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Heidi Hong
Pd. 1 English
Julius Caesar: Mark Antony’s Funeral Oration
Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar is a play that accounts the life and death of the famous and well beloved ruler of ancient Rome. Caesar has just been assassinated by his senators, and is being laid to rest. His former senators accused him of being ambitious and tyrannical. Mark Antony, Caesar’s former general and faithful friend, defends Caesar’s honour. In his funeral oration for Julius Caesar, Mark Antony quickly moves the hostile crowd from believing that Caesar was tyrannical and ambitious to questioning his assassination through language that suggests that he is contrasting his concrete experience with the conspirators’ mere opinions, through a repetition of key words in contexts which reverse their meanings, and rhetorical questions, Mark Antony sways the crowd to his position.
Antony presents his view of Caesar as an honourable man in his past experiences as opposed to Brutus’ mere opinion to sway the crowd to believe that Caesar is not ambitious. Antony talks about how Caesar was his friend and was “faithful and just” as a ruler. Also, he reminds the people that they saw for themselves that “[he] thrice presented him with the kingly crown, which he did thrice refuse. A person who refuses a title like emperor, not once, but three times is clearly not ambitious, but humble. Caesar did not want the glory that accompanied monarchy, but wanted his realm to remain a democracy. Caesar wept, “when the poor cried”, showing that he sympathized with his people and truly cared for them. Ambition, according to Antony, is more ruthless. Furthermore, Antony reminds the people of how Caesar “brought many captives home to Rome, whose ransoms the general coffers fill.” Caesar could have filled his own treasury and advanced himself in wealth, and yet he decided to give the gold to the benefit of the people. In these noble deeds, Antony suggests that his friend was not ambitious, and there should be nothing preventing them to mourn for him properly. All of these instances are fact whereas Brutus only “says” he’s ambitious or “hath told you” he’s ambitious. Antony induces doubt in connection with the validity of Brutus’s words by his use of coordinating conjunctions such as “but” and “yet” after instances in which he proves that Caesar was not ambitious. He suggests that Brutus is lying by saying that the people are well rid of Caesar, as he was a tyrant and an usurper. For example, “yet Brutus says he was ambitious, and Brutus is an honourable man.” Antony also implies that he himself does not think Caesar ambitious by saying “if it were so” referring to his ambition instead of something like “because it were so.” Antony therefore suggests that Brutus has no proof of Caesar’s ambition and contradicts his opinion with his concrete experiences and facts.
In addition, the repetition of keywords such as “honourable” and “ambitious” is significant in Antony’s speech, as the meanings of these words are reversed in order to sway the crowd to question whether or not Brutus is honourable. Because Antony is a sensible man, he does not wish to condemn Brutus directly, and instead resorts to a different way to praise Caesar and make the people understand what he was trying to express. If Brutus were “honourable,” then he would be correct in calling Caesar “ambitious”. Brutus is depicted as trying to deceive the crowd into believing that Caesar was a tyrant, a murderer, and a conspirator. In the end, he is the one who is ambitious because he and the other senators are eager to take over the throne for themselves. Antony repeats, “Brutus is an honourable man”, but at the same time he gives proof that Caesar was not ambitious. Antony uses the word “ambitious” to show what Brutus and his conspirators think of Caesar, but never says directly that Caesar is ambitious. Instead, he uses examples after repeating “Brutus says Caesar was ambitious” to prove the Caesar was not ambitions. Ultimately, Brutus is condemned as ambitious, because Antony has proven that Caesar was not ambitious.
In his speech, Antony also uses rhetorical questions in order to steer the crowd towards his side, an effective way of persuasion because they make the audience think and reflect on what the speaker talks about. They’re a good way to include the audience and grab their attention. Antony asks the audience, “does this in Caesar seem ambitious?” to which the answer is meant to be “no”. Refusing a crown thrice to the audience is surely deemed not ambitious, so the answer to “was this ambition?” is bound to be “no.” He places these rhetorical questions after each instance in which he proves that Caesar was a just and honourable ruler, making the answer to these questions seem obvious. Also, by asking the audience “what cause withholds you then, from mourning him”, Antony gives the audience a sense of guilt because they had believed Brutus before, and yet Caesar was so good to them when he was alive. In their memory of Caesar, there really isn’t anything that withholds them to love him still. Finally, Antony adds to this effect and evokes sympathy from his audience by using melodramatic theatrical diction when he overly expresses his love for Caesar by saying that his “heart is in the coffin there” with him, making the people feel sorry for him, as he lost a dear friend to murder. He hereby indirectly persuades the Romans to sympathise with Caesar.
In this brilliantly composed speech, Antony manages to turn the audience, which has gone from believing that Caesar was an autocrat to sympathising with Caesar, through proof that contradicts Brutus’s mere opinion, a repetition of key words in contexts which reverse their meanings, and rhetorical questions. By indirectly stating his opinion, Antony opens the eyes of Rome to the truth and injustice, making them see that Rome’s senators are the oppressors of the realm. The people are encouraged to fight against injustice and bear in mind the legendary good deeds of the man that was Julius Caesar.
Pd. 1 English
Julius Caesar: Mark Antony’s Funeral Oration
Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar is a play that accounts the life and death of the famous and well beloved ruler of ancient Rome. Caesar has just been assassinated by his senators, and is being laid to rest. His former senators accused him of being ambitious and tyrannical. Mark Antony, Caesar’s former general and faithful friend, defends Caesar’s honour. In his funeral oration for Julius Caesar, Mark Antony quickly moves the hostile crowd from believing that Caesar was tyrannical and ambitious to questioning his assassination through language that suggests that he is contrasting his concrete experience with the conspirators’ mere opinions, through a repetition of key words in contexts which reverse their meanings, and rhetorical questions, Mark Antony sways the crowd to his position.
Antony presents his view of Caesar as an honourable man in his past experiences as opposed to Brutus’ mere opinion to sway the crowd to believe that Caesar is not ambitious. Antony talks about how Caesar was his friend and was “faithful and just” as a ruler. Also, he reminds the people that they saw for themselves that “[he] thrice presented him with the kingly crown, which he did thrice refuse. A person who refuses a title like emperor, not once, but three times is clearly not ambitious, but humble. Caesar did not want the glory that accompanied monarchy, but wanted his realm to remain a democracy. Caesar wept, “when the poor cried”, showing that he sympathized with his people and truly cared for them. Ambition, according to Antony, is more ruthless. Furthermore, Antony reminds the people of how Caesar “brought many captives home to Rome, whose ransoms the general coffers fill.” Caesar could have filled his own treasury and advanced himself in wealth, and yet he decided to give the gold to the benefit of the people. In these noble deeds, Antony suggests that his friend was not ambitious, and there should be nothing preventing them to mourn for him properly. All of these instances are fact whereas Brutus only “says” he’s ambitious or “hath told you” he’s ambitious. Antony induces doubt in connection with the validity of Brutus’s words by his use of coordinating conjunctions such as “but” and “yet” after instances in which he proves that Caesar was not ambitious. He suggests that Brutus is lying by saying that the people are well rid of Caesar, as he was a tyrant and an usurper. For example, “yet Brutus says he was ambitious, and Brutus is an honourable man.” Antony also implies that he himself does not think Caesar ambitious by saying “if it were so” referring to his ambition instead of something like “because it were so.” Antony therefore suggests that Brutus has no proof of Caesar’s ambition and contradicts his opinion with his concrete experiences and facts.
In addition, the repetition of keywords such as “honourable” and “ambitious” is significant in Antony’s speech, as the meanings of these words are reversed in order to sway the crowd to question whether or not Brutus is honourable. Because Antony is a sensible man, he does not wish to condemn Brutus directly, and instead resorts to a different way to praise Caesar and make the people understand what he was trying to express. If Brutus were “honourable,” then he would be correct in calling Caesar “ambitious”. Brutus is depicted as trying to deceive the crowd into believing that Caesar was a tyrant, a murderer, and a conspirator. In the end, he is the one who is ambitious because he and the other senators are eager to take over the throne for themselves. Antony repeats, “Brutus is an honourable man”, but at the same time he gives proof that Caesar was not ambitious. Antony uses the word “ambitious” to show what Brutus and his conspirators think of Caesar, but never says directly that Caesar is ambitious. Instead, he uses examples after repeating “Brutus says Caesar was ambitious” to prove the Caesar was not ambitions. Ultimately, Brutus is condemned as ambitious, because Antony has proven that Caesar was not ambitious.
In his speech, Antony also uses rhetorical questions in order to steer the crowd towards his side, an effective way of persuasion because they make the audience think and reflect on what the speaker talks about. They’re a good way to include the audience and grab their attention. Antony asks the audience, “does this in Caesar seem ambitious?” to which the answer is meant to be “no”. Refusing a crown thrice to the audience is surely deemed not ambitious, so the answer to “was this ambition?” is bound to be “no.” He places these rhetorical questions after each instance in which he proves that Caesar was a just and honourable ruler, making the answer to these questions seem obvious. Also, by asking the audience “what cause withholds you then, from mourning him”, Antony gives the audience a sense of guilt because they had believed Brutus before, and yet Caesar was so good to them when he was alive. In their memory of Caesar, there really isn’t anything that withholds them to love him still. Finally, Antony adds to this effect and evokes sympathy from his audience by using melodramatic theatrical diction when he overly expresses his love for Caesar by saying that his “heart is in the coffin there” with him, making the people feel sorry for him, as he lost a dear friend to murder. He hereby indirectly persuades the Romans to sympathise with Caesar.
In this brilliantly composed speech, Antony manages to turn the audience, which has gone from believing that Caesar was an autocrat to sympathising with Caesar, through proof that contradicts Brutus’s mere opinion, a repetition of key words in contexts which reverse their meanings, and rhetorical questions. By indirectly stating his opinion, Antony opens the eyes of Rome to the truth and injustice, making them see that Rome’s senators are the oppressors of the realm. The people are encouraged to fight against injustice and bear in mind the legendary good deeds of the man that was Julius Caesar.