Julius Caesar Essay

Antony

“O pardon me, thou bleeding piece of Earth, That I am meek and gentle with these butchers.” (Said by Antony From ‘Julius Caesar’) This quote shows Mark Antony’s hate for the conspirators and love for Caesar. Antony thinks of the conspirators as butchers who have slaughtered a great man and begs for forgiveness from Caesar that he hasn’t done anything to them yet. Antony was angry at the conspirators and his goal was to avenge Caesar’s death by killing them. In Shakespeare’s play, ‘Julius Caesar,’ there are many characters that have goals, which are either noble, or not. Mark Antony is one of these characters who was driven to get revenge on the conspirators for killing a friend, and a leader.

Caesar was Antony’s best friend and when he died, Antony’s love for Caesar turned into anger for the conspirators. Once Caesar died, Antony starting coming up with an idea on how to avenge Caesar and began a civil war. “That I did love thee, Caesar, O, ‘tis true.” (Act 3, Scene 2) At this point, Antony has seen Caesar’s dead body and is talking to the conspirators about how he feels about their actions. Antony tries to stay calm and not let his true emotions show. This quote proves Antony’s love for Caesar and shows one factor for why Antony began seeking for a way to avenge his friend. When Antony was alone without the conspirators, his emotions came flooding out. “Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood!”(Act 3, Scene 1) Antony was angry with the conspirators and hoped that they feel the same pain that he felt at this point. He started cursing them and hoping that all of Rome falls into chaos. Antony was furious and didn’t care about anything that tried to get in his way of revenge. Antony loved Caesar, but he also respected him as a great leader.

Antony believed that Caesar would have been a good king and would’ve led the country well, which made him disagree with the conspirator’s whole cause. The conspirators believed that by killing Caesar, they were making Rome a better place by ending tyranny. Antony didn’t agree with this point of view and wanted Caesar to be a king. “I thrice presented him a kingly crown,” (Act 3, Scene 2) This is when Antony is talking to the plebeians and trying to convince them that Caesar was not ambitious and didn’t deserve to die. Antony tells them about how he wanted to crown Caesar three times and that he refused to become a king. Antony wanted Caesar to become king but since Caesar refused, it made Antony think he was honorable which was another reason he thought Caesar shouldn’t die. Antony’s anger grew as he found more and more reasons for why Caesar should have stayed alive. “Over thy wounds now do I prophesy. A curse shall light upon the limbs of men.”(Act 3, Scene 1) Antony became furious with the conspirators and didn’t care what happened to anyone else so he cursed the whole of Rome. Antony eventually started a civil war with the help of Caesar’s nephew and made madness spread throughout Rome because of his anger. Antony was angry at the conspirators for killing a great leader and was out for revenge.

Antony’s fury at the conspirators made him hungry for vengeance and he started a civil war and made chaos in Rome to get it. Antony was angry with the conspirators for killing his well-loved friend and well-loved leader and he set his wrath on them. Antony achieved his goal in the end as all the conspirators were dead, and the only way he could achieve it was by sacrificing a whole country to kill a few people. Although Antony achieved his goal, it was not a noble or worthy one, as he had to kill a lot of people and put a country into pandemonium to achieve it.