Excerpts from Act III, Scene II Quiz

Answer:

Unlike Anthony's speech, Brutus does not refer to the crowd as "friends". Brutus' speech was meant as an explanation for Caesar's murder. He claimed that his love for Rome was greater than his love for Caesar. It was Caesar's ambition that killed him.

Mark Antony delivers a funeral speech for Julius Caesar following Caesar's assassination. He is doing so only with Brutus' permission and providing the speech does not defame Brutus and his fellow co-conspirators. The speech is a wonderful example of irony and the way rhetoric can be used to say one thing but mean something else.

Antony's references to Brutus as an honorable man subtly and ingeniously show that Brutus is anything but honorable, while also showing that Caesar was not the ambitious man Brutus has said he was.

Anthony begins the speech with the word "Friends", thereby making the speech more casual and inclusive than Brutus's was. He reminds the crowd that he is simply there to deliver a eulogy. He casts doubt on Caesar's ambition and says he is only saying what he knows to be true. There is a clever pun with the word "brutish", although Anthony never calls Brutus a beast.

Mark Antony shows himself to be a persuasive orator who is able to use words to influence the crowd.