Friday, August 1, 2014

In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, how is Antony's funeral speech more personal than Brutus' speech?

The funeral speeches of Act 3, Scene 2 mark a turning point in the play, as they effectively launch the civil war that rages for the rest of production. As such, they're worth paying attention to. In general, Antony's funeral speech is more personal than Brutus' because Antony focuses on profiling Caesar as an honorable leader who was unjustly murdered, while Brutus focuses on how murdering Caesar was for the good of the state. 


In...

The funeral speeches of Act 3, Scene 2 mark a turning point in the play, as they effectively launch the civil war that rages for the rest of production. As such, they're worth paying attention to. In general, Antony's funeral speech is more personal than Brutus' because Antony focuses on profiling Caesar as an honorable leader who was unjustly murdered, while Brutus focuses on how murdering Caesar was for the good of the state. 


In analyzing Brutus' speech, it's necessary to take a closer look at these lines in particular:



If then that friend demand why Brutus rose


against Caesar, this is my answer: Not that I


lov'd Caesar less, but that I lov'd Rome more. (21-3)



In this section, Brutus signals that his choice to rise against Caesar had nothing to do with hating him; rather, it was an entirely political action, driven by the motive to protect the sovereignty of the Roman Republic. As such, Brutus focuses on the concerns of the state at large, rather than on his personal friendship with Caesar, and so his speech achieves a detached, political tone.


By contrast, Antony focuses on painting a portrait of Caesar as a noble man. He references how Caesar made Rome wealthy through conquest (88-9), how he cared for the poor (91), and how he refused the offer of kingship (95-7). All in all, Antony's speech is more personal because he aims to paint Caesar as a selfless individual who nobly led his subjects. This description, whether or not it is accurate, is a sinister political move aimed at goading the plebeians into rising up against Brutus and Cassius. By doing so, Antony betrays the assassins and moves to seize power for himself.

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