Julius Caesar Antony Persuasion
Antony’s persuasion in his speech
Act 3 Scene 2
In this essay I am going to explain and analyse Antony’s speech to show how he tries to persuade his audience. There are many features in Mark Antony’s speech which show he is trying to persuade the crowd.
One of the many features he uses to persuade the audience is using memorable, quotable dialogue which endures the crowd and makes them want to listen an example of this is the line which starts this persuasive speech “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.” Some other enduring phrases are: “lend me your ears”, “The evil that men do lives after them”, “I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him”, “But Brutus is an honourable man.” It is also a powerful speech, using both rhetorical patterns and emotive imagery to stir the crowd up against Caesar’s killers.
Another thing Antony said to change the crowd’s mind and say Brutus was wrong without actually saying it was with some clever oratorical skills. Throughout the speech he repeatedly says “Brutus was ambitious.” and “Brutus was an honourable man.”, but he didn’t really mean it he was saying it sarcastically to test Brutus. Each time he said this he changed the tone he was speaking in; from sincerity to irony and just mocking Brutus. He gradually built up the tone to make them have a bad opinion of Brutus, because if he just came up and said “Brutus is a horrible man, because he killed Caesar,” nobody would believe him they would think he was the horrible one who is insulting Brutus for doing a brave and honest thing in killing Caesar. He uses the same oratorical skills to call Brutus a liar when he says Caesar was not ambitious, Brutus says Caesar was ambitious, Brutus would not tell lies. Since all three of these statements cannot all be true the speech edges the crowd towards believing that the third statement, Brutus would not tell lies, is false. He continues this when he says “I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke, but here I am to speak what I
Act 3 Scene 2
In this essay I am going to explain and analyse Antony’s speech to show how he tries to persuade his audience. There are many features in Mark Antony’s speech which show he is trying to persuade the crowd.
One of the many features he uses to persuade the audience is using memorable, quotable dialogue which endures the crowd and makes them want to listen an example of this is the line which starts this persuasive speech “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.” Some other enduring phrases are: “lend me your ears”, “The evil that men do lives after them”, “I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him”, “But Brutus is an honourable man.” It is also a powerful speech, using both rhetorical patterns and emotive imagery to stir the crowd up against Caesar’s killers.
Another thing Antony said to change the crowd’s mind and say Brutus was wrong without actually saying it was with some clever oratorical skills. Throughout the speech he repeatedly says “Brutus was ambitious.” and “Brutus was an honourable man.”, but he didn’t really mean it he was saying it sarcastically to test Brutus. Each time he said this he changed the tone he was speaking in; from sincerity to irony and just mocking Brutus. He gradually built up the tone to make them have a bad opinion of Brutus, because if he just came up and said “Brutus is a horrible man, because he killed Caesar,” nobody would believe him they would think he was the horrible one who is insulting Brutus for doing a brave and honest thing in killing Caesar. He uses the same oratorical skills to call Brutus a liar when he says Caesar was not ambitious, Brutus says Caesar was ambitious, Brutus would not tell lies. Since all three of these statements cannot all be true the speech edges the crowd towards believing that the third statement, Brutus would not tell lies, is false. He continues this when he says “I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke, but here I am to speak what I