Essay: Julius Caesar by Shakespeare

In the play Julius Caesar Sometimes it takes deception to convince a crowd to side with someone. Both Brutus and Marc Antony make just such attempts in Act III, scene 2 of Shakespeare’s play. In Act III, Scene 1, the senators murder Caesar because they suspect that he may become a tyrant. Marc Antony was led away by a conspirator and came back to find Caesar dead then he requests that he will be allowed to speak at Caesar’s funeral. We hear Antony tell the body of Caesar that he plans to avenge his death.
Brutus begins his speech with the line: “Romans, countrymen, and lovers, hear me for my cause.” The arrangement of these words shows us that his heart lies with Rome. Additionally, he hypothesizes “If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer: not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.” Again, Brutus is appealing to the Romans by demonstrating his love for his country and stating that Caesar’s death was a necessity. Brutus goes on to describe Caesar as an ambitious man but tells them that he will still honor his bravery and that his crimes of ambition have not been exaggerated. In the Play, Antony and Brutus use epimone when they say “who is here so base, that would not be a roman?” this strengthens the audience to think, and they answer the same question in their heads the way he wants them to. “Who is here so base that would be a bondman? Speak for if I have offended. Who is here so rude that would not be a roman? If any speak for him have I offended. He repeats this phrase to assure that the people know that he has offended Caesar If they had anything to say.
In the play, both Antony and Brutus use parallelism in Antony’s speech he uses parallelism to create balance within his speech. He provides parallelism to ask rhetorical questions and get a answer he wants the plebeians to hear. “As Caesar loved me, I weep for him. As he was fortunate, I rejoice at it. As he was valiant, I honor him, but as he was ambitious I slew him.” Brutus uses parallelism here to show the contrast between how he loved and respected him as a person, and how his one tragic flaw, his ambition would lead to his death.
I believe that the people of Rome have lost their reason regarding their perception of Caesar. Antony and Brutus use lots of rhetorical questions in Julius Caesar for instance “Does this in Caesar seem ambitious?” This rhetorical questions intent is to lead the audience to believe that he is not ambitious. “Had you rather Caesar were living and die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live all free men?” Brutus utilizes this rhetorical question to show the plebeians that he killed Caesar so they wouldn’t be oppressed and treated like “slaves”, but instead be free from his tyrannical rule.
Marc Antony’s speech wins over the crowd, resulting in an unfortunate situation for Brutus. Marc Antony smartly begins his speech with the line: “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.” Brutus refers to them as Romans first, but Antony refers to them as friends first; this gains the crowd’s trust. Antony uses a little reverse psychology on the crowd, getting them to clamor to hear Caesar’s will by insisting that they shouldn’t hear it. Again Antony insists Brutus is honorable, but then points out the gash Brutus made in his friend’s bloody body.