William Shakespeare about the Overthrow of Julius Caesar

Speeches are made for many reasons, the main is to persuade an audience. The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, written by William Shakespeare, is a play about the overthrow of Julius Caesar by his conspirators. Following the death of Caesar, Mark Antonius, Caesars prodigee, delivers a very persuasive speech in the most indirect way. Antony's tone, his use of credibility, and rhetorical questions during his speech helped build his reliability with the Romans.

Antony follows an ironic tone throughout his speech. After the death of Caesar, Antony needs a specific tone in order to get the crowd to agree with him.

Antony says, Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;/ and Brutus is an honorable man (III. II. 95-96). Before Antony's speech, Brutus delivered a speech to Antony's current audience and repeated the word honor multiple times to convince the people of Rome that he conspired against Caesar for the good of Rome.

Though after countless remarks Antony creates doubt about Brutus being honorable throughout his audience whe coming up with arguments that challenge the conspirators claims about Caesar. Antony challenged the conspirators saying, I thrice presented him a kingly crown/ which he did thrice refuse./ Was this ambition? (III.II. 95-98). Brutus told the Romans in his speech that he needed to kill Caesar because he was power hungry and would eventually overthrow the Roman Republic. This would appeal to his audience of Romans that aren't sure of their loyalty to Caesar because if Caesar was so ambitious, why would he turn down the position of King not once but three times.

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One that is power hungry as the honorable Brutus says, would do anything for the position of king. Antony continues to prove that Caesar was not ambitious during his speech. Each time an argument is mentioned, doubt is placed on Brutus' claims and Antony's audience begins to believe that Brutus isn't as honorable as he claims to be. By the end of Antony's speech the audience's opinion was manipulated by his ironic tone.

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