Day 68: 19 April 2012

1. Reminder of Brutus' mistakes to the people of Rome

• talks over their heads (big words and complicated sentences)
• doesn't hang around for the funeral
• fails to deliver concrete proof
• doesn't tailor his speech to his audience

2. 150-word Journal: Given Brutus' mistakes, how can Mark Anthony take advantage of Brutus' weaknesses and talk to the people in a more accessible way?

3. Read the first section of Mark Antony's speech silently.

4. Reading the speech out-loud and giving notes.

In his first section of his speech, Mark Antony

• Verse-chorus structure (like the one in pop, rap, and country songs) reminds the people of his message and gives them a hook. Verse contains the content (proof) the chorus has the message (sarcastically calling Brutus and the rest honorable)
• Uses much simpler constructions. Consider the following: Brutus: "Hear me for my cause and be silent that you may hear" Antony: "Lend me your ears."
• Alternates emotion ("he was my friend") with logic ("he hath brought...ransoms" that filled the "general coffers"). 
• Eventually succeeds in making the people use "Logic" for "Emotion" when he is fake-crying over the coffin and one of the people looks up and says "Methinks there is much reason in his sayings."
• Shakespeare sees to making comment about the gullibility of the common people in that same way that much of the advertising is aimed at the uneducated.

5. Answer the following questions with text:

• How are Mark Antony’s opening words a subtle attack on Brutus?
• What is contradictory about line 76?
• What does Antony have to say about the how we remember good or evil in a person?
• To what end does he repeat lines 84-85?
• What does he say of Caesar in lines 86-99? What purpose do they serve in the speech?
• In lines 102-103, how does he place himself in direct opposition to Brutus?
• What is the appeal of lines 104-105? Explain.
• How does he turn emotion into logic in 106-107?
• Why does he pause in lines 107-109? What is he trying to figure out about the crowd?