Brutus And Mark Antony's Speech In The Tragedy Of Julius Caesar

In the play, “The Tragedy of Julius Caesar,” by William Shakespeare, two very dear friends of Caesar give speeches at Caesar’s funeral, Brutus and Mark Antony. Brutus, who killed Caesar tries to excuse himself and the conspirators for murdering Caesar. Antony desires to rile up the common people to revolt against Brutus and his accomplices. While both speeches seem to be compelling, Mark Antony’s speech worked the best at persuading the audience through his use of rhetorical devices such as logical reasoning and repetition.
In Mark Antony’s speech he tries to rally the people of rome into rebelling against Brutus and the other conspirators by using repetition as an equivocation. For example, “let me not stir you up to such a sudden flood of
mutiny. They that have done this deed are honorable. What private griefs they have, alas, i know not, that made them do it. They are wise and honorable.”()Antony is insistent on that brutus is an honorable man and that the people should trust him because he is trustful but he is really being sarcastic. Antony had the intent to appeal to the people’s patriotism for Rome by talking to them as but a common man. For instance, “ yet Brutus says he was an ambitious; and, sure, he’s an honorable man. I don’t speak to disprove what Brutus spoke, but i’m here to speak what i know.”() This quote is effective because antony was able to make the people rethink their view of brutus and if he was in fact an honorable man. Antony made the people feel his pain of losing Caesar and speaking what he felt and he spoke to them truly. In closing, Antony was successful in persuading the audience by his use of repetition but he also uses other rhetorical devices to convince the audience.
In addition, Mark Antony was successful in his funeral speech for Caesar by appealing to the peoples logical reasoning. Furthermore, “You all saw that, on the feast of the priest Lupercus, i presented a kingly crown to him thrice times, which he refused thrice times. Was this ambition?”() One can see from this excerpt that Antony was simply stating true events that lead up to caesar’s murder/funeral. All the people saw Caesar for their own eyes refuse the crown and through this Antony was able to make the people question themselves and the conspirators. In the text Antony says, “I am only, as you all know, a plain blunt man...I tell you what you yourselves already know. I show you sweet Caesar’s wounds, poor dumb mouths, and ask them to speak for me”() This demonstrates Antony’s need to make the people feel as if he is but a regular man who is pained to have lost his dear friend. Antony wants the people to see caesar’s mutilated body for themselves so they can see the whole picture; how he suffered a horrible death. In the end, Antony uses logical reasoning to help his speech be compelling enough if not more to persuade the people of Rome.
To conclude, Mark Antony’s speech was effective in persuading the