Jay Patel

Mr. Naughton

English 2

23 February 2017

Antony vs Brutus

Have your parents ever tried to prove something to you but then you go BAM! and lay

down undeniable evidence? Antony and Brutus had an experience somewhat similar to that.

Antony and Brutus are characters in the play Julius Caesar written by William Shakespeare,

about the the life of arguably the greatest leader of all time, Julius Caesar. In the play both

characters give a speech after Caesar gets stabbed to death by seven people. Brutus, who stabs

Caesar even though he was Caesars closest friend, makes a speech about why they killed

Caesar. Antony on the other hand makes a speech about how great Caesar was and that he wasnt

a tyrant. The people of Rome have to decide who to trust and why. Both Brutus and Antony use

trust, logic, and emotion, but Antonys speech is more persuasive due to the fact that he uses

irony and dramatic pauses.

Brutus uses trust, logic, and emotion to try and convince the people that Caesar was a

tyrant. Trust was a very important factor to include in the speech because when Brutus kills

Caesar, the people need to know who to trust now that they dont have a king anymore. Brutus

calls the people Romans, countrymen, and lovers (3.2.14) to make them feel that Brutus cares

about them and that he is a very trustworthy man. He also made them think he was trustworthy

by talking about how great Caesar was. He also says that Caesar was a tyrant that he had just

saved every Roman. In his speech he included that [He] loved Rome more(3.2.23-24).
Showing the people that he too cares about Rome and its future. Using logic also helped Brutus

convey his message that Caesar was a tyrant. Logic is also very important to include in a speech

because it makes sense to the Romans why Caesar was killed. Brutus states that if Caesar were

alive... [you would] die all slaves (3.2.24-25) What brutus means by that is that if Caesar were

alive and he became king everybody in Rome would become slaves never to be freed. Brutus has

given Caesar death for his ambition(3.2.30). Brutus tells the people that Caesar was killed

because of his ambition even though he loved him no less than all the people. The final tactic

that was used in his speech was emotion. Emotion is the most important thing to have in Brutuss

speech because it ignites anger for Caesar, hatred for his thoughts, and guilt for thinking that

Caesar was going to be a good king. Brutus uses this by asking the people if there is someone so

rude that would not be a Roman(3.2.32-33). He basically asks the people if there is anyone that

is not a Roman or a person that believes in Rome. He makes them feel strongly about Rome so

that they start to trust Brutus even more. He tells everybody that he slew [his] best lover for the

good of Rome(3.2.47-48) making everybody feel sympathy towards him. Brutus uses all of

these tactics in his speech so that the Romans can trust him that he is saying the truth.

Antony on the other hand uses all of these tactics plus irony and dramatic pauses to make

his speech even more trustworthy. He uses these dramatic pauses to make the people feel shame

towards themselves for not believing in their King. He uses Irony because Brutus had told him to

not to talk bad about Brutus. Antony calls the people Friends, Romans, countrymen(3.2.82)

bringing them closer to him. Brutus never said friends and when antony says it, it makes them

feel united and indifferent. It builds a lot of trust between the romans and Antony. Antony

includes that he comes under the leave of Brutus and the rest(3.2.89) saying that he was trusted
enough to come here and speak with them all. It makes the people feel that he must not have bad

intentions. He also keeps on saying Brutus is an honorable man(3.2.96) in a sarcastic way to

make the people mad and guilty for thinking that Brutus was able to make them think bad about

Caesar. Using irony was one of the best ways Antony was able to convince the people to believe

him. By mixing Irony and trustworthy words, he was able to make the Romans distrust Brutus

and trust Antony more. A lot of logic is also used in the speech just like Brutus used. Antony had

the will of Caesar and saying that if he read then they would go and kiss dead Caesars

wounds(3.2.144) .This makes the people want to hear the will to see what their king had left for

them. He also said that the will will inflame you(3.2.156 ) making them even more eager to

hear what the will has in it. Another important part to the speech is emotion and dramatic pauses.

Dramatic pauses allows Antony to add extra emotion to the speech. He uses this when he says

[his] heart is in the coffin there with Caesar(3.2.116) He means that he is am going to have to

wait until he can speak again because he is choking with tears. This allows the public to also

change their mind about Caesar being a tyrant. The emotion is used at the same time when

Antony says that his heart is there with Caesar. The audience then create a link between them

and Antony making them sad as well. All of these tactics together makes Antonys speech a

powerful way to change peoples minds

Rubric rating submitted on: 3/9/2017, 1:35:51 PM by kyle.naughton@chsd117.org

5 4 3 2 0

INTRO Thought-provok Basic attention No attention

Attention ing, creative getter, but it getter
Getter: attempt to engages the
Your score: 5 engage reader reader

INTRO All necessary Almost all Missing most of No background

Background info is included: necessary info: the background info
Info: Shakespeare, one or two info
Your score: 5 Caesar's death, details are
the purposes of missing.
each speech

INTRO Unique claim Unique claim, Basic claim, part Missing thesis
Thesis: with all parts of although one of the prompt is
Your score: 5 the prompt part of the ignored or
addressed: prompt is not misunderstood
rhetorical addressed. See
similarities, comments.
rhetorical
differences, and
a position on
whose speech
was better

BODY The topic There is an Missing topic

Topic sentence attempt at a sentence
Sentences: accurately topic sentence,
Your score: 3 communicates although it only
the point of the indicates the
paragraph paragraph's
topic partially

BODY - The body - The body - Either there Missing quotes

Evidence/Quote paragraph paragraph aren't enough
s: contains a contains a quotes or the
Your score: 5 sufficient sufficient quotes you have
amount of amount of aren't
evidence to evidence to sufficiently
make its point. make its point. supporting the
- The quotes are - The quotes are point you're
all blended all blended trying to make
gracefully gracefully
- The quotes are - Citations are
all cited missing
properly

BODY - Each quote is - Most of your - Some of your - Few of your - None of your
Analysis and analyzed and quotes are quotes are quotes are quotes are
Explanation of explained in a analyzed and analyzed and analyzed and analyzed and
Quotes: way that explained in a explained in a explained in a explained in a
Your score: 4 thoroughly way that way that way that way that
supports the thoroughly thoroughly thoroughly thoroughly
point of the supports the supports the supports the supports the
paragraph point of the point of the point of the point of the
paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph

BODY - There are - There are some Missing

Transitions: unique transitions transitions
Your score: 4 transitions between most
between each paragraphs and
paragraph and between most
between each subpoints
subpoint

GRAMMAR - Grammar is - There is only - There are - There are No evidence of

Spelling, usage: pristine. No one minor error. several minor several major proofreading
Your score: 4 issues. errors. errors.

CONVENTION - Conventions - There are one - There are Many issues

S: are followed. No or two instances capitalization
Capitalization, use of 'you' or of lack of errors
punctuation, use 'I,' no formality where
of 'I' or 'You': capitalization the writer uses
Your score: 4 issues the 1st or 2nd
person

Comments: