The language of Brutus and Antony

Brutus

Antony

1. Brutus speaks in prose.

 1 Antony, as if aware of the greater effect of rhythm and poetry on people, speaks in verse.
2. Brutus, the theoretical philosopher, uses abstract words like "respect, honour, wisdom", as well as abstract concepts like "slavery" and "freedom". 2. Antony, the wily politician, speaks of concrete things, and shows the horrified people the massacred body of Caesar.
3. Brutus starts his speech appealing first to the "Romans" and then to his "countrymen and lovers", which leaves a gap between him and his audience. 3. Antony inverts the word order, and his opening sentence "Friends, Romans, countrymen" makes the people feel he is one of them.
4. Brutus, throughout his speach, insists on me and I. (Hear me, my cause, my honour, I weep, I rejoice). 4. Antony disregards himself and pretends he is a poor orator; he hammers his audience with a lot of you's, thus personally involving them in the murder and its consequences.

5. Brutus, the idealist, puts the ignorant mob on his own level, and invites them to a discussion (If any, speak, for him have I offended).

 5. Antony, the shrewd diplomat, humbly asks for the mob's permission before acting.
6. Brutus remembers the military qualities of Caesar (fortune, valour, ambition). 6. Antony presents a more domestic side of Ceasar's Character: He was a just, faithful friend, brought money to Rome, cried with the poor, refused the crown)
7.Brutus speaks to the mind of the people and presents death as a syllogism; not that he loved Caesar less, but loved Rome more

7. Antony speaks to their souls and feelings, and describes death in all its physical horror, wounds, and blood.
8. The noble Brutus, seeing Caesar's death as a moral problem, is ready to kill himself for the good of his counrty (I have the same dagger) 8. Antony, far from being willing to die, realizes the political meaning of the murder, and bravely defends Caesar in front of a hostile crowd, with courage and shrewdness, using the only weapon he has, language. He makes the best of it by exploiting devices such as metaphors, allitteration, irony, and contrasts.

The mob

As to the mob, in very few lines, Shakespeare presents an intelligent analysis of their changeableness. Their broken language, based on stychomythia, reveals confusion and contradiction: after applauding Brutus for killing Cesar, they want another Caesar in Brutus. In their sheep-like anonimity, they are easily manipulated by the eloquence of Antony who, like a skillful puppeteer, in the end turns them against the very people they had come to extol.

Cfr. Marinoni Mingazzini, Salmoiraghi, A Mirror of the Times, Napoli, Morano ed., 1989,  pp.169-170