Paragraph Analysis #2

“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!”

 As Antony is speaking to the citizens of Rome, he tries to convince them that Caesar’s death is not something that can just slip by. The love they used to have for Caesar has to be a reason for revenge against the conspirators. His convincing speech has enough rhetorical devices to make the crowd a rowdy one. Pathos, parallelism, and counterarguments all contribute to overpower Brutus' earlier speech. To prove that Antony uses pathos, he states: "I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. / The good is oft interred with their bones; / So let it be with Caesar..."(Caesar 3.2    ) This proves that Antony did love Caesar and his love for him will not die. This maintains Antony's view of Caesar being great and the citizens reflect on all the things that Caesar has provided for them. Once Antony has captured his audience's emotions, he includes counterarguments proving that Brutus was wrong about Caesar. "When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept;/ Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:/ Yet Brutus says he was ambitious." (Caesar 3.2    ) This counterargument demonstrates the modesty and compassion Caesar had for his people, and Brutus is a liar in saying he was an ambitious man. Together with the counterarguments, Antony integrates parallelism to emphasize the "bad" Brutus. "For Brutus is an honorable man; / And Brutus is an honorable man, / And Brutus is an honorable man." (Caesar 3.2    ) At this point, the crowd is convinced that Brutus was a traitor and a murderer. Over the course of the speech, the diction and repetition used in Antony’s allows him to win the Romans over, and a civil war is going to occur.