Line by Line Analysis: How Does Mark Antony Persuade the Crowd?
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 16 июл 2024
- Check out my Patreon: / linebylineshakespeare
This video is my take on Mark Antony's speech beginning "Friends, Romans, countrymen" in Julius Caesar. I've always enjoyed reading plays and trying to come up with something original to say about them. I hope I've done that here. Thanks for listening, and I'm curious to hear your take in the comments.
A big thank-you to the following resources. Without such resources, this video would not have been possible: No Fear Shakespeare, the Oxford Shakespeare, the Arden Shakespeare, shakespeares-sonnets.com, and the artists whose work appears here. Please get in touch if you'd like to know the source of any illustration, clip-art, photograph, or animation.
🔴 Subscribe for more Line by Line Shakespeare: / @linebylineshakespeare
✅ Connect on Twitter: @LBL_Shakespeare
0:00 Introduction and Context
6:09 Mark Antony's Seven Strategies
6:56 (1) A Gentle Approach
9:58 (2) Repetition of the Words "Honourable" and "Ambitious"
13:26 (3) Examples of Caesar's Good Character
15:37 (4) Rhetorical Questions
17:42 (5) Guilt-Tripping
20:18 (6) Teasing the Will
22:32 (7) Humanizing Caesar and Describing his Dead Body
24:41 Conclusion and Review
Bro tomorrow is my exam on Julius Caesar , u really did help me out , I was clueless about the language that has been used in the text , I was looking for a proper nice explanation about Antony convincing the Romans. Thanks you so much bro. You are so underrated , I hope you find urself in a good position with these videos . These videos are necessary, they are really useful . Well done , good job man.
It's so good to hear that my video helped you out. Share it with your classmates if you think they would like it too. And if you need help with another question related to a Shakespeare play, let me know and I might be able to help.
❤
It was my favourite play. King Lear was in my syllabus as a Tragedy, and As you like it, the comedy. We had great teachers, but your way of presentation is just great. Thanks a Lot, Sir.
I'm so pleased that you found this video useful. Thank you for watching :)
I have just been cast to play Antony, and when reading through the script I was struggling to know what emotions to channel throughout this scene.
Your thorough break-down has given me SO many pointers (and a better underatabding of the text than watching others' performances, ie Brando, Heston, etc), which will help save time when we start marking it through in rehearsals. Thank you so much 🙏
I'm so glad this has helped you! There are a few other monologues on this channel from Julius Caesar. Send a link to whoever is playing Brutus ;)
Your explanation is one of the most accurate I‘ve ever heard. And I am a teacher. Congratulations for the quality of your information work and communication.
Thank you for your praise, which is all the more important as you are a teacher yourself. I hope to keep producing material of this quality!
@@LineByLineShakespeare I’ll gladly follow and advice your remarkable cultural contributions.
I'm well past HS but I've recently been revisiting Shakespeare because of some essays I read and watched about writing for characters rather than for plot. Super interesting stuff.
Edit: TL;DR - you've more than earned yourself a new subscriber mate, absolutely killer content.
Glad you've found the material useful and thanks for the sub! Interesting idea, to focus on characters rather than plot when propelling your story forward...
Wow, I always read the repetition of “honorable” was to tie the word to the similar repetition of “ambitious” in an attempt to use his disproving of “ambitious” to also indicate “honorable” was also in doubt
I think that's right! He repeats those two words, "honorable" and "ambitious," to make them less meaningful. It's interesting: if you repeat a word a couple times, it's interesting and adds an effect, but if you repeat it too many times, the effect is gone, replaced by something else, like boredom, skepticism, doubt.
Beautifully written speech, excellently written analysis.
I really wish your videos had been around when we studied Shakespeare in school, I'd have learned a lot more.
Thanks and keep up the great work.
I was lucky to have a teacher who explained this speech to me in such detail. I'm glad you find the resource helpful :)
Excellent..you are an honourable man ❤
great analysis ... so much to learn from our classics ... so much grow from our classics... so much to apply in our own lives from our classics to better our lives -
There really is so much to learn from classic literature... Keep reading! :)
It's a truly brilliant speech. Shakespeare did an excellent job of writing. Obviously Cesaer was indeed ambition, but you are excellently led to believe he wasn't. And Brutus wasn't ambitious, for he was, as you know, an honorable man.
Yes, this is a great speech, isn't it! And as we all know, Brutus is an honorable man. So are they all, all honorable men ;)
Thank you for such a mind opening explanation. Your words are powerful and so are the images you’ve chosen to make your points go through. Excellent !
I'm glad you found the video so useful :)
Bravo .🙏🙏🙏.I loved it ,thank you very much ❤ 🙏👍
I thoroughly enjoyed the video and have learned a lot. Thank you so much for the good work!
Excellent analysis! Mark Antony's speech is the one I chose for a public speaking competition in my senior year at highschool, a long time ago now, which I still remember many decades later possibly in part because I won but also because it's such a fantastic piece of political oratory. You've got a new subscriber.
Well congratulations on your high-school win! Those are formative moments, aren't they? Rewards like that can be so motivating. Analyzing this speech with my high-school teacher was a core educational memory for me :) Thanks for subscribing!
I'd just finished analysing this speech for rhetorical techniques. I could have saved my time!! That said - it's really good to see that I got most of them. Great video. Thanks for posting.
My pleasure, and I'm glad you tried it on your own first :) A blessing in disguise.
I should add though, @@LineByLineShakespeare, your analysis was far more informed, coherent and lucid than my own! As I said - I wish I had seen your video first.
Currently watching this in my 4th period class, with my 8th period English class being my rhetorical analysis essay.
Good luck!!
@@LineByLineShakespearethank, I’ll probably use your rhetorical questions and repetition of honor and ambition as anaphora.
Thanks a lot. Such an elaborate and vivid explanation is enough I think. If someone read your analysis only, he can answer many relevant questins. Superb.👍👍😃
Ohhhh such a si.ole and comprehensive analysis ......u r quite underrated tbh....and shakespeare was a bloody genius to write that speech....
I'm glad you enjoyed the analysis, and yeah, Shakespeare was some bloody genius that's for sure...
Superbly explained. THANKU
“Thou art fled to Brutus-I mean, _brutish_ beasts!” 😂
(Not noticed by me, sad to say. I’m not that clever.)
I adore how “And Brutus is an honorable man” get more and more sarcastic as the monologue goes. Though really, Brutus screwed himself when he decided to give his speech *first.* It’s always the last voice to speak that’s heard the loudest.
Wait.. Do I make that mistake in the video? lol! And agreed, the last voice always has that extra advantage.
@@LineByLineShakespeare Nono, not you. I think Shakespeare may have chosen “brutish” because it sounds so close to “Brutus.”
I enjoyed this immensely. Thank you.
My pleasure!
Great work! I think you have a really good voice for these videos and your analysis is really good.
Thank you for your encouragement :)
Best ever explained... Thank you brother 🙏
Many thanks.. clear and concise.. visual method, very helpful for better understanding ✨🙏
My pleasure, I'm glad the format works for you :)
As always, amazing!
Thank you, Joan. Let me know if there's a part of a Shakespeare play that you would like analyzed :)
9:15 there's also a hidden double entendre in the line:
"If it were so, it was a grievous fault."
What _is_ "it" exactly here?
Taken at face value, "it" refers to Caesar's ambition being the fault. Taken on the back end, however, "it" could just as well be refering to Brutus' claim being the fault.
In this way, Antony is able to placate the mob while still priming them for the conclusion that Brutus is the one at fault and not Caesar.
Great point. Never thought of that, and you're absolutely right. Antony says, "The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious: / If it were so, it was a grievous fault." You could read this as, something like "It was a grievous fault that Brutus has told you this, if he did tell it to you."
@@LineByLineShakespeare Yeah! Depending on how the 2nd line is read, it could determine how early Antony starts to be critical of Brutus and to what extent.
Usually actors have Antony slowly build up the sarcasm towards Brutus right after the line "he was my friend, faithful and just to me," but it arguably could start earlier with "The noble *_Brutus_* hath told you Caesar was ambitious."
This all depends though on the production and how much the crowd is emphasized to be against Antony at the start. "Twere best he speak no harm of Brutus here." Could be read as someone being totally convinced to Brutus's side, but then the immediate flip to Antony's side after one short speech would seem a little jarring imo.
Alternatively this line could be read a little uncertain or even concerned for Antony's well being. Like the crowd still feels pathos for Caesar's murder but then they second guess themselves due to Brutus' logos. If this is the case, then Antony entering with more emotional conviction and expressing sarcasm earlier on would make more sense.
Once more, a great video! Good job!
Thanks for the encouragement!
I liked your analysis. I am not a native speaker, but I actually dissent on one point at 18:44. The correct interpretation of the line seems to me that "Thou" does not refer to the crowd, but to the personified Judgement. So the line is milder, more subtle and less insulting than your interpretation. It does not mean "you crowd have become unreasonable as animals" but "we, human race, demonstrated even less judgement than animals" which in some sense is even a stronger statement, but retorically is less insulting by nominally involving the speaker himself in the opprobium.
This makes a lot of sense. It helps Mark Antony both insult the crowd but also maintain a cool distance so that they aren't offended. Judgement is gone, now untamed, having returned to the wilderness, a beast, and this is why men have lost their ability to rationalize. Thanks for this!
I'm here because English is not my first language and I really enjoy reading Shakespeare from time to time. I must say this is an amazing analysis of Mark Antony's speech.
I'm glad you found the analysis insightful :D
Not sure what others think but Charlton Heston was the best film version at least.
Bro you done very good job. It make helpfull more then enough my exam preparation. Thank you one again 😊
Thank you so much. Excellent analysis
My pleasure.
Those were the days.
Roman days...
Exceedingly EXCELLENT 🎉
Really I enjoyed the narration.
1:00 Thats the same argument they used on cataline. Caesar oposed it then too
Excellent.thankyou
It's was so easy to understand everything thax 😊😊
Very well explained
excellent
Thanks
Thank you
I think, perhaps, you've missed an element of Sarcasm in the whole speech. By the time Antony has repeated "honorable" for the 6-millionth time, EVERYone knows he means something else. "I don't mean to stir you to violence and revolt" -- when that's Exactly what he's doing.
In any case, Antony's speech is a masterpiece of careful balance coupled with a bit of daring. You did a GOOD Job, here.
Very good
Well done.
I'm glad you enjoyed the video :)
Needed you in high school
I was lucky enough to have a teacher who explained this speech in a lot of detail. That's what inspired this video!
“Hail Caesar!”
One of the greatest military generals of all time!
If you are my classmate in our literary class, my professor would have loved you! And of course, I'll volunteer to be your seat mate 😂❤
Aw, that's nice of you!
Great job man, I loved it. I just wish the jazz piano music in the background didn’t hit that minor second every few minutes.
Minor second... Do you mean like, ii7? Give me a time stamp! I'm curious.
Thanks. Easier to understand than analyzing the performances yourself.
Yeah, it can be difficult analyzing these plays on your lonesome.
Caesar also gave himself dictator for life and openly made more monarchical movements towards the title of king
...which makes it all the more impressive that Mark Antony convinced everybody otherwise? Maybe!
It's interesting that Anthony's examples of Caesar's lack of ambition prove nothihg of the sort. Bringing slaves and treasure back to Rome was part and parcel of gaining status in ancient Rome. So was constructing buildings or other facilities for general use. Also, Casear was considered one of the "populares", so it's no surprise that he would have shown concern for the lower orders. Any ambitious Roman in Public life would have have been likely to do the same.
As for refusing the crown, well maybe Casca was right: "... as I told you, he put it by once; but for all that, to my thinking, he would fain have had it.", and the whole thing was problably a bit of political theatre...kite-flying on Casar's part to gauge the public mood.
These are really good points. I'll be sure to mention them next time I'm teaching this play to a group of students. Thank you for your thoughts :)
veery well explained now i am having exam in nxt 2 hours
Good luck!! I'm happy to have helped.
Great video very informing.....could do with less gifs amd images though to be honest and clear
👍
My countrymen are watching me watch this.
All eyes on you!
Very Cicero.
Haven't read Cicero so now I'm curious!
हर-हर महादेव ,जय माता दी,जय श्री राम ,राधे राधे,
These seem to be religious expressions. I don't see the connection to this video, but thank you for leaving a comment nevertheless :)
Shakespeare accentuates to the audience the power of Mark Anthony's speech, by first having the Brutus speech be delivered in prose (i.e., not in verse). Then, the Mark Anthony speech is delivered in verse, which makes the Anthony speech seem stronger to the audience than the Brutus speech.
Good point! The difference between prose and verse plays such an important part in Shakespeare's work.
Music title?
I Didn't Know About You. It's a jazz standard I'm playing myself here, and you can find some much prettier versions online :)
@@LineByLineShakespeare Thank you!
The power of words through both , presents two different interpretations by Shakespeare. The sway of minds from one to the other is the climax of Roman
History for the world , many such incidents were enacted in the history. But it is sad to note that , no Shakespeare was born to document such classical narratives Humble prayers to the master craftsman for his eternal creation.
Dr. Sivam
Awesome video. Just one genuine criticism: the narration is too slow. The video length could be reduced to at least 15 minutes.
You make a good point. I'm not sure if my audience is mostly first-language English speakers or second-language. For the moment I'm thinking that perhaps a slower pace is better than a faster pace because you can always speed up the video if you're comfortable in English. What do you think?
@@LineByLineShakespeareYes that's a very good idea too. Keep up the good work!
huh? brutus persuaded the roman people of only one thing: the peace they were enjoying was officially over
it will be a sad day when you stop making videos it will make me depressed :(
I'll make them for as long as I can :) I have no plans to stop.
@@LineByLineShakespeare thank you for educating me and the rest of the world 🙏🙏
God the father within his fathers house Caesaria Goes the Son of God prince of peace Augustus Caesar God the Father God the Son ,PATER ET FILIUS
Right on.
is this for children from a kindergarden?
Sorry, I'm not sure why you would think that.
Not sure I'd call it "persuade"
Hmm... What would be a more suitable word? Curious to hear your take!
@@LineByLineShakespeare perhaps, "manipulate"
Play the clip and quit wasting my time with your take on Shakespeare.
To find the clip, search Marlon Brando Mark Antony and you'll likely find it near the top of the search results.
I don't think that Antony disliked Caesar's death. He knew it was coming and kept silence. Shakespeare was not psychologicaly balanced.
In the film version of Julius Caesar starring Marlon Brando as Mark Antony, it is clear that Mark Antony is pretending to be more hurt and sad than he actually is. So you've got a point: Antony might not have disliked Caesar's death. He may have just used it to his advantage...
You could have just said Listen to his speech You'd have to be pretty dumb not to see what he was getting at
If you understood what he was getting at just by listening to his speech, more power to you.
@@LineByLineShakespeare Do you Really think that takes a lot of understanding. ? Perhaps its because I'm ancient and youre still young
If someone has never read Shakespeare before, the language might get in the way of their understanding. Still, Julius Caesar is among the most accessible plays, and watching a performance can do wonders. There could also be viewers here who struggle with English, let alone Elizabethan English...
spoiled by music
This is really useful to know. Was it too loud? Or would you just prefer no music when it comes to analysis, because you are trying to pay attention?
@@LineByLineShakespeare As far as I'm concerned everything was ok. I heared the music, I could follow your speech and your thoughts, I could get ideas of my own to your words. And I liked the music. Everything worked for me.
@@petersumerauer Thanks for leaving your opinion. It's always useful to have multiple perspectives.