Antony uses “honourable” in a negative way against Brutus. He does this by talking about how Caesar was killed and how great Caesar was in his life but then says, “And Brutus is an honourable man.” This insights hatred in the crowd and the plebeians are changed from, “the noble Brutus has ascended, silence!” to “They were traitors, honourable men!” this shows the power of Antony's language. Not only does Antony's use of words stir the crowd but also his uses of imagery. He refers to Caesars wounds as “dumb mouths” there he is saying that Caesars wounds are like mouths unable to speak. This makes the crowd feel they should answer what these dumb mouths are telling them. In comparison Brutus uses no imagery and talks at the crowd. This is another difference between the two orators, Brutus addresses his audience in a very sort of this is what happened this is why it happened and this is what your going to do about it, ok. Whereas Antony addresses his audience less like he was talking to thousands of people more like he was chatting to a mate. Another thing that Antony does is he gives descriptions of people. I have talked earlier about his descriptions of Brutus. His descriptions of Caesar are somewhat different. He describes Caesar in a very nostalgic way at first then just uses him as a tool for self-gain. He speaks about “noble Caesar”s “mighty heart” and how he loved the poor and common people of Rome.
The next point I will compare the two orators on is the tone of their orations. By tone I mean the way they speak their speeches and the mood, atmosphere they create. Brutus’s speech is spoken in a rational, sensible tone. As I said earlier he is basically saying, this is what happened this is why it happened and this is what you’re going to do about it, ok. He explains everything in a logical way. His speech is also in a very formal tone as if he is talking at the crowd rather than to them. An example of this is that it exactly fits the Elizabethan Rhetoric lesson. It has all the parts that a good rhetoric speech should have an introduction, development, evidence, dealing with objections and it has a clear conclusion. The beginning of this speech shows Brutus’ tone. He goes on about “mine honour” this shows he is using his reputation to win over the crowd. He says, “Believe me for mine honour, and have respect to mine honour that you may believe”. He is saying believe me for my reputation and you all know about my reputation which shows you should believe me.
Antony's speech is very different in comparison, he doesn’t rely on his past and talks in a more friendly chat tone. As a result of this the plebeians have a lot more involvement in Antony's oration and Antony works off them and responds to what they are saying. The speech doesn’t fit the Elizabethan rhetoric guidelines and changes tone throughout. It starts of explaining, telling them why they are there, “Friends, Romans countrymen lend me your ears!” Then the speech changes to an annoyed tone as he describes Caesar, “When the poor had cried, Caesar had wept.” He then becomes more emotional and upset about what Brutus and the other conspirators have done, “What cause withholds you then to mourn for him? O judgement, thou art fled to brutish beasts”. After this he describes the murder so becomes very passionate “And as he plucked his cursed steel away, Mark how the blood of Caesar followed it”. He becomes very disingenuous saying, “I am no orator as Brutus is” It seems Antony then should become more and more enraged but manages seems to keep control and just make the crowd become enraged.
The next comparison point is the affect on the crowd that each speaker has. At the beginning of the scene the crowd are hungry for reasons to Caesar’s death and are in a raucous mood. The affect Brutus has is to calm them down and explain the reasons “I loved Rome more” He is trying to appeal to their common sense. This is a bad idea by Brutus because it becomes obvious later in his speech that they have no common sense. I am referring to when the crowd offer Brutus the very thing he killed Caesar for they ironically offer Brutus the crown. “Let Caesars better parts be crowned in Brutus” If the affect on the crowd were like a pop concert Brutus would be a support group brought in to warm up the crowd for the superstar performer, Antony. This is effectively what Brutus does he just gets them ready and calms them down a bit for Antony.
Antony has an enormous affect on the crowd. When he first starts speaking they only listen because Brutus tells them to they warn him not to speak unkindly of Brutus, “’Twere best he speak no harm of Brutus here”. But this is just another example of the crowds stupidity because he does speak unkindly of Brutus yet they do nothing. Antony then pauses which, give the crowd time to think and they can see his emotions. This starts to turn the crowd who start to say; I can see what he’s getting at; “Methinks there is much reason in his sayings.” Antony's next move is to appeal to their greed by bringing out the will. You can tell this by the tone of the plebeians speak “We’ll hear the will. Read it Mark Antony.” He then says he can’t read the will because he fears the “honourable men” he also for the first time relates the honourable men to the daggers. This makes the crowd start to turn against the conspirators for the first time. They are still eagerly greedy because they let him come down to them and makes everyone back off. Before he reads the will he talks through the stabbing which enrages the crowd even more. He then reveals Caesars butchered body and they go from “o piteous spectacle!” to “We will be revenged!” But the manipulative Antony doesn’t let them out of their cage yet he wants to make sure they’re ready to kill the conspirators. He tempts them back with the will again and enrages them again by reading about how generous Caesar is. By now they are really fired up “And with brands fire the traitors’ houses” Antony finally lets them go and he has manipulated them so much that they kill and innocent poet. They kill Cinna the poet because they think he is a traitor. Antony then has a very short soliloquy that shows us the true cold calculating Antony. “Now let it work. Mischief, thou art afoot, Take thou what course thou wilt.” Antony is saying ahh! My plans set to work I can just sit back and let these fools do what they want anything that happens from now on will be worth it.
The speeches also have an affect on the audience the people actually seeing the play performed. This affect is different to the crowds affect. This shows Shakespeare wanted to show the crowd as very different to the people watching at the time. When listening to Brutus’ speech they react ignorantly by offering him the crown. The audience however would just listen and take in his speech because they wouldn’t really have much information about his reputation. The audience probably think Brutus is sincere because they have no reason to doubt him. The audience have great expectations of Antony's speech because they want to know if he is going to be twofaced like he was in his “cry havoc” soliloquy. Antony also wins over our sympathy as the audience forget his two-facedness and think about what he is saying. Shakespeare obviously wanted Antony to move us because it is probably the greatest piece of oration he wrote and he gave it to Antony. The way he manipulates the crowd is obvious to the audience so they can almost see through him but still appreciate his cunning. It also make the audience think; is that true or false emotion and is he putting it on. It is the same with Caesars toga and him showing the stab wounds. Antony also has so much affect on the crowd he can hold them back and stop them leaving until he has finished. The audience can see this calculated approach and can see what he is doing making the crowd do his dirty work. The audience almost respect him for it because it is such a clever manipulative yet subtle way of doing it.
The final point I am comparing the speaker with is the revelations which occur about them during their speeches. One thing that is revealed about the speakers is where they stand when it comes to the state and themselves. Firstly we have the magnanimous Brutus who loves Rome more and believes the state is more important than the individual. On the other hand we have the cold callous and calculating Antony who sees this as an opportunity for personal gain so believes the individual (himself) is more important than everything even the state. This is incredibly apparent in his cry havoc soliloquy. Another thing that is revealed about Brutus is that he is a good speaker this is revealed to us by both speakers Antony claims he's not as good as Brutus and we can tell this by reading his as well. His ability to speak is shown in the organization and formality not to mention the persuasiveness and straight to the point attitude. Of course this is all undone by letting Antony speak second. Antony with his superior intelligence and manipulation far out classes Brutus as far as affecting people is concerned. This also shows Brutus’ over confidence in himself and the crowd. He thinks he will tell the crowd what he has to and they will respect him and that will be it. I think the reason this is undone by Antony and the final revelation about Antony is he has the common touch. He can relate to the plebeians, which means they can relate to him, which means they are more likely to respond to him.
Personally I agree with the statement that Antony's speech is the best speech written by Shakespeare. Well definitely so far from the Shakespeare I have read. His speech is far better than Brutus’ as far as language, tone; affect on the crowd and affect on the audience are concerned. The language his use of imagery and honourable to a negative effect seem infinitely better than Brutus’ use of honourable to remind everyone he's Brutus. In tone Antony's manipulation and suspense add drama and intrigue after a rather dull boring speech by Brutus. I didn’t think it was really fair to compare Brutus’ speech to Antony's as far as affect on people. Whether it is the crowd or audience Antony totally turns them round to his view or the way he wants them to be. That’s not to say Brutus’ oration didn’t have good bits like his tone to calm and language to remind. But if put on a scales I think they would tip heavily towards Antony's side on good point.