Antony And Brutus Praise Caesar Differently in Julius Caesar Essay

Antony and Brutus Praise Caesar Differently

In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Brutus and Antony praise Julius Caesar, but they each used a different style of doing this. Brutus uses an arrogant approach and tries to draw the people in with him. He explains that he wants to conspire against Caesar by saying that Caesar's intent could or would have hurt Rome. However, Antony decided to focus on Caesar's positive traits, and he also disapproved of Brutus' reasons for killing Caesar. The uncertain Romans wavered between leaders. They were thoughtful of the orators.

Brutus tried to explain why he was conspiring against Caesar. He began his speech with Romans, countrymen... and he appealed to their positions of citizens of Rome. This helped prove that Brutus knows how to attract the crowd. He declared that he was an honorable man, and tells them that he will let them decide if his claims are believable. His claims were that he allows the truth to speak for itself. This helped encourage the crowd to believe him, as an honorable man. He says that he wants them to know the facts; "Censure me in your wisdom, and awake your senses that you may the better judge." Sharing information with the people tempts them and it almost guarantees him their acceptance. He tricked them by saying that he loved Caesar. He wanted to see if he could find anybody that loved Caesar more than him. Brutus declares that he never upset Caesar, and he cried for Caesar, was happy for his greatness, and that he honored him, but he had to kill him because of his ambition. He says that the reason for killing Caesar was his love for the people and of Rome. He justifies his actions by saying that he didnt love Caesar, "Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more." For anyone that was insulted by his speech he wondered if, as Romans who love their freedom, they could be offended or reject what he, Brutus, says. He asked, "Who is here so base that would be a bondman?" He repeats the line, "If any, speak, for him have I offended." "I pause for a reply.", allows them to respond to him about them and their opinions. They can only respond, " None, Brutus, none." That is, none are offended; they did not disagree with him.

Mark Antony's praise utilized a different approach. He starts out by addressing the crowd as "Friends" because he wants to be their friend rather than a ruler by trying to gain their power. He then says, "I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.", he praises Caesar without the crowd stopping him. Since the people responded positively to Brutus' speech, Antony could not insult Brutus' honesty directly. Yet, Antony disproves Caesar's ambition. Antony says, "I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke." , but that is exactly what he does. In justifying Caesar and disproving Brutus, the people see Antony as with Caesar. They are swayed to him by his dramatics, and his secret way of making a point. He is able to get the people to question the rightness of killing Caesar.

The difference between the praises shows us the importance of the style of the speech. Both try to appeal to the people, and both use repetition, but Brutus takes a defensive approach and lets the people decide on their own opinions. However, Antony takes a prosecuting approach against Brutus, so sneaky that it is almost subliminal. Also, Antony's examples give him an advantage over Brutus because he backs up statements while Brutus leaves his statements more open-ended. The people seem to find it easier to accept Antony because of his honesty rather than Brutus who appears arrogant and forceful.