brutus’. Although it was longer, he involved the crowd more, and it worked as they actually listened to him.
Both characters had a different style of speech. Brutus sounded quite forceful and he almost told the crowd what to think. Antony was clever in that he used what Brutus had said to turn it against him, having the advantage of getting to speak second. He also used lots of dramatic effects, imagery and metaphors to win the crowd over. I think one of the best things he had to use was Caesar’s will. This was almost like a ‘secret weapon’. He knew the crowd would want to hear about anything in their best interests, so he used it in the best way possible. Whether or not there really were seventy-five drachmas for each person we don’t know. Brutus didn’t have anything to use, such as the body or the will. He could only talk about Caesar’s death and his own reputation of being ‘honourable’.
I also noticed that Brutus didn’t use any personal touches in his speech, so the crowd probably didn’t have anything to relate to. Ironically, he called them his ‘friends’ but he didn’t really speak with the crowd on a personal level, as Antony did. Neither did he insult or belittle Antony at all; he only encouraged the crowd to listen to him. He obviously didn’t know what Antony was going to do – whereas Antony had the advantage of having the time to plan what he was going to say after he had heard Brutus. He knew just how to manipulate the crowd, one of his best tactics being the use of the word ‘honourable’.
In my opinion, Brutus is the hero of the play. He is certainly the tragic hero – his mistakes in the play definitely affected its course, such as it being his fault Antony was kept alive in the first place: ‘let us be sacrificers, but not butchers’ (2:1:166) It was also through his misjudgement that Antony got to speak at the funeral – Brutus trusted him too much: ‘you shall not in your funeral speech blame us’ (3:1:245) Ironic as this is exactly what he did.
I think he is the hero because his mistakes lead to his downfall, though the words Antony says at the end of the play ‘restore’ everything at the end such as: ‘this was the noblest Roman of them all’ (5:5:68) Also, it is the fact that he genuinely thinks is doing the right thing to kill Caesar. The other conspirators were more interested in plotting the murder, but Brutus did manage to do something for the good of Rome. Ultimately, he was an honourable man; his only flaw his pride and tendency to be too trusting.
