It only takes a handful of sarcasm to make a crowd go mad. In the play “Julius Caesar” by William Shakespeare, Marc Antony does just that. In the play Brutus and the conspirators have killed Caesar. At first the group does not want Caesar’s best friend Antony to speak at his funeral because they are afraid he will trash talk them, but Brutus allows him to with a few rules. At Caesar’s funeral Antony gives a speech that persuades the crowd to join his side instead of Brutus’. He does it in a very smart way though while following the rules Brutus has given him. Instead of telling the citizens flat out that they should join his side and that Brutus’ and the rest of the conspirators that killed Caesar were wrong for killing him. He does it using verbal irony. Four different phrases Antony uses in his speech that contain verbal irony will be explained throughout this document.
…show more content…
As long as he followed the rules he could say whatever he wanted. To start off his speech Antony tells the citizens “I come to bury Caesar, not praise him.’’ (Antony 49). Little did the citizens know he would do the complete opposite. All Antony does in his speech is praise Caesar and everything that he has done. For example, Brutus says Caesar was ambitious and that was why he was murdered, but Antony fights back and says otherwise. Antony tells the crowd “When that the poor hath cried, Caesar hath wept” (Antony 50). He also tells them that Caesar earned money for Rome when he brought in captives and he rejected the crown three times. Does that sound like ambition? I think not. He got the crowd to believe that he was not ambitious like the “honorable” Brutus said he was. Yes, Antony did fight back and disagree with Brutus, but he followed the rules he was
As long as he followed the rules he could say whatever he wanted. To start off his speech Antony tells the citizens “I come to bury Caesar, not praise him.’’ (Antony 49). Little did the citizens know he would do the complete opposite. All Antony does in his speech is praise Caesar and everything that he has done. For example, Brutus says Caesar was ambitious and that was why he was murdered, but Antony fights back and says otherwise. Antony tells the crowd “When that the poor hath cried, Caesar hath wept” (Antony 50). He also tells them that Caesar earned money for Rome when he brought in captives and he rejected the crown three times. Does that sound like ambition? I think not. He got the crowd to believe that he was not ambitious like the “honorable” Brutus said he was. Yes, Antony did fight back and disagree with Brutus, but he followed the rules he was