Skip to main content

How does Mark Antony feel about Caesar's death?

Mark Antony was devoted to Julius Caesar. He loved him as if he were his own father. He disguises his feelings when he is meeting with the conspirators after the assassination, but when he is alone with Caesar's body he expresses his feelings eloquently. This is the first time the audience realizes that Antony feels so strongly about Caesar, as well as the first time the audience realizes that Antony is capable of such eloquence.



O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,
That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!
Thou art the ruins of the noblest man
That ever lived in the tide of times.
Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood!
Over thy wounds now do I prophesy
Which like dumb mouths do ope their ruby lips
To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue,
A curse shall light upon the limbs of men;
Domestic fury and fierce civil strife
Shall cumber all the parts of Italy;
Blood and destruction shall be so in use,
And dreadful objects so familiar,
That mothers shall but smile when they behold
Their infants quarter'd with the hands of war;
All pity choked with custom of fell deeds,
And Caesar's spirit ranging for revenge,
With Ate by his side come hot from hell,
Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice
Cry “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war,
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men, groaning for burial.    (Act 3, Scene 1)



Shakespeare here is briefly covering the events that actually took place during the long period between the assassination of Julius Caesar and the defeat of Brutus and Cassius at the battle of Philippi. The word "carrion" customarily refers to animals that have died in the open and serve as food for all the wild animals, birds and insects that profit from their deaths. Antony is calling the dead soldiers "carrion men" because they are likely to remain unburied on the battlefield and will be reduced to skeletons by jackals, vultures, crows, maggots, and other creatures that will thrive on this bounty. Antony is a thoroughly experienced warrior and knows what these scenes look like. 


Mark Antony shows his strong feelings about Caesar's death in his funeral oration. It is because of his powerful emotions of grief and outrage that he is able to speak with such compelling fervor. He moves the whole Roman mob to mutiny, even though they all favored the conspirators when Antony began to speak. Then Antony expresses his strong feelings once again when he and Octavius hold a brief parley with Brutus and Cassius while their armies wait to begin the carnage.



Villains! You did not so when your vile daggers
Hack'd one another in the sides of Caesar.
You show'd your teeth like apes, and fawn'd like hounds,
And bow'd like bondmen, kissing Caesar's feet;
Whilst damned Casca, like a cur, behind
Struck Caesar on the neck. O you flatterers!    (Act V, Scene 1)



So Mark Antony continues to feel very bitter about Caesar's death. It is Cassius whose strong motivation drives the first part of Julius Caesar up to the assassination. Then there is a sort of lull until the second half of the play is driven by the strong motivation of Mark Antony. He wants revenge. If Brutus and Cassius thought there was any hope of avoiding a battle by holding a parley, they were mistaken. Antony has already satisfied some of his thirst for revenge by killing all of the men he suspected of favoring Brutus and Cassius in Rome. Now he is ready to finish the job by destroying Brutus and Cassius along with most of their soldiers on the battlefield. Not only is Mark Antony driven by his own desire to avenge the man he revered, but he suggests that Julius Caesar himself has the ability to act through him and inspire him with his own powerful will.



And Caesar's spirit ranging for revenge,
With Ate by his side come hot from hell,
Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice
Cry “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

etymology - Origin of the greeting "Sweet dreams".

Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What are the similarities between the relationships of the characters in The Outsiders and Romeo and Juliet?

At first glance, it might appear as if the characters in  The Outsiders  by S. E. Hinton and  Romeo and Juliet  by William Shakespeare do not have much in common; however, when one isolates the core of the conflicts, it becomes clear that the relationships in both stories are rooted in rivalry and secrecy.  In both  The Outsiders  and  Romeo and Juliet , an overarching theme is rivalry. While   socioeconomic status separates the greasers from the Socs in The Outsiders , last names separates the Montagues from the Capulets, who appear to be relatively equal in terms of socioeconomic status. Due to these rivalries, there are instances of deadly interactions in both stories. In  The Outsiders , Johnny kills Bob (whether his actions were justified or not is debatable). In  Romeo and Juliet , Romeo kills Tybalt and Paris, and Tybalt kills Mercutio. These deaths have profound effects on the main characters. In Ponyboy's case, the Johnny's death and other events in the novel inspire h...
Post a Comment
Read more