Comment on the irony in Antony's speech in Act 3 of Julius Caesar.

Antony uses much verbal irony (says one thing but means another as an indirect means of persuasion).  His overall goal is to rally the people behind him, his words, and Caesar, but Antony says just the opposite: "Let me not stir you up / To such a sudden flood of mutiny."

There are three types of verbal irony: sarcasm, overstatement, and understatement. See examples below:

Sarcasm: "The noble Brutus."

Sarcasm: "Brutus is an honorable man."

Overstatement: "O, you gods, how dearly Caesar loved him (him)!"

Overstatement: "...put a tongue / In every wound of Caesar that should move / The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny."

Understatement: "You are not wood, you are not stones, but men."

Understatement: "The evil that men do lives after them."

Understatement:"I am no orator..."

The funeral oration of Marc Antony in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar is a stellar piece of rhetoric.  One rhetorical technique that Antony uses is repetition; however, his repeated phrase is contradictory to what Brutus in his previous address has claimed.  For, Brutus has sworn that he loved Caesar, and it was because he loved Rome more that he felt it necessary for Caesar to be removed from power.

Marc Antony takes this very thesis of Brutus's speech, the very reason that makes the Roman people accept Brutus's reasoning, and skewers it, creating doubt in the minds of the crowd as he repeats three times [always a significant number!] with verbal irony,

But Brutus says he [Caesar] was ambitious,/And Brutus is an honorable man (III,ii)

The effect of Antony's ironic suggestions of a different meaning for the words of Brutus as he repeats them is that the Romans begin to think about what is said, weigh the meaning, and, eventually, change their minds about Brutus's honor.  Indeed, irony can be a persuasive tool for the accomplished speaker or writer.

Discuss the irony in act 4 of Julius Caesar.

Act IV in Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare serves the purpose to show what has happened to the two factions after the death of Caesar: Marc Antony and the new government versus the two conspirators, Cassius and Brutus. Both groups have been at work preparing to enter into civil war. 

In the first scene, situational irony comes in the behavior of Antony and the actions of the new leaders of the government: Antony, Lepidus, and Octavius.  In Act III, Antony displayed a document purporting to be the will of Caesar in which Caesar gave most of his holdings to the people of Rome. Antony sends Lepidus to get the will so that that they can reduce and keep back the things that Caesar promised the people. 

When Lepidus leaves, Antony, behaving like a cad, talks about him behind his back. This verbal abuse by Antony of Lepidus serves as an illustration of Antony’s sense of political pragmatism: while he does not respect Lepidus, he still uses him for his own purposes.

The behavior of Antony is much different now. He has become more powerful and a part of the new government.  Ironically like the conspirators, the triumvirate is deciding who should die among those that do not support them.  Antony is preparing a list of executions. 

In Scenes ii and iii, the conspirators come to the spotlight.  The audience against sees two entirely different men.  They are no longer the strong and unafraid assassins, but now they are men on the run. Again, the irony comes forth in the difference in Cassius and Brutus behavior and purposes.

Both of the conspirators have been rallying their own armies.  Their intention is to meet and decide how to fight Antony.  However, the situational irony finds the conspirators at each other’s throat. Questions of honor plague the conspirators as well, as Cassius and Brutus exchange accusations

Cassius charges Brutus with having condemned one of his men for taking bribes, even though Cassius sent letters asking Brutus not to. Brutus responds by accusing Cassius of having taken bribes himself at times.

Brutus tells him to recall the Ides of March when they killed Caesar because they believed that he was corrupt. The ironic aspect here is that is not why Cassius killed Caesar.  It was not for the good of Rome but because he personally felt that Caesar did not deserve the crown any more than Cassius.  Jealous and envy were at the root of Cassius’s decision to kill Caesar.

Brutus is also angry because he ask Cassius for money and he ignored him.  Cassius denies this and said that he did not receive the right message. 

After much yelling and accusations, the two made up.  They are more together than are the triumvirate.  The conspirators have put the argument on the table, discussed, and settled it like men.

We at the height are ready to decline.
There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries

Now, they make plans to meet and battle with Antony.  On the other hand, the triumvirate is not getting along well.  Antony does not like Lepidus.  Octavius takes up for Lepidus.  There is an obvious undercurrent of dissatisfaction

How does Shakespeare use irony in Mark Antony's speech in Julius Caesar?

Mark Antony’s funeral oration in Julius Caesar (act III, scene 2) is rightfully regarded as a masterpiece in the steady deployment of irony. Antony is both personally distraught over Caesar’s murder and deeply worried about the political future of Rome in the hands of the assassins. He does not dare to challenge them openly, and he also wants to move the public to his side and away from the assassins’ position. Brutus and his co-conspirators have claimed that Caesar had to be removed because of his excessive personal ambition. Antony seems to endorse their views, tells the crowd that they have given him permission ("leave") to speak, and says that his intention is not to praise Caesar.

However, Antony proceeds to utterly demolish the conspirators’ claims, using irony in both direct statements and rhetorical questions. He sets up the rest of the speech near the beginning:

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—
For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men—
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.

Mentioning the wealth Caesar brought to Rome, Antony asks, “Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?” Similarly, regarding Caesar refusing a king’s crown, he asks, “Was this ambition?” On the third repetition of his statement about Brutus and honor, he adds one more word, “sure,” to emphasize subtly what his real meaning is:

Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.

By questioning “ambition” and repeating “Brutus is an honourable man,” Antony brings the assembled multitude around to thinking that Caesar was not ambitious but rather a humble leader who served his people’s interests, and that Brutus and the others are anything but honorable.