Foundation first: how a speech works
A good speech has four parts: an opening that wins attention, a claim, proof for the claim, and a closing appeal. As you read, ask of each speaker: What is he claiming? What proof does he give? Which feeling does he rouse? How does the crowd react? The answers to these four questions are the answers to most exam questions on this scene.
Reading the crowd. The citizens speak in short lines, labelled First, Second, Third and Fourth Citizen. These are not four fixed characters. They stand for different moods in the same crowd. The voices that cheer, doubt, weep and threaten show how the mood moves, so note who speaks and when.
1. The citizens demand an explanation
Brutus and Cassius enter the Forum with a crowd of citizens (plebeians) who demand, "We will be satisfied; let us be satisfied." Brutus divides the audience: those who want to hear Cassius are to follow him to another street; those who stay will hear Brutus. "Public reasons shall be rendered / Of Caesar's death." Brutus goes up into the pulpit (the public speaking platform).
Why it matters. The crowd is not a mob yet. The citizens ask to be "satisfied", meaning they want reasons, and one of them says he will hear Cassius, "and compare their reasons" with those given by Brutus (the citizens agree to hear the two speakers separately). These are fair-minded people. By the end of the scene that careful listener is gone. The change from a fair audience to a furious mob is the story of the scene.
2. Brutus's speech
Brutus speaks in prose, in short, balanced sentences:
"Romans, countrymen, and lovers! hear me for my cause, and be silent, that you may hear: believe me for mine honour, and have respect to mine honour, that you may believe: censure me in your wisdom, and awake your senses, that you may the better judge."
He asks to be believed because of his honour — his reputation for honesty. ("Lovers" here means dear friends; "censure" means judge.) If any friend of Caesar asks why Brutus rose against Caesar, his answer is:
"Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more."
He asks a pointed question: would they rather Caesar were living and they all died slaves, or Caesar dead and they all lived free men? Then comes his most carefully balanced sentence:
"As Caesar loved me, I weep for him; as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was valiant, I honour him: but, as he was ambitious, I slew him."
So there are "tears for his love; joy for his fortune; honour for his valour; and death for his ambition." Brutus then challenges the crowd with three rhetorical questions: "Who is here so base that would be a bondman? … Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman? … Who is here so vile that will not love his country? If any, speak; for him have I offended. I pause for a reply." The crowd answers, "None, Brutus, none."
Brutus says the reasons for Caesar's death are recorded ("enrolled") in the Capitol: Caesar's glory has not been made smaller ("extenuated") where he deserved it, nor his offences exaggerated ("enforced").
Why it matters. Brutus's speech is built like an argument in a law court. It opens with a request for a fair hearing ("believe me for mine honour"), admits his love for Caesar, gives his answer, and offers a choice: slaves or free men. The balanced sentences ("tears for his love; joy for his fortune; honour for his valour; and death for his ambition") make a clear, memorable pattern. The three rhetorical questions each begin "Who is here so…" and are shaped so that no honest Roman can answer "yes". The pause, "I pause for a reply", is a confident challenge, and the crowd answers, "None, Brutus, none."
The weakness is that Brutus gives no proof that Caesar was ambitious. He asks to be believed because he is honourable, and he points to a record "enrolled in the Capitol" that the people cannot see. His words "I have done no more to Caesar than you shall do to Brutus" are also an unlucky promise: before the scene is over the crowd will be hunting him.
3. Antony enters with the body; the crowd cheers Brutus
Antony and others enter with Caesar's body. Brutus points out that Antony, though he had no part in the killing, will share in its benefits — a place in the free commonwealth — "as which of you shall not?" He ends with a dramatic promise: "as I slew my best lover for the good of Rome, I have the same dagger for myself, when it shall please my country to need my death."
The crowd is completely won over: "Live, Brutus! live, live!" "Bring him with triumph home unto his house." "Give him a statue with his ancestors." "Let him be Caesar." "Caesar's better parts / Shall be crown'd in Brutus." This is deeply ironic: Brutus killed Caesar to stop one man from ruling Rome, and the people now want to make Brutus exactly what Caesar was. They have not understood his cause at all.
Brutus asks the people to stay and hear Antony, "Tending to Caesar's glories; which Mark Antony, / By our permission, is allow'd to make", and departs alone — his second great mistake (the first was letting Antony speak at all). He leaves the crowd and the last word to Antony.
Why it matters. The cheering shows that the crowd loves Brutus the man, not his argument. If they had understood him, they would never say "Let him be Caesar", because Brutus has just killed Caesar to prevent one-man rule. This is dramatic irony. Brutus makes his second great mistake: he walks away alone, leaving the audience and the last word to Antony.
4. Antony goes up — a hostile audience
Antony goes up into the pulpit ("For Brutus' sake, I am beholding to you"). The mood is against him: "'Twere best he speak no harm of Brutus here." "This Caesar was a tyrant." "We are blest that Rome is rid of him." Antony must win over a crowd that has just cheered Caesar's killers — and he must do it without breaking Brutus's conditions.
Why it matters. Antony starts at a disadvantage. The crowd has just cheered the killers, and one citizen warns, "'Twere best he speak no harm of Brutus here"; another says, "This Caesar was a tyrant." Antony's first words, "For Brutus' sake, I am beholding to you," are clever: he uses Brutus's name to win a hearing. Brutus's own conditions force him to be careful, so he cannot attack the conspirators openly.
5. "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears"
"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."
Antony begins humbly and cautiously. He claims he has come only to bury Caesar, not to praise him — though in fact the whole speech praises Caesar and turns the people against the conspirators. He says people remember a man's evil deeds, while his good deeds are buried with him. He seems to accept Brutus's charge — "If it were so" — but the little word "if" already raises a doubt.
He then gives three pieces of evidence that Caesar was not ambitious, and after each he repeats, with growing irony, "Brutus says he was ambitious; / And Brutus is an honourable man":
- Captives and ransoms: "He hath brought many captives home to Rome / Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill: / Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?" — Caesar filled the public treasury, not his own purse.
- Pity for the poor: "When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept: / Ambition should be made of sterner stuff" — an ambitious man would be harder-hearted.
- The crown refused: "You all did see that on the Lupercal / I thrice presented him a kingly crown, / Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?"
He insists, "I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke, / But here I am to speak what I do know" — and that is exactly what he is doing. "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." (There may be a pun on brutish / Brutus.) Then he breaks off, overcome: "My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, / And I must pause till it come back to me." The pause is real grief — and also a calculated moment that lets him watch the crowd's reaction.
Why it matters. Follow the opening line by line. "Friends" comes first, which is warm; "Romans" is dignified; "countrymen" is shared belonging. "I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him" is what the crowd wants to hear, so they relax. "The evil that men do lives after them" suggests that no one will remember Caesar's good. "If it were so, it was a grievous fault" is careful: the "if" plants doubt about Brutus's charge. The phrase "honourable man" comes back again and again, and with each use it is a little more bitter. At first it is a courtesy; at the end it is an insult.
Notice, too, that each of his three arguments is something the crowd saw for themselves: the captives and ransoms, the tears for the poor, the crown refused three times at the Lupercal ("You all did see"). A speaker who reminds an audience of what they know is more convincing than one who asks them to believe him. The pause is also a tool: while he stops, the crowd's thoughts turn to Caesar, and the Third Citizen soon fears "a worse come in his place".
6. The crowd begins to change
The citizens murmur: "Methinks there is much reason in his sayings." "Caesar has had great wrong." "He would not take the crown; / Therefore 'tis certain he was not ambitious." "Poor soul! his eyes are red as fire with weeping." "There's not a nobler man in Rome than Antony." In a few minutes, the crowd that cheered Brutus is starting to doubt him.
Why it matters. The first cracks appear. The Fourth Citizen has taken Antony's argument as his own: "He would not take the crown; / Therefore 'tis certain he was not ambitious." When ordinary people begin to repeat a speaker's reasons, he has won their minds. Their pity ("his eyes are red as fire with weeping") shows that the heart is following too.
7. The will — mentioned, but not read
Antony continues: "But yesterday the word of Caesar might / Have stood against the world; now lies he there, / And none so poor to do him reverence." He pretends he does not want to stir them to "mutiny and rage", for that would "do Brutus wrong, and Cassius wrong, / Who, you all know, are honourable men" — he would rather wrong the dead, himself and them.
Then he produces a parchment with Caesar's seal — Caesar's will, found in his private room ("closet"). He says he does not mean to read it, but if the common people heard it, they would kiss Caesar's wounds, dip their handkerchiefs ("napkins") in his "sacred blood", and beg a hair of him to leave to their children as a rich legacy.
Naturally the crowd demands, "The will! read the will!" Antony teases them: "It is not meet you know how Caesar loved you. / You are not wood, you are not stones, but men; / And, being men, bearing the will of Caesar, / It will inflame you, it will make you mad: / 'Tis good you know not that you are his heirs." By refusing, he has told them the most important thing — that they are Caesar's heirs. He fears he has "o'ershot" himself, and that he wrongs "the honourable men / Whose daggers have stabb'd Caesar". The crowd now shouts: "They were traitors: honourable men!" "They were villains, murderers." The word "honourable" has turned into an insult.
Why it matters. The will is a trap baited with curiosity. Antony says he does not want to read it, which is the surest way to make people demand it. He then flatters them ("You are not wood, you are not stones, but men"), and by saying "'Tis good you know not that you are his heirs" he tells them the one fact he claims to hide. His "slip" ("I have o'ershot myself") is acted, not real. By now the word "honourable" has turned: a citizen cries, "They were traitors: honourable men!" The charge of treachery comes from the crowd and not from Antony, so he seems to keep Brutus's condition while defeating its purpose.
8. The mantle and the wounds
"You will compel me, then, to read the will? / Then make a ring about the corpse of Caesar, / And let me show you him that made the will." Antony comes down from the pulpit to stand among the people — no longer a speaker above them but a mourner among them.
"If you have tears, prepare to shed them now. You all do know this mantle: I remember The first time ever Caesar put it on; 'Twas on a summer's evening, in his tent, That day he overcame the Nervii."
Antony holds up Caesar's mantle (cloak), now torn and bloody. He reminds them of Caesar's victory over the Nervii, a fierce tribe in Gaul. Then he points to the holes in the cloak, as if he knew which dagger made each one: "Look, in this place ran Cassius' dagger through: / See what a rent the envious Casca made: / Through this the well-beloved Brutus stabb'd." (He did not see the stabbing — he was drawn away by Trebonius — but the crowd does not stop to ask.)
He imagines Caesar's blood rushing out "as rushing out of doors, to be resolved / If Brutus so unkindly knock'd, or no" — personifying the blood. "For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel" (his dearest favourite):
"This was the most unkindest cut of all; For when the noble Caesar saw him stab, Ingratitude, more strong than traitors' arms, Quite vanquish'd him: then burst his mighty heart."
"Most unkindest" is a double superlative, stressing the cruelty; "unkind" also carries the old sense of "unnatural" — against one's own kind. Caesar was killed not so much by the daggers as by Brutus's ingratitude. He fell, muffling his face in his mantle, "Even at the base of Pompey's statua, / Which all the while ran blood". "O, what a fall was there, my countrymen! / Then I, and you, and all of us fell down, / Whilst bloody treason flourish'd over us." Caesar's fall is made the fall of every Roman.
Why it matters. Antony comes down from the pulpit and has the crowd form a ring. He is no longer above them but among them. He holds up the mantle and reminds them of the victory over the Nervii, so the cloak becomes a symbol of Caesar's service to Rome. He then points to each hole and names the man who made it. He cannot know which dagger made which hole, since he was drawn away before the killing, but the crowd has no wish to question him. The climax of this part is "the most unkindest cut of all": the double superlative stresses cruelty, and "ingratitude" is personified as a force stronger than any dagger. Then "O, what a fall was there, my countrymen!" makes Caesar's fall a fall for them all.
9. The body revealed — "Revenge!"
The people weep. Antony says, "Kind souls, what, weep you when you but behold / Our Caesar's vesture wounded? Look you here, / Here is himself, marr'd, as you see, with traitors." He pulls the cloak away from the body — the most powerful "prop" of all. The crowd explodes: "O piteous spectacle!" "O noble Caesar!" "O traitors, villains!" "Revenge! About! Seek! Burn! Fire! Kill! Slay! / Let not a traitor live!"
Antony "restrains" them — which only inflames them more:
"Good friends, sweet friends, let me not stir you up To such a sudden flood of mutiny. They that have done this deed are honourable: What private griefs they have, alas, I know not, That made them do it …"
He claims, "I am no orator, as Brutus is; / But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man, / That love my friend", with neither "wit, nor words, nor worth, / Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech, / To stir men's blood". This is irony — he is the greatest orator in the play and is doing exactly that. If he were Brutus, he says, he would "put a tongue / In every wound of Caesar that should move / The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny." The crowd roars, "We'll mutiny!" "We'll burn the house of Brutus!"
Why it matters. The reveal is the strongest moment of the speech. He lets the crowd weep over the cloak, then shows them what is worse: "Here is himself, marr'd, as you see, with traitors." Words about Caesar turn into the sight of Caesar. The crowd's grief at once becomes rage ("Revenge! About! Seek! Burn! Fire! Kill! Slay!"), and Antony then says "let me not stir you up". An order not to riot, given to a crowd on the edge, makes it more eager to riot. His claim "I am no orator" is verbal irony. By saying he would "put a tongue / In every wound of Caesar" if he were Brutus, he asks the crowd to imagine the wounds speaking, which is exactly what he is doing.
10. The will read
Antony calls them back: "Why, friends, you go to do you know not what … You have forgot the will I told you of." Now he reads it:
- to every Roman citizen, seventy-five drachmas (silver coins);
- all Caesar's walks, private arbours and new-planted orchards on this side of the Tiber, left to the people and their heirs for ever as public parks — "common pleasures, / To walk abroad, and recreate yourselves."
"Here was a Caesar! when comes such another?" The citizens answer, "Never, never." They decide to burn Caesar's body in the holy place and with the burning brands set fire to the traitors' houses. They tear down benches, windows, anything that will burn, and rush off carrying the body.
Why it matters. Antony calls them back at the edge of violence ("Why, friends, you go to do you know not what"), which shows he is in control. The will then adds love and self-interest to anger: seventy-five drachmas for every citizen and Caesar's walks and orchards as public parks "for ever". "Here was a Caesar! when comes such another?" ties the crowd's affection to what they will gain. He has saved the will for last on purpose, because anger alone fades but gratitude gives it a lasting cause.
11. "Mischief, thou art afoot"
Alone, Antony coolly remarks:
"Now let it work. Mischief, thou art afoot, Take thou what course thou wilt!"
He has deliberately unleashed the riot and does not care where it leads. This shows his ruthless side: the grieving friend is also a calculating politician.
Why it matters. The mask drops. "Mischief, thou art afoot" is an apostrophe: Antony speaks to Mischief as if it were a person. "Now let it work" shows he has planned this, and "Take thou what course thou wilt" shows he does not care where it leads. It echoes his prophecy of "Havoc" in the last scene.
12. News of Octavius and of Brutus
A servant of Octavius reports that Octavius has already come to Rome; he and Lepidus are at Caesar's house. Antony will go to him at once: "He comes upon a wish. Fortune is merry, / And in this mood will give us any thing." The servant adds that Brutus and Cassius "are rid like madmen through the gates of Rome" — they have fled. Antony replies, "Belike they had some notice of the people, / How I had moved them." The conspirators who ruled Rome in the morning are fugitives by evening.
Why it matters. Antony's good luck ("Fortune is merry") is in fact the result of his skill. Octavius and Lepidus are already at Caesar's house, and the future triumvirate is taking shape. The news that Brutus and Cassius have ridden "like madmen" out of the gates is the sad answer to Brutus's earlier triumph. In the morning they were the saviours of Rome; by night they are fugitives. Antony notes it calmly: "Belike they had some notice of the people, / How I had moved them."
Worked examples
Example 1 (context question, 3 marks). "Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more." Who says this, to whom, and what does it mean?
Model answer. Brutus says this to the citizens in the Forum. He is answering any friend of Caesar who asks why he rose against him. He means that he did not kill Caesar because his affection had grown less, but because his love for Rome and its freedom was greater.
Why this scores: speaker and audience (1 mark), the situation (1 mark), the meaning with the idea of two loves (1 mark).
Example 2 (device question, 3 marks). "As Caesar loved me, I weep for him; as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was valiant, I honour him: but, as he was ambitious, I slew him." What device does Brutus use, and what is the effect?
Model answer. Brutus uses balanced sentences with the same pattern repeated four times, and the last clause turns against the others (antithesis). The three warm feelings (weeping, joy, honour) make the last one, "I slew him", sound fair and reluctant. The pattern also makes the speech easy to remember.
Why this scores: the device named (1 mark), the turn in the last clause (1 mark), the effect on the listener (1 mark).
Example 3 (irony question, 3 marks). The crowd cries, "Let him be Caesar." Why is this ironic?
Model answer. Brutus killed Caesar because he feared that one man would rule Rome like a king. Yet the people now want to make Brutus the new Caesar. They have cheered him without understanding his cause. The irony also shows how shallow their support is.
Why this scores: Brutus's purpose (1 mark), the contrast with the crowd's wish (1 mark), what it reveals about the crowd (1 mark).
Example 4 (the key words, 3 marks). Antony repeatedly describes Brutus as "an honourable man". What is the effect of the repetition?
Model answer. At first the phrase sounds respectful, and it lets Antony keep Brutus's rule against blaming the conspirators. But each time it follows a proof of Caesar's goodness, so it begins to sound false. By the end it is sarcasm: the crowd sees that a man who has killed such a friend is not honourable. Antony thus turns a compliment into an insult without ever saying anything openly against Brutus.
In the exam, write: the words irony and sarcasm. The examiners note that most candidates name "honourable man" correctly but very few explain why it is used. This is the pattern of ICSE 2025, Q2(iv), solved in 8.1.
Why this scores: the phrase (1 mark), why Antony repeats it (1 mark), the effect of irony or sarcasm (1 mark).
Example 5 (the three arguments, 3 marks). List the three arguments Antony uses immediately after the opening lines to show that Caesar was not ambitious.
Model answer. (1) Caesar brought many captives to Rome, and their ransoms filled the public treasury and not his own purse. (2) When the poor cried, Caesar wept; "ambition should be made of sterner stuff". (3) At the Lupercal Antony offered him a kingly crown three times and he refused it three times.
Why this scores: one mark for each argument. The examiners say that several candidates lost marks by ignoring "immediately after" and writing about the will, which comes much later. Do not mention the will here. See ICSE 2025, Q2(iii).
Example 6 (a full extract question, 16 marks). Read the extract and answer.
(i) What is "it" that Antony will not read, and where did he find it? [3] (ii) Is Antony's reason for refusing his real reason? [3] (iii) Explain "You are not wood, you are not stones, but men". [3] (iv) How do the citizens respond, and what does Antony do next? [3] (v) What does this part of the speech show about Antony's skill? Do you think he is honest? [4]
Model answers. (i) "It" is Caesar's will, a parchment with his seal. Antony found it in Caesar's private room (closet). (ii) No. He says reading it would inflame them, but his real purpose is to make them demand it, so that they feel they are forcing him to read it. (iii) Stones and wood have no feeling, but the citizens are human beings who will be moved by Caesar's love for them. Antony flatters them as people of heart. (iv) They cry "The will! read the will!", and one calls the conspirators "traitors". Antony says he fears he has "o'ershot" himself, then asks them to make a ring about the body and comes down from the pulpit. (v) He shows great skill: he uses curiosity, flattery and a pretended slip to lead the crowd. He is not honest in his manner, since he pretends reluctance, but the will itself is real. He hides his purpose behind his words.
Why this scores: each answer is fitted to its marks. The 3-mark answers give three distinct points. Part (v) states an opinion clearly and backs it with evidence.
Example 7 (personal response, 4 marks). Why did Brutus lose the crowd even though his speech was well argued?
Model answer. Brutus appealed to the head, but the crowd was moved by the heart. He gave no proof that Caesar was ambitious, and asked the people to trust his honour. He also left before Antony spoke, giving Antony the last word. The crowd cheered him at once but had not understood his reasons ("Let him be Caesar"), so their support was shallow and easily broken.
Why this scores: the contrast between reason and feeling (1 mark), lack of proof (1 mark), leaving the stage (1 mark), the shallowness of the crowd (1 mark). Keep to the speakers and the citizens, as the examiners ask.
Example 8 (before and after, 3 marks). What were the citizens' feelings towards Antony before he began, and how had they changed by the end?
Model answer. Before he began they were hostile and suspicious. One said, "'Twere best he speak no harm of Brutus here." By the end, they were loyal and eager for revenge: "We'll hear him, we'll follow him, we'll die with him."
Why this scores: the starting mood with a quotation (1 mark), the final mood with a quotation (1 mark), a clear "before and after" (1 mark). The examiners note that many candidates wrote about the mob or the conspirators and not about the citizens' feelings towards Antony. Answer the question that is asked. This is the pattern of ICSE 2025, Q2(v).
Doubts cleared
Q. Does Antony break Brutus's conditions? At first, no. He speaks well of Caesar, says he speaks "under leave of Brutus", calls the conspirators "honourable", and speaks from the same pulpit after Brutus. He defeats their purpose by making "honourable" into an insult and lets the crowd supply the word "traitors". Later, at the body, he uses "traitors" himself, but by then the crowd no longer cares about conditions.
Q. Why does Antony come down from the pulpit? He wants to be among the people, as one of them, and to stand beside the body. From the pulpit he is above them; from the ring he is with them.
Q. Did Antony see Caesar being stabbed? No. Trebonius had drawn him away. When he points to each hole in the cloak and names the stabber, he speaks as if he knew, and the crowd does not stop to ask.
Q. Is the will real? Within the play, yes. It has Caesar's seal, and Antony found it among his papers. Nothing in the text suggests it is false.
Q. Why do the citizens change so quickly? They have no strong ideas of their own and follow whoever moves them most. Brutus gave them an argument; Antony gave them tears, a body and money.
Mistakes to avoid
- In "the three arguments", writing about the will, the mantle or the body. These come later; the three arguments are the ransoms, the tears for the poor, and the refused crown.
- Saying "honourable" just shows respect. Use the words irony and sarcasm, and say that by repetition it comes to mean the opposite.
- In a "before and after" question, writing about the conspirators or "the mob" in general. Write about the citizens' feelings towards Antony.
- Saying that Antony openly defies Brutus's instructions from the start. He keeps them in words at first and stretches them only as the crowd turns.
Check yourself
- How many times does Brutus ask a rhetorical question beginning "Who is here so…", and what do the citizens answer?
- What does Antony hold up when he says "If you have tears, prepare to shed them now"?
- What does each citizen receive under Caesar's will?
Answers: 1. Three times; they answer, "None, Brutus, none." 2. Caesar's mantle (cloak). 3. Seventy-five drachmas (and all share Caesar's walks and orchards as public parks).