Antony Monologue Take-Home Written Test
In Act III, i, Antony conveys his true feelings about the death of Caesar. The message and tone is that Antony feels angry and vengeful so he pretends to be on the conspirators’ side, while he plans to get revenge. Antony says, “’Thou are the ruins of the noblest man that ever lived in the tide of times. Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood!'(III, I, 256-258). In other words, Antony is saying that there lies the body of the most powerful and honorable man in all of history and shame on whoever killed him. Earlier when Antony spoke to the conspirators, he shrewdly pretends to go along with the conspirators, asking to speak at Caesar's funeral. Pretending loyalty, he plans revenge. Though he pretends to approve of Caesar's death, inwardly, Mark Antony is appalled. He stands grieving over Caesar's body, vowing revenge. In contrast to the conspirators' blatant betrayal, Mark Antony's loyalty to Caesar is admirable. In the funeral, he must persuade the crowd that has gathered that Caesar's murder was unjust, and turn them against Brutus and Cassius. He tries to stir his listeners' anger, rousing them into action and yet say nothing bad about his enemies. Marc Antony uses several persuasive devices in his monologue, which allows us to understand what his true reaction is. Antony foretells,”‘Which like dumb mouths do ope their ruby lips, to beg the voice and utterance of my tongue. A curse shall light upon the limbs of men’ (III,