How sly was Marc Antony?
As shown in many previous examples, at the time of his murder Caesar was very popular among the common people he ruled. However, they are also very open to suggestion, and can have their opinion of the their leaders changed quite easily. After Caesar is murdered, and Brutus tells the people of his death, they lavish praise on Brutus, forgetting their previous loyalties. Thus Marc Antony must find a way to sway their opinions back, to get Caesar back in their favour, without directly offending any of the conspirators, the guilty Senators. In his speech to the people of Rome, Antony could have chosen to simply tell the people their leader and his good friend, Julius Caesar, was dead, and that they should mourn. But as Brutus spoke before him, their loyalties had already been changed to support the other Senators. The way he chose to convert them back was to support the conspirators himself, thus never bad mouthing them in any way, but using carefully placed ironic remarks and sarcasm to let the people decide on their own. His first word to the people is very important. Brutus opened his speech by calling the people "Romans, countr
ymen, and lovers (friends)..." placing the people's love for their country ahead of their love for their fellow man. This loyalty may have been true for Brutus; he probably loved Rome more than he loved anyone or anything else. But for the common man, although Rome was important, chances are they loved their friends and family more. Antony, picking up on this fact, began his speech the exact opposite way, with "Friends, Romans, countrymen..." He places the people's love for their fellow man ahead of their love for Rome and the government, and in this way identifies with the people, making it seem like he is one of them, not just a person of power. Antony knows he must let the people know Brutus and the other Senators murdered Caesar for being ambitious, when he obviously was not, but he has promised Brutus he would only speak positively about the conspirators and the conspiracy. Therefore, he uses carefully placed sarcasm to let the people know exactly what he really believes. Near the beginning of Antony's speech, he says, "...For Brutus is an honourable man..." and repeats this phrase over and over throughout the rest of his monolog
Some common words found in the essay are:
Brutus Antony, Julius Caesar, Brutus Senators, Brutus Caesar's, , Friends Romans, Marc Antony, Brutus Instead, Rome Antony, people's love, brutus senators, people brutus, romans countrymen, ahead love, carefully placed, love fellow, antony able, caesar's death, caesar ambitious,
Approximate Word count = 774
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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