Antonys Persuasive Speech

In Mark Antony's speech for Julius Caesar, there is one of Shakespeare's most
recognizable opening lines of work. The speech is in his historical play Tragedy of Julius Caesar.
After Caesar was killed by his friends, the crowd was persuaded by Brutus to believe that his
death was necessary for the good of the Roman Republic. However, Antonys speech cleverly
manipulates the crowd into mourning the death of Caesar and rebelling against the conspirators.
Language is a powerful tool and with clever people can employ it to manipulate others. Antony
was able to use words effectively to manipulate others by pathos, logos, and parallel structure in
his speech during Caesar's funeral.
Unlike Brutus, who prides himself on acting with respect to nobility and blinds himself to
his personal concerns, Antony never separates his private affairs from his public actions. He
directly appeals to the hearts of the Roman people. Antonys says, It is not meet you know how
Caesar loved you, (III.ii. 153). This is pathos because it shows how sensitive Caesar was. He
brings the people of Rome to a state so they would respect the noble Antony. By using emotion,
Antony is able to share his feelings with the citizens which helped gain their trust. Another
example is when Antony unveils the body of Caesar in front of the citizens. He says, " Kind
souls, what, weep you when you but behold Our Caesar's vesture wounded? Look you here, Here
is himself, marr'd, as you see, with traitors "(III.ii.207-208). This automatically causes an
emotional reaction from the crowd. This act is very important because revealing the bloody
wounds to the citizens causes not only an emotional reaction, but an angry and revenge seeking
reaction. He is successful making the mob rise against the conspirators in mutiny and rage.
He uses logos to give the Roman people convincing facts about his argument. Antony
said, "But here's a parchment with the seal of Caesar; I found it in his closet, 'tis his

will,"(III.ii.140-141). In this example, Antony is not only acting superior, but he is also
structuring his speech in a persuasive way. He begins by saying that he has the will of Julius
Caesar. This causes the citizens to get excited because they now want to hear about the will. But
Antony knows that he can get closer to the citizens physically and mentally if he talks little about
the will. Another time that Antony uses logos is when he is actually reading the will of Caesars.
He says, To every Roman citizen he gives, to every several man, seventy-five drachmas,
(III.ii.255-256). This line carries the power to make the Roman citizens sorrowful about Caesar's
death. The logos by Antony shows that Caesar cared so much about his people that he left money
in the will for public. This heavily influences the change of mind in the crowd.
He uses parallel structure throughout the speech to create contrasts. Marc Antony wishes
to create these contrasts to build sympathy for Caesar, whom Brutus has killed. Take for example
when Antony said, The evil that men do lives after them, the good is oft interred with their
bones, (III.ii.84-85). These lines imply Caesar's goodness rather than his evil is buried with him.
Marc Antony points this out because he wants them to remember Caesar's goodness which will
undermine Brutus as the national hero and make the audience forget Caesar's evil. Another thing
that has to be recognized is that Anthony didnt clearly say his true intentions to Brutus before
his speech, so during his speech there is different meaning behind the words. Antony said, I
come to bury Caesar, not to praise him, (III.ii.83). The audience expects to get a speech about
praising Caesar, instead they got one how to bury him which is Antonys way of saying how to
avenge for Caesar's death.
Marc Antonys funeral speech for Julius Caesar cleverly managed to sway the publics
opinion from one extremity to another. In his speech he was able to take everything Brutus said
and twist it in a clever way to help his side of the argument. His words cause the angry mob to

hunt the streets of Rome for anyone who took part in Caesar's murder. Antonys speech uses
many literary devices such as pathos, logos, and parallel structure to form a speech that get to the
hearts of the Roman Republic. He was able to use language as a tool to help for what he believes
in. Until there was a sustainable force