Antony’s manipulative mindset allows him to easily play mind games with the conspirators and emotionally manipulate plebeians to fall right into his traps. His manipulative mindset gives Antony a substantial upper hand against the conspirators. When encountering the conspirators with bloody hands near Caesar's dead body and listening to Brutus's explanation of why they had killed Caesar, Antony states that “[He] doubt[s] not of [the conspirators] wisdom. Let each man render [him] [their] bloody hand.” (III.i.183-184). Antony is willing to understand why the conspirators murdered Caesar but also sees this as an opportunity to get on their good side. By getting on the conspirator's good side, he is easily able to find out their plans and then …show more content…
The master plan to overthrow the conspirators as well as bring justice to Rome begins when Antony finds Caesar’s dead body and says “O mighty Caesar! Dost thou lie so low? Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils Shrunk to this little measure? Fare thee well.”(III.i.148-150). When encountering Caesar's dead body on the ground, Antony was filled with many mixed emotions, but rage exceeded them all. Furthermore, when faced with speaking at Caesar's funeral, Antony says “My heart is in my coffin there with Caesar, And I must pause till it come back to me”(III.ii.105-106). Antony is heartbroken from the loss of his best friend when speaking at the funeral, he also realizes that this is a perfect opportunity to begin his master plan of bringing Rome a rightful …show more content…
Antony's recognition of opportunities that will benefit him is like no other. When encountering Caesar's dead body surrounded by the conspirators, Antony says “I know not, gentlemen, what you intend, Who else must be let blood, who else is rank. If I myself, there is no hour so fit.” (III.i.151-153). Antony recognizes this is the perfect opportunity to submit to the conspirator's authority to seem less of an enemy and more of an ally to them, so he offers them his life. Antony knew by doing this, he would trick the conspirators into thinking that he is their side, therefore allowing him to obtain plans that they had for Rome. By doing this, he is also able to begin his master plan of bringing justice to Caesar. In addition, Anthony's ability to seek opportunities that will benefit him later, is once again utilized during Caesar’s funeral, when he states “I thrice presented [Caesar] a kingly crown, Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition? Yet Brutus says [Caesar] was ambitious,” (III.ii.95-98). By questioning Brutus’ honorability while also providing substantial evidence that Caesar was not ambitious, he manages to sway the plebeian's emotions from joy to sorrow and anger, while also leaving them with a distinct hatred and disrespect for Brutus and the rest of the
By painting a good picture of Caesar the plebeians are starting to question Brutus’ speech. They start to wonder if Rome would actually be better off without Caesar. Antony planted the seed for the plebeians to turn against the conspirators. Proving Caesar to not be ambitious convinced the Romans that Brutus and the rest of the conspirators were at fault and resulted in them rebelling against the conspirators who then fled from
He persuades the people by letting them know that he emotionally sides with Caesar. “For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel. Judge, O you gods, how dearly Caesar loved him! This was the most unkindest cut of all, For when the noble Caesar saw him
When saying this Antony is logically stating something Caesar did, soon after he asks, “Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?”. This rhetorical question is making the audience rethink their opinion on Caesar's ambition and justifying his death. Antony's opinion on the death of Caesar was clearly
Blake Brennan F 9CP2 English Ms. Bradley March 23, 2023 Julius Caesar Rhetorical Analysis Essay Having strong persuasive language will compel people to change their views about a topic. The play Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, follows a group of conspirators and the aftermath of Julius Caesar's assassination. During Caesar's funeral, Brutus, a conspirator, makes a response that manipulates the plebeians' to rebel against Caesar. By saying this, Brutus persuades the plebeians to trust him and not Caesar. However, Caesar’s right-hand man, Mark Antony, does not like the conspirators nor Brutus, so he desires revenge.
After Caesar’s death, Antony seems to make peace with the conspirators, allowing him to speak at the funeral. During his speech, he uses the tactic of faking his emotions, causing the crowds to stir against the conspirators. He seems like he is devastated by the injustice done and passionate to gain vengeance for Caesar. On the contrary, Antony 's’ conversations after the speech shows that his plans is not for Caesar, but for his own aspirations. When Antony orders Lepidus, he says, “Fetch the will hither, and we shall determine / How to cut off some charge in legacies” (4. 1. 10-11).
Antony wants to remind the Romans that he is credible for speaking of Caesar “that love my friend, and that they know full well, that gave me public leave to speak of him” (III.ii.215-216) Antony uses ethos after telling the Romans everything to convince them in being against that conspirators’ that he can speak of Caesar because he was a close friend of Caesar. Antony convinces the Romans to retribute the conspirators’ for what they have done “In every wound of Caesar that should move the stones of Rome to rise and mutiny” (III.ii.225-226) Antony wants revenge and is convincing the Romans to riot by using pathos. Antony wants the Romans to feel sorry about Caesar’s death “here was a Caesar! When comes such another?”
(3.2.180–87) This quote shows Antony trying to show the crowd the true brutality of the conspirators and show how in Caesar’s final moments of life he was betrayed by someone whom he thought loved him and supported him. Antony is trying make the crowd feel angered at the conspirators for betraying Caesar, and killing him. He uses these emotions to encourage the crowd to attack the conspirators, and make them pay for what they have done. To conclude, Antony utilizes Pathos in his argument in order to make the audience feel the need to go after the conspirators.
By refusing to read the will several times and admitting that what it contains will cause the people to have such a great love for Caesar that knowing he is now dead will be unbearable, Antony ignites curiosity in the people and furthermore, a subconscious feeling of respect and graciousness toward Caesar. Basically, Antony uses Caesar’s will to convince the people that Caesar was a selfless, kind-hearted man and those who killed him should be ashamed and punished for killing an innocent man. Through Antony’s use of paralipsis, he is able to plant a seed of admiration for Caesar and one of hate for the conspirators in the hearts of the plebeians. In his speech to the citizens, Antony also asks many rhetorical questions to cause his audience to pause and reflect on how they really feel, or how Antony wants them to feel, about certain people and events that have recently become important. In one instance.
Antony wanted people to be patient with him. He also says, “When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept: Ambition should be made of sterner stuff” (3.2. 100-101). Antony says this to show that Caesar was a good man who cared about the people. It was also to show that Brutus was wrong when he stated that Caesar was ambitious. Antony makes the citizens feel that the conspirators murder was
Brutus’ tactics going into his speech were to influence the minds of the plebeians by using logical and philosophical reasoning to expound the death of Julius Caesar. In Antony 's speech, he was able to coerce the audience using emotion and vengeance. He used personal experiences in order to make the crowd question their position. The use of emotion was effective as the plebeians, with chants and pride, supported Antony. Finally, by using her words to make the public consider the facts, to get them involved in chants, and to create an atmosphere of impassioned fury, Emma Gonzalez creates a sound and justifiable claim that the crowd is not only willing to listen to, but truly believes.
By doing this, Antony most likely hoped to avoid large cracks in government forming as a result of Caesar 's death. Antony diminished the goals of the conspirators. “The result unforeseen by the assassins was that Caesar 's death precipitated the end of the Roman Republic” (Julius
At the end of the war, with Cassius and Brutus dead, Antony ultimately sees the latter to escape the pit of revenge. With the war won and his reasons behind his motivation gone, he finally calms down and calls for the end of the war. In spite of him swearing that the war would choke Rome until almost everything was gone. This demonstrates even further how much the murder of Caesar affected him and that his true personality was only hidden under rage. Furthermore, he even honors one of the conspirators, Brutus, calling his enemy the most noble Roman of them all.
“O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, That I am meek and gentle with these butchers! Thou art the ruins of the noblest man That ever livèd in the tide of times.” Act 3 Scene 1. Antony is genuinely distraught at the sight of Caesar and hates that he must play along with the conspirators in order to gain their trust. Later on Antony realizes that with Caesar gone, this conspirators will be the ones who rule over Rome.
There are two reasons why Antony gave this speech. The first was to get back at Brutus for murdering his beloved friend, and making him pay for it. The main reason Antony gave this speech is because he had a greed for power. He thought that if he could get all the plebeians on his side, that they would attack the conspirators and trust Antony, therefore making it easy to take on the spot for power. “Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius, To cut the head off and then hack the limbs, Like wrath in death and envy afterwards, For Antony is but a limb of Caesar.
His actions about burying Caesar bring out the villainous side of him. “My credit now stands on such slippery ground That one of two bad ways you must conceit me, Either a coward or a flatterer. That I did love thee, Caesar, O, ’tis true” (3.1.191-194). Antony is standing upon multiple people confessing to them that his credit is possibly no more. He tells the people to classify him in two negative ways because he knows and they know that Antony can be a villainous person.