Shakespeare Julius Caesar Act
III Scene II Analysis
The death of unborn tyrant of Rome Julius Caesar by William
Shakespeare is this week blogpost. The blogpost discusses the following issues
that the play Julius Caesar raises: Two different art of persuasion, Reverse
psychology, Mark Anthony speech as masterpiece of wicked and sly demagoguery. Moreover,
critical opinions about these issues will be expressed in the blog, as we will show
variety of meanings and results that such remarkable play contains.
Keywords: Rhetoric, regicide, the Elizabethan times, Mischief, reverse
psychology.
In the Roman times there was the idea of having no tyrant
as Rome was ruled by the senators (powerful institution). Julius Caesar a powerful senate and a leader that
have possessed the ability to become a tyrant and were proposed the crown
several times yet he rejected it. Caesar was killed by his friends one of which
was Brutus man with principles and honourable friend of Caesar. Mark Anthony devoted
follower of Caesar and Brutus both stand against the crowd justifying the death
of Caesar.
The
power of rhetoric and oratory skills:
First Brutus speaks, then Anthony,
both of them are aiming to persuade the crowd to their side. We will observe
mostly Anthony’s speech and its effect on the crowd. Brutus speaks to the
people in prose rather than in verse. He quickly convinces the people that
Caesar had to die because he would have become a tyrant and brought suffering
to them all. Mark Anthony’s speech was performed through the use of rhetorical
strategies in his speech after Caesar’s death, he successfully debunks Brutus’s
assumptions. Beginning with Kairos, which is using the correct timing, in his speech. He allows
Brutus to speak before him, which gives him the opportunity to rebut Brutus’s
argument. Anthony’s entire arguments are based on providing examples to counter
Brutus’s initial claim that Caesar was ambitious. Then with Exdoxa,
or commonly held beliefs. Mark Anthony uses events that citizens witnessed
as support for his position, by reminding them of the wealth that Caesar
brought to Rome, his sympathy for the poor, and his refusal to take the throne
when offered it, which are details seeming to disprove any charges of ambition.
Now if we think of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I have a dream"
speech, and the repeated emphasis in that speech. Anthony did the same thing
with the phrase "For Brutus is an honorable man, So are they all, all
honorable men" or "But Brutus says he was ambitious, And Brutus is an
honorable man." (3.2.84-85). The phrase is repeated four times, allowing
the crowd to question Brutus' honor. The next step in his speech was to pause
and to weep openly before the plebeians, which makes them feel pity for him and
for his case. Then furthermore, he descends from the pulpit which is an
effective way of becoming one with the people than Brutus’s strategy of
speaking in prose. He, then, reveals Caesar's wounds, as he is fully aware,
that image speaks far better for his cause than any words possibly could, then
he pretends to hold them back, but only wishes to stir them up more. He claims,
with false modesty, that he is not a great orator, like Brutus, and that he doesn’t
intend to incite revolt. Yet in this very sentence he effects the exact
opposite of what his words say, he was able light up the fire of the people’s
fury with his presentation of Caesar’s will. Showing his intent to share his
wealth with the people of Rome. Anthony utilizes the people’s sense of
injustice at being stripped of so generous a ruler. The people completely
forget their former sympathy for Brutus and rise up against the conspirators,
leaving Anthony to marvel at the force of what he has done.
“The power of speech has the same effect on the condition of the soul
as the application of drugs to the
state of bodies; for just as different drugs dispel different fluids from the
body, and some bring an end to disease but others end life, so also some
speeches cause pain, some pleasure, some fear; some instil courage, some drug
and bewitch the soul with a kind of evil persuasion”.
~Greek Sophist Gorgias in 414 BC~
Julius Caesar’s play is a highly effective way
of delivering a moral lesson for its viewers. A simple analysis of the two ways
of convincing presented in this blogpost shows how the choice of the art of
persuasion resulted in a succession of speeches. This strong psychological
fight made the listeners –The senators- feel a quick change of mind regarding
the issue presented until a point at which Brutus lost the duel with Anthony’s
final trick.
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