Compare and contrast the speeches made by Brutus and Antony over the body of Caesar.

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Alex Haffner        Coursework

Compare and contrast the speeches made by Brutus and Antony over the body of Caesar.

Explain the ways in which Shakespeare exploits language for dramatic effect exploring the reactions of the crowd on stage and of the spectator watching theplay.

“Liberty! Freedom! Tyranny is dead!”

So claims Cinna as Caesar is fallen. Brutus his trusty friend killed for Rome while Cassius his jealous counterpart killed over hate. The conspirators brought his body to the market place to show the people. Over the corpse, two speeches were made. In this essay I will compare and contrast these two speeches.

Both of the speeches have similar have similar beginnings. Brutus starts off with

Romans, countrymen and lovers!”

He starts with “Romans”, because in his eyes he feels his country is more important then his lovers, Caesar. He realises how much the crowd feel pride in their country, so manipulates their weak spot, in the hope that they will see his point of reason. This type of language is formal and elaborate, and he speaks as though he is talking to the senate. Antony, however, begins with

“Friends, Romans, countrymen”

By calling the crowd his friends, he is considering himself as though he is on their level, rather than elevating himself like Brutus.

Through this, familiar and direct language, the crowd feels closer to Antony, because they realise that it is like speaking to their friend, rather than speaking to the senate, the way Brutus makes it. Antony realises the crowd react more to a ‘friend’ rather than someone from the senate, so continues to adhere himself to the crowd later, when he steps down and wants them all to physically move closer, gather round.

The two speeches both end in with a pause. Brutus pauses, because he has just asked a rhetorical question, and knows no one will answer him. Antony pauses to gain the crowd’s sympathy in a display of emotion for the death of Caesar, his ‘dear’ friend. Through this he manages to manipulate them easily and sway them to his side, as he realises that the crowd will see a poor, broken-hearted man, overcome by his pain and anger for the loss of a dear friend, murdered ruthlessly, and they will be deeply touched.

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The styles of both speeches differ greatly. While Brutus’ is in prose, Antony uses verse. This indicates that Brutus is primarily concerned with the content of his speech, whereas Antony on the other hand recognises the importance of sound and rhythm of the words in such a speech, so he chooses his words very carefully.

It is worth saying that the crowd are like a flock of sheep, and can easily be swayed. Proof of this is at the beginning of the play, when at one moment they support Pompey, and the next Caesar. More recently though, after ...

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