Funeral Orations for Julius Caesar:
Brutus’s Funeral Oration:
Brutus, in a somewhat arrogant, to the point, funeral oration, attempts to sway the people. He justifies conspiring against Caesar by stating that Caesar's ambition would have hurt Rome. However, in Antony's oration, he focuses on Caesar's positive traits, and cunningly disproves
Brutus tried to justify his reason’s for killing Caesar. The Romans go back and forth between leaders, responding emotionally, rather than intellectually, to the orators. Brutus seeks to explain why he conspired against Caesar. He begins his speech with "Romans, countrymen ...", appealing to their consciousness as citizens of Rome, who, he later says, will benefit as freeman with Caesar's death. This shows that Brutus knows how to lure the crowd, appealing to their better judgement as Romans. His use of diction and cunning words help him to better express his point. He declares that he is an honorable man, and tells them that he will let them judge the validity of his claims. That is, he will allow the truth to speak for itself. This encourages the crowd to believe him, as an honorable man. He says that he wants them to know the facts. He says that the reason for killing Caesar was his great love for Rome. He justifies this by saying that he loved Caesar but, "Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more." He then asks rhetorically if the people would want to live their lives as slaves under Caesar's rule or would they prefer to live as freemen with Caesar dead. To anyone insulted by his speech he wonders if, as Romans who love their freedom, they could be offended or reject what he, Brutus, says. He poses the question, "Who is here so base that would be a bondman?" He stresses the point, repeating the line, "If any, speak, for him have I offended." "I pause for a reply.", allows them to respond to his rhetorical questions, giving them an even greater sense that he cares about them and their opinions. They can only respond, " None, Brutus, none." That is, none are offended, they do not disagree or argue with his words or his actions.
Mark Antony’s Funeral Oration:
Mark Antony's funeral oration uses a different approach. He starts out by addressing the crowd as "Friends" because he wants to come to them as a friend rather than a ruler trying to gain power. He then says, "I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.", thus he can ease in praises of Caesar without the crowd stopping him. He sounds very sincere when he says, "The noble Brutus hath told you Caesar was ambitious.... For Brutus is an honorable man." He repeats that statement three more times becoming increasingly sarcastic, saying finally, "Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, and sure he was an honorable man." Since the people responded positively to Brutus' speech, Antony could not insult Brutus' honesty in a direct manner. Yet, Antony disproves Caesar's ambition with three examples. The people of Rome are swayed to him by his dramatics, his way of making a point, his repetition, and compelling proof of Caesar's concern. All of these style elements help him to take the crowd on “his side.”
In conclusion, Antony's examples give him an advantage over Brutus because he backs up statements while Brutus leaves his statements more open-ended. The people seem to find it easier to accept Antony, an emotional and sincere speaker, than Brutus who appears arrogant and forceful. Antony’s style of paralleism and syntax helped him to get his point across better than Brutus did.