Mark Antony's Funeral Oration and His Strategy

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Antony’s Funeral Oration and His Strategy Mark Antony’s speech, in William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, which was made on the occasion of the burial of Caesar’s dead body, is a master piece in demagoguery. His rhetoric instigated the people, who earlier approved the assassination of Caesar as fully justified, to rise up in revolt against Marcus Brutus and his accomplices. It is interesting to study how Antony could do this feat not with weapons but only with the help of his oratorical prowess. The speech is a well-thought out one consisting of several components which had taken into account the prevailing political background together with Brutus’ social standing in the Roman society. It also had made provision to meet the challenge of the pro-Brutus public opinion that emerged after Brutus’ speech to the Plebeians. It was with this kind of blue print that Antony got onto the pulpit to make his funeral oration. The speech has several component elements each developing a particular aspect. The initial or the first part of the speech (line 72 to 106-Act 3. ii) performs a dual function. While trying to cause the mass of people to get rid of the bias it has against Antony, who is Caesar’s best friend, and also to convince it that, what he says is done with the permission of Brutus, he develops his rationale that Caesar was not ambitious as alleged by Brutus. He uses his fine art of speaking not to show that he is violating the undertaking made to Brutus that he would not blame him. He knows if the pro-Brutus crowd sees that he is finding fault with Brutus, it will raise objections and will not allow him to continue with his speech. At the commencement of his speech, Antony is very tactful, patient, humble and has the presence of mind not to do anything that will antagonize the pro-Brutus feeling. He also tries to convince the people there that he too is
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