“Julius Caesar”
(1599-1600)
Act III, Scene II
William Shakespeare
Mark Antony’s Oration at Caesar’s Funeral
Antony Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
5 So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answer’d it.
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest–
10 For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men–
Come I to speak in Caesar’s funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
15 And Brutus is an honourable man.
He hath brought many captives home to Rome
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
20
25
30
35
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?
O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.
First Plebeian Methinks there is much reason in his sayings.
Second Plebeian If thou consider rightly of the matter,
Caesar has had great wrong.
Third Plebeian Has he, masters?
40
I fear there will a worse come in his place.
Fourth Plebeian Marked ye his words?
He would not take the crown;
Therefore 'tis certain he was not ambitious.
First Plebeian If it be found so, some will dear abide it.
45 Second Plebeian Poor soul! his eyes are red as fire with
weeping.
Third Plebian There's not a nobler man in Rome than Antony
Fourth Plebeian Now mark him, he begins again to speak
Antony O masters, if I were disposed to stir
Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage,
50
I should do Brutus wrong, and Cassius wrong,
Who, you all know, are honourable men:
I will not do them wrong; I rather choose
To wrong the dead, to wrong myself and you,
Than I will wrong such honourable men.
55
60
65
70
75
But here's a parchment with the seal of Caesar;
I found it in his closet, 'tis his will:
Let but the commons hear this testament
Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read
And they would go and kiss dead Caesar's wounds,
And dip their napkins in his sacred blood,
Yea, beg a hair of him for memory, […]
All The will, the will! we will hear Caesar's will.
ANTONY Have patience, gentle friends, I must not read it;
It is not meet you know how Caesar loved you.
You are not wood, you are not stones, but men;
And, being men, bearing the will of Caesar,
It will inflame you, it will make you mad:
'Tis good you know not that you are his heirs;
For, if you should, O, what would come of it?
Fourth Plebeian Read the will; we'll hear it, Antony;
You shall read us the will, Caesar's will.
Antony Will you be patient? will you stay awhile?
I have o'ershot myself to tell you of it:
I fear I wrong the honourable men
Whose daggers have stabbed Caesar; I do fear it.
Fourth Plebeian They were traitors: honourable men!
All The will! The testament!
Second Plebeian They were villains, murderers!
The will! Read the will!.
.
SPEAKING
“Julius Caesar is a historical figure: go back to that period of Roman history and with
the help of your teacher and your classmates refresh your memory; then read the
passage.
• Open answer
LANGUAGE THROUGH LITERATURE
1. Focus on the first part of Antony’s speech(ll. 1-35). Find in the text the opposite
of these adjectives
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
mean
humble
rejoicing
dishonourable
distrustful
wrongful
sterner
polite
noble
ambitious
grievous
honourable
faithful
just
kinder
brutish
LANGUAGE THROUGH LITERATURE
2. Consider the expression “under leave of Brutus” (l.9).
– Can you find any other way to express the same concept?
– “with the permission of Brutus”
3. Now consider: “And men have lost their reason” (l.33).
– What else can you lose? Use your monolingual dictionary to find more
examples.
– weight, money, a game, a close relative, blood, sight, contact, face, your head,
track, etc.
4. Focus on two important verbs: “to do” and “to make”.
a. Both of them correspond to the Italian verb “fare”.
b. Find in the text two expressions with these verbs:
– “the evil that men do” (l.3)
– “ambition should be made” (l.20).
5. Now use your monolingual dictionary to find more examples.
a. What can you “do”?
̶
your homework, your best, good, harm, business, a favour, the housework,
the shopping, the cleaning, the washing, the washing up etc.
LANGUAGE THROUGH LITERATURE
b. What can you “make”?
– friends, money, a cake, a suggestion, a mess, a mistake, an effort, an excuse, a
decision, a complaint, an exception, arrangements, plans, laws, rules etc.
6. There are several rhetorical devices in the text. Give the names of the rhetorical
devices used in these exoressions:
a. “Friends, Romans, countrymen” (l. 1)
– captatio benevolentiae
b. “home to Rome” (l.16)
– Internal rhyme
c. “brutish beast” (l.32)
– Alliteration
7. Two more rhetorical devices have been highlighted for you in blue and yellow.
Add one or more examples in the same colours.
praeteritio “I come to bury Caesar not to praise him” (l.2)
“I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke” (l. 28)
LANGUAGE THROUGH LITERATURE
anaphora : “The/The (ll. 3-4); “And / And” (ll8, 15, 22, 27, 33);
“Yet /Yet” (ll. 21, 26); “But / But” (ll. 14, 29).
GUIDED ANALYSIS
1. Consider the first part of Antony’s speech (ll. 1-35)
Mark Antony is a great orator, not only because of what he says but also because of
“how” he says it.
a. To defend Caesar, Antony begins by giving Brutus’ opinion of Caesar. Read lines 5-6
an quote.
• “The noble Brutus / Hath told you Caesar was ambitious”
b. Does Antony agree with what Brutus says?
• No, he will in fact prove it to be false.
c. Underline the phrases in which Antony makes his positive opinion of Caesar be
followed by Brutus’s negative opinion of Caesar.
• “He was my friend, faithful and just to me; / But Brutus says he was ambitious. /
And Brutus is an honourable man” (ll. 13-15); “When that the poor have cried,
Caesar hath wept; / Ambition should be made of sterner staff . / Yet Brutus says he
was ambitious. / And Brutus is an honourable man” (ll. 19-22);
GUIDED ANALYSIS
1. Consider the first part of Antony’s speech (ll. 1-35)
c. “I thrice presented him a kingly crown, / Which he did thrice refuse. Was this
ambition? / Yet Brutus says he was ambitious. / And sure he is an honourable man
(ll. 24-27).
d. What is the effect of this rhetorical strategy? What does Antony want to prove?
• Antony attacks Brutus indirectly and by doing so he makes the crowd hate Brutus.
He wants to prove that Brutus’ speech is a false one.
e. Would you say the expression “Brutus is an honourable man” is used by Antony in
a literal or in an ironic way?
• He is being ironic. He means that Brutus has told the people of Rome a lie, and is
not at all an honourable man.
2. Focus on the crowd (lines 36-47 / 70-79)
a. Why can we speak of the crowd as a collective entity in this passage?
• Because its words and actions are in fact expression of a collective response to
Antony’s speech.
b. What was the attitude of the crowd before Antony began to speak?
• Against Caesar and in favour of Brutus and of the other conspirators.
GUIDED ANALYSIS
2. Focus on the crowd (lines 36-47 / 70-79)
a. How does the attitude of the crowd change during Antony’s speech?
• The crowd sides with Julius Caesar: Methinks there is much reason in his sayings”
(l. 36); “Therefore ‘tis certain he was not ambitious” (l. 43).
3. Now consider the second part of Antony’s speech (lines 48-69).
In lines 48-68 Antony uses other rhetorical devices. One is that of saying he will
not do something that he is already doing or is going to do; another is that of
considering the possibility of doing something (“if I ...) which he is in fact already
doing. Can you find examples of both devices?
“Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read” (l. 58)
“If I were disposed to stir /Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage”, / I should
do Brutus wrong, and Cassius wrong” (ll. 48-50);