The Effects of the Speeches of Brutus and AntonyJulius Caesar is one of Shakespeare’s greatest works. It’s about agroup of conspirators who kill their king, Julius, in order to be free. Antony,opposed to the assassination, felt that he should avenge Julius’s death. Hedelivered a speech that convinced the Romans that the murder was unjust,invoking their rebellion. Brutus, head of the conspiracy, also gave a goodspeech, but the Romans didn’t react to it.
A battle erupted, and most of theconspirators committed suicide. The styles of the two speeches were verydifferent from each other. Brutus’s speech was logical. It contained facts about Caesar’s ambition.
He reminded the people that Caesar would have become a tyrant and would haveenslaved everyone. Brutus also explained that he didn’t hate Caesar, but thathe loved Rome more. The people didn’t understand, however. At one point, theywanted to crown Brutus, who intended for everyone to be free. Antony’s speech was long and it evoked pity and other strong emotions. He gave reasons that proved Brutus’s points to be incorrect.
Antony had thepeople surround Julius’s body so that he could point out the wounds. As Antonyidentified each slice, he named the man who did it. In a sarcastic tone, Antonyrepeatedly referred to these “honorable men. ” The Romans became enraged andattacked Cinna, a man who they thought was a conspirator, who was actually justa poet. Brutus made a big mistake by letting Antony speak at Caesar’s funeral. Antony’s dramatic speech won the crowd over and ultimately resulted in thedownfall of the conspiracy.
The emotional style of Antony’s speech was muchmore effective than the rational approach used by Brutus.
