Why Antony in Julius Caesar is the most dangerous person provide evidence also?

Answer 1

Antony is the most dangerous person in the Tragedy of Julius Caesar, because he is the most manipulative. During the funeral speeches, Antony manages to rally up the people to his cause when he uses manipulative techniques.

You can see that in these lines:

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;

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--

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;

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:

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.

It's interesting that he starts the speech with, "

Friends, Romans, countrymen". He's saying that the people are his personal friends first, citizens second, and Italian's third. Brutus says, "Romans, countrymen, and lovers." Antony pretty much just flips around what Brutus says.

Antony is constantly repeating the phrase that the conspirators were "honorable men". He's doing this because he's trying to be sarcastic. Brutus makes the argument that he killed Caesar because he was ambition, and Antony responds with this:

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:

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?

He's asking the people to look at the situation and ask themselves "Does it seem like Caesar was ambitious?"

Antony ends with this statement, after he has made the crowd angry:

Now let it work.-Mischief, thou art afoot,

Take thou what course thou wilt!

Clearly, Antony was fully aware of what he had done.

Antony also mentions this:

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;

He's asking the people why they do not mourn for Caesar now, when they loved him so much. He's trying to build up the tension and anger that the people have.

Antony also mentions:

Moreover, he hath left you all his walks,

His private arbors, and new-planted orchards,

On this side Tiber: he hath left them you,

And to your heirs forever; common pleasures,

To walk abroad, and recreate yourselves.

Here was a Caesar! when comes such another?

Caesar left everything he owned to the people, and Antony is trying to show the people that Caesar really wasn't an evil man.

Overall, Antony plays a very innocent role and manipulates the people without directly breaking the parameters that the conspirators set forth.