“Damaged Mind” Having the characteristics of being loyal to one another can be very positive or very bad. In the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, the character Brutus’ traits of being loyal led to his downfall. To help with Brutus’ downfall was a very ambitious, powerful man, Mark Antony. In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Mark Antony holds a great responsibility in making Brutus a tragic hero. Antony and Brutus’ interactions with one another reflected Brutus’ characteristics of being naïve and foolish, yet loyal. These interactions ultimately led to Brutus’ honorable death. First thing is first, Brutus and Antony differ tremendously. Although they both have similar characteristics of being influential, Antony is far more persuasive. Unlike Brutus, Antony appealed to the crowd’s emotions in the funeral speech. “If you have tears prepare to shed them now./ You all do know this mantle; I remember/ The first time ever Caesar put it on:” This quote is capturing the crowds attention to make them feel pity for Caesar and hatred for the conspirators. While Brutus is more naïve to the obvious, for example Cassius sending the letters to his room with warning signals of Caesar’s assassination did not faze him. Antony on the other hand is ambitious and connects two and two …show more content…
Antony saw through the lies and realized most of the conspirators were power hungry, so they had to get rid of Caesar. Previously stated that Brutus is naïve, Antony states, “This was the noblest of them all,/ All the conspirators save only he/ Did that they did in envy of great Caesar;/ He only in a general honest thought/ And common good to all, made one of them.” This is a powerful quote stated by Antony because he is sharing how he believes Brutus stayed loyal to Rome throughout the commotion; while Antony turned into a power-hungry, un-loyal man. Antony being an ambitious, persuasive man reflects Brutus’ characteristics of being naïve yet
Antony knew this would have an impact on the plebeians and it certainly did. Finally Antony destroys Brutus’ argument. First off he reminds the plebeians that Caesar truly did care about all the people of Rome. “When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept” (III.2.90). He also brings up how he offered Caesar the crown three times and three times he refused it.
He tells the crowd how Caesar died and told them to crowd around Caesar and look at him, “Look, in this place ran cassius’ dagger through” see what a rent the envious Casca made: Through this the well-beloved Brutus stabb’d and as he pluck’d his cursed steel away, Mark how the blood of Caesar follow’d it, as rushing out of doors, to be resolved. If Brutus so unkindly knock’d , or no; For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel; Judge, O you gods, how dearly Caesar loved him!” (lines 177-183). Antony does this point to how close Caesar and Brutus are .
To what extent does pride elicit exploitation? Greed, deception, glory, and a lust for power, all qualities portrayed by Roman generals, senators, nobles and even the aspiring soldiers. When thinking of a scenario where all these qualities are evoked, scholars tend to think of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, moreover; when thinking of deceit and betrayal the coup initialised by Caius Cassius and pitched to Marcus Brutus is a prime example. Like the two sides of a coin, pride and exploitation are indispensable to one another.
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar In Act III Scene II in William Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Antony delivers a speech at Julius Caesar’s funeral. Antony uses a sarcastic, empathetic, and persuasive tone in order to turn the citizens of Rome against Caesar’s conspirators and murderers. Antony’s purpose is to convince the citizens of Rome that killing Caesar was unjust. He attempts to convince the plebeians that Brutus, Cassius, and the other conspirators are not as honorable or innocent as they are acting by delivering his speech in a manner that is hardly noticeable. He does it like this because does not want to overstep his boundaries or rules given to him by Brutus.
This shows that Caesar wasn't ambitious and trustworthy. Antony uses his emotions to also win the people's trust. Antony is talking about the emotional story of how Caesar was murdered. He brings the people to a sad state and the Romans start to respect Antony more. Brutus thought that his reasoning behind the assassination of Caesar would be enough to persuade that the killing of Caesar was the right thing to do.
There is a phrase, “judge, jury ad executioner”; the speeches from The Tragedy of Julius Caesar Act 3 Scene 2 bring the phrase to mind. It signifies that the person referred to is in command of every decision made, and they have the power to be rid of whomever they choose. In this case, Brutus fits this description except for the fact that he brings mistakingly brings his case to the people, the plebians who are the real jury and with the inconvenient interference of a shrewd prosecuting attorney he looses the power to do whatever he wants. He does not control the outcome of his crime/murder. Brutus and Cassius, the two head conspirators indeed lose the larger fight that they had initiated.
Who do you think was more loyal to Caesar? Brutus or Antony? What happens is Cassius creates a group of conspirators, who later is led by Brutus. Meanwhile, Caesar thinks Brutus is one of his most dearest friends. Once they kill him, Brutus, then Anthony make a funeral speech.
Brutus is too trusting of others because he assumes others have the same honorable ideals as he does in trying to do what is best for Rome. People such
Antony’s Speech Using Rhetorical Appeals In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, after Caesar’s death, the Romans are conflicted about what should be done. After Brutus’ speech the Romans are ready to crown Brutus king and be on the conspirators’ side. Though Brutus then leaves the crowd while Antony delivers his speech, the crowd realizes what should be done of Caesar’s murder and Antony prevents the conspirators from getting away with the murder of Caesar.
While Brutus spoke well, but had no real factual standpoint, Antony gave many examples of Caesar’s achievements. In his speech he uses Pathos, Logos, Ethos, and Situational Irony to sway his audience. He uses Brutus’ and Cassius’ precious honor and Caesar’s achievements against them, saying, “When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept./ Ambition should be made of sterner stuff./ Yet Brutus says he was ambitious,/ And Brutus is an honorable man” (3.2.90-93). In this statement and many other statements following the same pattern Antony degrades the honor and the arguments of Caesar’s ambition that were made by Brutus and the other conspirators.
In this scene Caesar has been murdered by the conspirators including Brutus. Brutus is one of Caesar's good friends who is driven by honor; who thought Caesar’s ambition was going to be the end of Rome. Antony is a very loyal friend of Caesar’s who does not agree with the conspirators. Brutus and Antony are both smart well thought out characters. They desire to persuade the commoners to their side of the situation.
Brutus wants to make the crowd feel like he is in a way the victim. In order to do that he says "As Caesar loved me I weep for him" so in a way the people feel bad for him. This emotional appeal did not persuade the audience considering the fact that he was if he truly did love Caesar as much as he said he would, then he would have tried to find a different route in getting rid of Caesar as emperor. Antony goes with the approach of making the people of Rome feel guilty. He tells the citizens "You all love him once not without cause what cause withholds you then to mourn for him" so they could reflect on their attitude towards his death.
In William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, Marc Antony appears to be a strong advocate for Julius Caesar’s triumphs and increasing power. However, like Caesar, Antony is extremely manipulative and powerful. After Caesar’s death, Antony manipulated the conspirators into believing he was on their side before requesting to speak at Caesar’s funeral. While Brutus and the conspirators remained fooled by Antony’s innocence, Antony took the initiative to inform the Roman citizens of the conspirator’s horrendous actions towards their beloved leader, Julius Caesar. Caesar’s funeral was a time of reflection for the citizens of Rome, as Marc Antony caused them to question their allegiance to Brutus.
Brutus delivers his speech in a laudatory manner by conveying Caesar’s deeds and claiming he was ambitious, although Antony contradicts Brutus’ claims and says Caesar spurned the crown with the intent to merely rule as a de facto dictator. Brutus’ speech reveals his motives were truly for the benefit of Rome given his nationalistic tone and Antony’s speech was merely used to obscure his true motives, which was to embroil Rome in a series of civil wars to attain power. Brutus and Antony’s speeches consisted predominantly of Pathos and Ethos, but it is Antony who ultimately it is Antony who prevails because of his almost disingenuous attitude and even use of Logos which is seen when claims that reading Caesar’s will would dishonor his compeers and even Caesar
Julius Caesar Essay Betrayal can be defined as breaking the bond of trust in any type of relationship, and deceiving others. In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, betrayal can be seen throughout the play, done to and by many of the characters. Many of the reasons why betrayal is shown in the play are all for a similar reasons- Ambition / greed. The theme of Julius Caesar is that people betray others because of ambition and greed.