We are going to examine Antony’s speech



We are going to examine Antony’s speech. We must first remember the situation. He has promised the conspirators that he will not speak ill of them in front of the crowd. Furthermore, Brutus has successfully convinced the crowd that Caesar deserved death, and they are ready to give Brutus “a statue with his ancestors” for his heroism. Thus Antony indeed faces a hostile audience. After reading his speech again carefully, use the following questions to help you analyze his rhetorical abilities.

1. First, does he successfully convince the crowd that Caesar was wronged? ___________________

2. To what extent is he successful or unsuccessful? _________________________

Now let us examine HOW he masterfully manipulates his audience.

Section One:

1. What does Antony say in line 3? _______________________________________

2. Why does he say this? (Hint: What is the state of the crowd as Brutus leaves and why would he want to use “logos” first? How is this also “ethos”?) __________________________________________________________________

3. In lines 11-12, how does Antony refer to Brutus and the other conspirators? __________________________________________________________________

4. Does he really feel this way? _________ . Why does he say it? __________________________________________________________________

5. In lines 14-34, does Antony appeal to ethos, pathos, logos or a combination of the appeals? Provide evidence. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6. Does he provide evidence of Caesar’s “ambition”? ____________ What does the evidence show? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7. List the evidence he provides. _________________________________________

8. Copy the lines that refer directly to logos. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

9. Again, why would Antony want to use logos in the first part of his speech? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

10. Immediately following each example of how Caesar was actually not ambitious, Antony say, _______________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

11. What is the effect of this repetition? ____________________________________

12. In other word, Brutus says Caesar was ambitious and Brutus is honorable. But if Caesar was not ambitious, this makes Brutus a liar, and a liar cannot be ______________________?

13. Write the two rhetorical questions Antony uses in Section 1. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

14. Why does he phrase them a questions rather than statements? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

15. Antony says he speaks “not to disprove what Brutus spoke,” is this true? __________________________________________________________________

16. Why does he say this? __________________________________________________________________

17. In lines 34-36, Antony pauses. Why does he say that he must pause? __________________________________________________________________

18. This is a clever strategy. Why would he wish to pause here? Is he appealing to ethos, pathos, or logos? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Section Two:

19. In lines 5-7, what statement is ironic? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

20. Why? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

21. In lines 6-10, what word does Antony repeatedly use and why? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

22. Is he appealing to ethos, pathos, or logos? _________________________________________________________________

23. Whom does he suggest he would rather wrong? __________________________

24. Then he begins to paint himself and the crowd as the ______________________

25. Will Antony read Caesar’s will ___________? What does he say is his reason for this?______________________________________________________________

26. How does Antony use not reading the will to his advantage? __________________________________________________________________

27. In lines 22-27, to what rhetorical purpose does Antony switch? How do you know? ___________________________________________________________

Section Three:

28. Where does Antony have the crowd gather? __________________________________________________________________

29. Why do you think he does this? _______________________________________

30. The appeal to pathos becomes clear in line 1 of this section. State it. __________________________________________________________________

31. What does Antony remember about Caesar’s mantle? __________________________________________________________________

32. Why would he want to bring that up at this point? __________________________________________________________________

33. If you have a hard time with number thirty-two, think of movies and television shows. Whenever something traumatic has happened, for example, someone in a coma, to what does the show flashback and show us? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

34. In lines 6-9, what does Antony point out? ________________________________

35. Why does he mention names? _________________________________________

36. What adjective does he us for Casca? _________ Why? __________________________________________________________________

37. Which conspirator does Antony dwell on? ______________________ Why? _________________________________________________________________

38. What does Antony say “burst (Caesar’s) mighty heart? __________________________________________________________________

39. What types of emotions does this elicit? _________________________________

40. After portraying Caesar as a victim, who else does Antony suggest is a victim by his act? (Use a quote to answer this one.) __________________________________________________________________

41. What is the crowd’s reaction to his speech in line 25? __________________________________________________________________

42. What two words does he finally use at the end of this section? (Hint: look in lines 24 and 29.) _______________________________________________________

Section Four:

43. List three places where Antony clearly says the opposite of what he means. What is the purpose and effect of this irony?

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

44. In lines 17-21, what does Antony suggest might happen if he had the speaking abilities of Brutus? Why is this ironic? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

45. Antony has used his rhetoric to plant what into their minds? __________________________________________________________________

46. What does the crowd vow to do? ______________________________________

47. As the crowd is about to leave, Antony yet again makes them stay and finally rattles off what Caesar left in his will. Why had he not mentioned it before now? _____________________________________________________________

48. What happens that shows the crowd will no longer listen to the voice of reason? _________________________________________________________________

49. As the crowd disperses, Antony says, “Now let it work: Mischief, thou art afoot, / Take thou what course thou wilt.” What does this reveal about Antony’s true intentions? ________________________________________________________

50. Using your list of rhetorical strategies, list all of the different rhetorical devices that Antony uses and list the section and line numbers where they are used. Use ALL sections to do this.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download