Julius Caesar Group

Question:

swethakaza
swethakaza
Student

In his speech, why did Antony call Brutus an honourable man?

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Posted by swethakaza on Saturday January 27, 2007 at 7:14 AM and tagged with antony's speech, julius caesar.

Answers:


  1. lmillerm Teacher
    Community / Jr. College

    eNotes Editor

    Antony's speech is delivered to evoke pity from the Romans, but it is also meant to be a cynical response to Brutus' speech.
    Throughout Brutus' speech, he repeats the word "honour" several times, in an attempt to prove to the Romans that he conspired against Caesar for the good of Rome ("...not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more").
    Antony is trying to turn Brutus' own words against him.

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    Posted by lmillerm on Wednesday January 31, 2007 at 8:53 PM


  2. mrerick Teacher
    High School - 12th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    It's also important to note that Anthony was still following the rules set forth by Brutus - one of those rules srating that he could not place blame on the conspirators for their actions. He uses the positive character word "honorable" in order to follow that rule, but through excessive repetition (borderline sarcasm), he is able to munipulate the crowd to "rage and mutiny".

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    Posted by mrerick on Friday April 20, 2007 at 8:04 AM

  3. gaurivarshney
    gaurivarshney Student
    High School - 10th Grade

    so as to win public....he is actually being sarcastic..thats it.:)

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    Posted by gaurivarshney on Wednesday July 8, 2009 at 12:10 AM

  4. revolution
    revolution Teacher
    Doctorate

    He is trying to be sarcastic about the whole situation. This sort of "praising" Brutus is actually mocking him for the evil deeds that he had done and turn everything that he had done against him. In his mind, he might be saying "Conspiring against Caesar for the good of Rome! Bah!" He means this statement as some sort of cynical remark against Brutus.

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    Posted by revolution on Sunday July 26, 2009 at 1:20 AM