Julius Caesar

The speech Antony made at the funeral of Caesar is one of the most famous Shakespearean speeches. Furthermore, Shakespeare encourages the audience to contemplate their views of ambition, morality, and the fickle qualities of human nature. In this scene, there are a few first signs of Mark Antony’s revelation. ) Brutus is a man who trusts his first impressions of Antony; “for Antony, is but a limb of Caesar. Mark Antony, although “wins” the battle, had the potential to antagonise the audience. i) This is obviously quite different from the tolerant, almost passive, tone in Antony that Shakespeare had just recently conveyed . Cassius, nevertheless, is prophetically doubtful, “I think it is not meet, Mark Antony, so well belov’d of Caesar, should outlive Caesar, we shall find of him a shrewd contriver. He is darkly jubilant after sparking off a riot amongst the plebeians. Ironically, this respect to Brutus is delivered with the same powerful oratory style that led to his fall. He says very little, and when he does utter, the audience is given the impression that he his merely speaking for the reassurance or benefit of Caesar, as opposed to the open self-expression of the other characters in the scene; “Fear him not, Caesar, he’s not dangerous.