Antony uses repetition to get his message across the Plebeians. He seems to use Brutus' own ammunition against Brutus in order to sway the views of the people. He does this by referring to Brutus' use of 'honour'. As I said earlier, Brutus called himself an honourable man, which at the time served him well as it helped sway the Plebeians onto his side. But Antony cleverly reminds the crowd of Caesars good qualities, and then tells them that these qualities can not be, because Brutus said that Caesar was ambitious, and that Brutus is an honourable man:
"When the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept; Ambition should be made of sterner stuff;Yet Brutus Says he was ambitious, And Brutus is an honourable man."
In some ways, this quotation has a sense of irony to it, as Antony says that ambition should be made out of sterner stuff, yet Brutus said that Caesar was over ambitious. Antony is actually putting Caesar down here, as he is saying that if Caesar was ambitious, he was not that good at it and he did not show it that well. But this also helps Caesar' and Antony' cause and shows the Plebeians that Brutus' accusations against Caesar were false.
Antony says that Brutus was an honourable man fifteen times in the same speech, using the phrase in an increasingly sarcastic manner. Because the Plebeians responded positively to Brutus' speech, Antony could not insult Brutus' honesty in a direct manner. Antony then goes on to say: "I speak not to disapprove what Brutus spoke"
But that is exactly what he does. Antony becomes increasingly sarcastic in his use of repetition and later openly objects to the conspirators actions. I think that this quotation was used by Antony to influence that crowd's opinion of Brutus' speech. If Antony says that he does not speak to disapprove Brutus, then it is obvious that he has, in some way. This means that the crowd now knows about the criticism, and would probably start to get angry about it. But just in case there were any people in the crowd who still followed Brutus, they would not be offended, because Antony has just said that he is not insulting Brutus or the conspirators. Antony uses other clever techniques that help win over the Plebeians. He knows that hardly any of the Plebeians will be very well educated, so instead of appealing to their intellect, he decides to appeal to the one thing that he could be sure that they did have, emotion. He decides that he should try and be passionate, and make the Plebeians morn the death of Caesar (after all, it was a funeral!). Antony does this through several different ways. At the end of his first speech, Antony says:
"O judgement, thou art fled to brutish beasts, And men have lost their reason! Bear with me,My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, And I must pause till it come back to me."
This would have been acted out on stage by a tearful Antony, who would be trying to continue his speech and not start crying out loud. This make the Plebeians feel sorry for Antony and it reminds them about Caesar and his good qualities. The affect of Antony crying also seems to dampen the mood in the crowd, so the whole crowd would probably be standing in silence, thinking about the decision that they have just made to follow Brutus. This would also allow Antony to pause and access the mood of the audience, gather his thoughts, and decide whether to pursue his strategy.
Antony also plays with the crowd' emotion when he mentions that he has found Caesars will.
Antony's speech is vastly different from Brutus' and in many ways is more complex, where Brutus tries to persuade the crowd by trying to talk to them about honour, patriotism and history Antonys' speech is more emotional, by being emotional it manages to be more powerful and stir the crowd.
As a condition for doing the speech, he is not allowed to blame the conspirators, Antony gets around this by subtly changing meanings of words such as honourable. Antony talks about Caesar very passionately to give the impression that Caesar is a hero and causes the crowd to think about how they lost such a great man. Antony says he won't do many things which he does do, "I will not stir you up," when he does. "If it were so, it was a grievous fault," this gives the impression that Antony doesn't agree, or doubts Brutus, he tries to make the crowd think that too.
Antony starts off by telling the crowd that Caesar was not perfect and that he had made many mistakes, "The evil that men do lives after them," but after he begins his attacks on Brutus' speech, he manages to tackle Brutus' points on why Caesar should die with ease. His first point was Caesars ambition, Antony argues that Caesar wasn't ambitious, "I thrice presented him with a kingly crown, which he did thrice refuse," he also talks about Brutus being honourable at the same time, this has an effect of causing the crowd to believe Brutus is lying and maybe everything he has said may be questionable.
Antony uses many dramatic devices which Brutus doesn't use, he first gathers everyone around Caesars body and points out the wounds that were made by each conspiritor.
They both use rhetorical questions to the crowd reminding them of these qualities, at the same time making them feel guilty for their ingratitude. For example:
"He hath brought many captives home to Rome, Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill;Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?" (ll. 80-82) and "I thrice presented him a kingly crown, Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition?" (ll.87-89)
He asks the people if they consider this ambitious, obviously implying it was not, because Caesar's deeds were for the good of Rome, not for Caesar himself.
Antony uses the dramatic pause very skillfully when he breaks into tears and tells the audience, using an evocative and powerful metaphor:
"…Bear with me,My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,And I must pause till it come back to me." (ll. 97-99)
He thereby allows time for his words to sink in and for the citizens to start talking among themselves, voicing their doubts about whether Caesar was in fact ambitious and expressing their sympathies with Mark Antony.
The words that Mark Antony uses throughout his speech are cleverly chosen to influence the crowd: he refers to Caesar's "sacred blood”
Personal response
I did not enjoy doing this coursework as much as others. I find that Shakespeare stories and plays hard to understand and remember. The contrast between Brutus and Antony is so sharp in the way they deal with the audience. It's the difference between Brutus, the idealistic leader and Antony, the idealistic realistic one. Brutus misjudges the audience and addresses them as if they were well-educated philosophers. Language used by Shakespeare reveals Brutus' intellectual mind and also shows how he lacks understanding of the human natures. He addresses them as if they were equal to him in education and philosophy, "Believe me for mine honour, and have respect to mine honour, that you may to believe". Comparison is clear between Brutus and Antony who touches their emotions with his words, "My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar and I must pause till it come back to me". Brutus refers to Caesar's ambition as a main cause for his assassination while Antony shows them Caesar's "will" and his wounds to inflame their feelings.
I think that Brutus was right to kill Caesar. Julius Caesar was to ambitious, he was a person who when he wanted it he would get it. Brutus would of gone much further with Cassius’s advice. Brutus was wrong in letting Mark Antrony speech last, even though he was only allowed to speech highly of them. He did that but he added more and twisted it so the audience thought differently. When they go to battle Brutus makes the mistake of walking write into Mark Antony and his army. If Brutus had followed Cassius’s advice, they would both be alive and Mark Antony dead.
