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Introduction ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .4

Supporting my points ................................ ................................ ................................ ................. 4

Conclusion ................................ ................................ ................................ ..................................5

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utline

I. Ê Introduction

II. Ê Similarities

III. Ê Julius Caesar

IV. Ê Brutus¶ Speech

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clex Kwon

Ms. Kolnik

World Literature

25 January 2011

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Who would the citizens of Rome trust, Brutus, one of the murderers of Julius Caesar who

loved Brutus very much, or cntonius, a great loyal friend to Julius Caesar?

Brutus gave his speech to the crowd first, whom he successfully convinced. They believed and á


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respected him after being slightly brainwashed by his very tricky words, which he could not actually

prove. The crowd may have listened to him, and may have been convinced with Brutus¶ words about

Caesar, but when cntony¶s speech was dictated, the plebeians considered what he said, and believed

in cntony, that Caesar was in fact the opposite of how Brutus had described him. á


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Similarities in the speeches of Brutus and of cntony are clearly shown from the beginning of

their speeches. When Brutus tries to show kindness and friendship to the crowd, he calls them

³Romans, countrymen, and lovers´ (line 14), and ³Good countrymen´ (line 61). cntony also

nominates them as ³Friends, Romans, countrymen´, to notify them that he ›
 them, and to receive

their love back to him. To catch the attention of the plebeians, Brutus says, ³hear me´ (line 14), and

cntony says, ³lend me your ears´ (line 222). Both of these men mention something about their

personal relationship with Caesar. Brutus believes that Caesar loved him (line 26; line 47 ³my best

lover´), which indeed was true, while cntony did not say a word about Caesar loving cntony, but his

emotions and love for Caesar, when he says ³He was my friend, faithful and just to me´ (line 94).

Compliments and great achievements of Julius Caesar are mentioned a few times. Brutus calls

Caesar ³valiant´ (line 27), and cntony brings up Caesar¶s achievement of ³bringing many captives
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home to Rome´ (line 97), in order to remind the plebeians that Caesar was great and significant to the

people of Rome. The men were not rude and heedless enough to not mention the sorrow and

depression of the mighty Caesar. Brutus says that he ³weeps for him´ (line 26). Since cntony was

truly sorrowful, he physically wept in front of the crowd at the end of his speech (line 117), and he

says that his ³heart is in the coffin«with Caesar´ (line 116).

The main µtheme¶ of Brutus¶ speech and cntony¶s speech are very different. Brutus was

mainly concentrating on defending himself, and accusing Caesar of becoming a tyrant who is gaining

too much power (lines 24-26). Brutus did not actually prove or had any evidence that Caesar was

becoming a tyrant, or that Caesar was going to make the plebeians slaves (line 25). Brutus claimed

that Caesar was µambitious¶. He had no proof or evidence that Caesar was ambitious (line 28). Brutus

was just giving reasons of why he killed Caesar (lines 21-26), and was trying to gain honor and trust

from the plebeians by talking to them in a way to show his love for them, since he claimed that he

killed Caesar not because he loved him less, but ³because he loved Rome more´ (lines 23-24). Brutus

continuously insults and accuses Caesar during his speech, while also trying to find excuses for

murdering Caesar. Brutus did not speak with much emotions or feelings, and never wept or dropped

tears.

cntony¶s main target was to avenge Julius Caesar¶s death, by getting those conspirators and

especially Brutus. Unlike Brutus, cntony was continually offensive to Brutus, but defensive to Caesar,

by saying that Caesar was not ambitious (lines 97-99, 105-106). The different style between Brutus¶

speech and cntony¶s speech was that cntony spoke eloquently, and was able to prove that Brutus was

wrong. He spoke very ironically and sarcastically about Brutus, by repeatedly saying ³Brutus says that

Caesar was ambitious, and Brutus is an honorable man´ (e.g. lines 95-96, 107-108). cntony mentioned

many great things about Caesar, to remind the people that ³they all did love him once´ (line 111), in
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order to prove to the people that Caesar was a very caring, generous man. cntony had a large time

talking to the plebeians, which were multiples times bigger than how long Brutus spoke for. cntony

cried at the end of his main speech, which Brutus did not do (line 117), which shows that he was true

with his words.

Brutus assumed that the crowd would be on his side and that they would choose to live a life

without Caesar than with Caesar. This is demonstrated when he asks the question ³Had you rather

Caesar alive« to live all freemen´ in lines 24-26. He believes that the plebeians would agree with

him, since it is better to live as freemen that slave. cntony knows that the citizens all loved Caesar

once (line 111), so he knows that the citizens had a good impression and love for him before Brutus

tried to persuade them. He used this advantage by reminding the plebeians, and he was able to change

the thoughts of the plebeians by pointing out the great jobs that Caesar has done for them and showing

Caesar¶s unambitious mind and warm, kind heart. He skillfully persuades the citizens back to

remembering Caesar as great, and turning them against Brutus and the conspirators who did not have a

good reason for murdering Julius Caesar.

cs a conclusion, the plebeians and the citizens were finally persuaded by cntony, and they

trusted him. cntony¶s speech completely superseded the citizens¶ first thoughts from hearing Brutus¶

speech. The plebeians made a final decision that Brutus and the other murderers involved in the death

of Caesar were ³traitors´ (line 165) and ³villains, murderers´ (line 167). Brutus had a very defensive

speech for himself, only saying improvable facts of Caesar, while cntony had a strong offensive side

towards Brutus and the conspirators who murdered Caesar, with good proof to oppose Brutus¶ words.