Arguments and Common Ground of Mark Antony in 'Julius Caesar'

Imagine this: it is the ancient Roman Republic and Julius Caesar has won over the hearts of the people, putting him in the perfect position to usurp the traditional government and seize total control. However, before this could happen he’s assassinated by a troop of jealous Senators headed by Brutus. The betrayer then proceeds to persuade the commoners that he killed Caesar to maintain order and that it was done with love for Rome. With little effort the crowd now sways toward Brutus’s side and only remembers Caesar as the tyrant Brutus makes him to be; here Caesar’s most devoted friend, Mark Antony, must now address the crowd and ultimately flip the audience again by reminding them of the love they used to have for Caesar. In Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare’s character Mark Antony implements the establishment of common ground followed by gradually picking apart the argument of Brutus until it is apparent that Caesar was a just and empathetic leader.

Mark Antony knows that the audience he must address now agrees that Caesar was inherently evil, so right off the bat he sets off to find communion with the crowd and ultimately lays the foundation for the rest of his speech. Firstly, Antony justifies himself by pleading that he intends “to bury Caesar, not to praise him”, a statement that aligns Antony’s own goals with that of the angry mass below, as if permitting them to trust his opinion. He also re-emphasizes the point that Caesar may have made a fault due to his ambition—as explained before by Brutus—but adds an air of uncertainty to the claim. Is Caesar only being remembered for his bad? That is what the “honorable” Brutus says.

Once the basis of his argument has been formulated, Mark Antony seeks to renew their awareness of who Julius Caesar truly was versus how he is currently being remembered by building characterization of both Brutus and the late general of Rome. Descriptions of the good qualities of Caesar could be trusted by the people because they perceive that Antony was a dear friend who was close to him and therefore knew him well. The loyal friend also gives a refreshing perspective that sheds light on the prospective emperor by reminding them his selfless accomplishments that helped the common people. As far as Antony’s outlook on Brutus and his views, Mark Antony repeats the phrase “But Brutus says Caesar was ambitious, /And Brutus is an honorable man” strategically between pockets of the positive traits and works of Caesar. This is in order to contrast what Brutus sees as Caesar’s fault with what Caesar actually was and did, effectively questioning the betrayer’s bias and reinstating his own “rational” argument.

Now that the people have heard multiple examples of the stalwartness that Caesar has for Rome, Mark Antony will push logic aside and lay on some heavy emotion to reinvest the citizens’ devotion to the memory of their fallen leader. He first utilizes this tactic as he points out that the Romans loved “Caesar once,” so “what cause withholds them, then, to mourn for him?” The clever speaker has now laid guilt-tripwire before them because they all can recall that they indeed did love him, it was only Brutus’s cunning that made them think otherwise. To conclude his address he feigns becoming hysterical, remarking that his “heart is in the coffin there with Caesar', 'And he must pause till it comes back”. Just like the dramas of the modern cinema, which purpose keen details of sad music, drab lighting, and character interactions to have viewers weeping, Antony expertly uses similar pathos to emotionally reel his audience in and ultimately cause them to change their hearts.

Overall, Mark Antony’s strategy of building common ground, gradually questioning the motives of his enemies, and finally unleashing all of his feeling into making the audience feel the melancholy helps him succeed in picking apart Brutus’s argument of Caesar little by little. This style of formatting an argument is largely successful in both this play as well as the real world. Quite simply, the ability to make people believe they’re on the same side while manipulating them via the key details is effective in luring an audience into changing their point of view, especially by using emotional contagion to make them feel how they are intended to feel.