In Act III scene 2 of the play Julius Caesar, Marc Antony delivers a powerful speech to the citizens who have assembled in the Forum after the assassination of his friend, Julius Caesar. The citizens have just finished listening to a speech by Brutus in which he has tried to justify the killing of Caesar, explaining that Caesar was too ambitious and had to die for the good of Rome. Brutus succeeds in persuading the crowds, who are ready to
             "Let him be Caesar" (l. 43)
             Marc Antony successfully sets out to defend Caesar against the accusation of ambition and to turn the crowd against Brutus and the conspirators by a very skillfully constructed and manipulative speech.
             Marc Antony immediately captures the hostile crowd's attention, using tone and visual effects. He walks in carrying Caesar's body, making a very dramatic entrance. Then he starts to speak, using words that can only be uttered in a soft tone:
             and the result is that it is not he but the citizens who are telling each other to be quiet so they can hear what he has to say. He addresses them as friends (l. 65), careful not to antagonise them.
             Throughout his speech Marc Antony uses irony to convey to the crowds the complete opposite to the actual words he uses. He combines the irony with repetition, thereby creating a feeling of swelling emotion and increasing sense of injustice at what has been done. This is especially evident in Marc Antony's repeated use of the word 'honourable' and the phrase
             "And Brutus is an honourable man"
             and referring to the conspirators as "honourable men" throughout his speech, thereby raising increasing doubts in the minds of the citizens. He balances the repetition of this phrase with something positive about Caesar or something negative about his death. An example of this is when Marc Antony says:
             "He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
             ...