Antony's Speech Persuasive Essay

Immediately after Caesar’s murder, Antony was emotionally distraught and conflicted, thus prompting him to speak directly to the bleeding corpse that once housed his beloved king. He begs for forgiveness for being gentle with the malicious conspirators and allows his anger to outpour freely, shouting at nothing that can respond.
Firstly, the problem addressed by Antony’s outburst is the war and destruction that he predicts will overcome Rome in the event of Caesar’s murder. He cries out that Caesar’s spirit, driven by revenge, will allow chaos to run freely in the formerly-great Italy.
Antony has two audiences in his speech, the corpse of Caesar and the people of Rome. Though the Roman population is not directly addressed, Antony warns the destruction of Italy through famine and war. With utmost respect, he begs for forgiveness from Caesar’s spirit for being benevolent with the conspirators, thus addressing a single facet of his audience. However, he fails to address the people of Rome in a respectful manner; those who disagree with his point that Rome will go to state of disarray go unmentioned and thus he fails to acknowledge their argument. Concession to the opposition, and successive refutation, are crucial aspects of a persuasive argument, and Antony fails to
His excessive use of hyperbolic language undermine the veracity of his argument. For instance, he states that “That mothers shall but smile when they behold/ their infants quartered with the hands of war.” This statement means that, rather than become distraught, women will smile upon the occurrence of the death of their infants. This statement has very little evidence to that provides support. Simply using the death of Caesar to justify an oncoming chaotic state of Rome is an example of a hasty generalization; the murder of a single, newly-crowned king does not provide rise for the destruction of an entire, very powerful