A rhetorical speech may be delivered by a
character in order to persuade or convince
other characters or the audience to think
or do what they want them to.
Romans, countrymen, and lovers, hear me for
my cause, and be silent.
In this moment of the play, Brutus and Mark
Antony take turns trying to convince the people
of Rome whether or not it was right to kill
Caesar. For Brutus, it was a necessary evil
in order to save the Roman republic, and for
Mark Antony it's that the conspirators were
wrong.
As Caesar loved me, I weep for him. As he
was fortunate, I rejoice at it. As he was
valiant, I honor him. But, as he was ambitious,
I slew him. Who is here so rude that would
not be a Roman? If any, speak, for him have
I offended. Who is here so vile that will
not love his country? If any, speak, for him
have I offended.
When you're looking at a speech like this
for the first time, there are lots of different
things to search for, to try to unpick and
understand how the character might be trying
to manipulate the listener. There are certain
useful things I like to look for as an actor.
Firstly, the argument itself. What is the
sense of what you're trying to say to your
audience? Secondly, the emotion. So, what
might the character be feeling inside, and
what emotional response do they want to elicit
in their audience? And thirdly, rhetorical
devices, such as repetition or antithesis,
in order to make that argument clearer to
those people listening.
I think for this, Brutus is trying to convince
his crowd, the audience, the Romans, that
he came to the decision of killing Caesar
very reluctantly; it was a necessary evil
in order to save the Roman republic.
Shall we have a look at where in the speech
Brutus refers to himself? So, 'I had to do
this', but also maybe 'why I have the right
to speak to you'. Let's just do a really kind
of plain version where we just count through
any time he refers to himself and just see
how many times that happens.
Romans, countrymen, and lovers, hear me for
my cause, and be silent that you may hear.
Believe me for mine honor, and have respect
to mine honor that you may believe. Who is
here so base that would be a bondman? If any,
speak, for him have I offended. Who is here
so rude that would not be a Roman? If any,
speak, for him have I offended. Who is here
so vile that will not love his country? If
any, speak, for him have I offended. I pause
for a reply.
I got 21! It's quite a lot isn't it?
Yes and I think it seems that Brutus is very
deliberately making this speech about him.
I think both him and Mark Anthony do quite
similar things through their speeches but
in slightly different ways. I think Brutus
says 'you should believe me and trust me because
I am a respected Roman, that is why you should
believe me', and what's interesting is that
he seems to have sort of whitewashed out all
the other conspirators.
You don't say 'we' once do you?
No, not once.
And then he starts referring to himself in
the third person as well as this Brutus becoming
an ideal. He makes it all about him. 'You
should believe me', and the difference with
him and Mark Antony I think is that Brutus
says 'believe me because I am great and honourable
and more intelligent and better than you,
and I have your best interests at heart, and
I know what's best for you', whereas Mark
Antony says 'it's all about me but I'm just
one of you guys, I'm just one of the people.'
You've got an offer to the people haven't
you, if we come back to that argument, the
sort of overarching argument; 'I had to do
this for you'.
Yes, for the greater good.
He asks some questions doesn't he, he asks
some questions which are quite interesting.
Yes, it's that balance between he absolutely
makes it about him, but then, as in a lot
of rhetorical speeches, it's about what's
the effect that he wants to induce in his
audience? What does he want them to feel and
them to think? And one of the great devices
to be able to do that is to be asking them
questions in order to make them feel that
they've got an active part to play in the
decision making rather than just being told
what to think.
Ok great. So let's do a version where we look
at those questions and why don't you ask me
Alex, but you kind of, you don't really want
me to give you a response. You know, you know
what the answer is and you know you're right.
Had you rather Caesar were living, and die
all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to
live all freemen? Who is here so base that
would be a bondman? If any, 40
speak, for him have I offended. Who is here
so rude that would not be a Roman? If any,
speak, for him have I offended. Who is here
so vile that will not love his country? If
any, speak, for him have I offended.
Great, I haven't got a chance have I?!
No chance.
Absolutely not.
So that's one way you could absolutely do
the speech, you don't give them a chance.
Let's do that version where you're going to
make me feel like I could speak if I wanted
to, that you're going to convince me that
you want me to respond.
Had you rather Caesar were living, and die
all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to
live all freemen? Who is here so base that
would be a bondman?
It's amazing, isn't it, because even though
you are allowing me in; I'm more convinced
by you.
Of course, yes.
We are looking at the emotion of a speech.
There's the characters' emotional state, which
will be very heavily influences by what has
just happened before, and the immediate situation;
and the emotional response you want from your
audience.
Brutus talks more generally about big ideas
and ideals that by Caesar dying each person
still has a place in the commonwealth; and
it sounds like a great idea, and then Mark
Antony says something similar, but he says
'well, each person is going to get 75 drachma,
75 quid in their back pocket. And so that's
the challenge, I think.
Let's pick out the bits where you think you
can really zoom in and make it specific, so
we, even though you're talking about those
big things, how are you going to convince
us that it's about you, and that it's about
this particular actual thing?
Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved
Rome more. Had you rather Caesar were living,
and die all slaves, than that Caesar were
dead, to live all freemen? As Caesar loved
me, I weep for him. As he was fortunate, I
rejoice at it. As he was valiant, I honor
him. But, as he was ambitious, I slew him.
There is tears for his love.
Great, so we've got actual, you have said,
here is my actual tear, so, it couldn't get
more specific than that could it?
Yes, I don't know whether it was just a choice
I made early on, but you could absolutely,
generally there are tears, but actually I
thought for someone that's supposedly, in
public anyway, meant to be quite a stoic character,
to actually, whether they're real tears or
not - and night to night as an actor it depends!
- that actually look, there are real tears,
I am shedding tears. This cost me, to kill
this man.
One technique that Brutus uses quite a lot
is antithesis, isn't it? He puts two, sort
of, opposites together. Shakespeare uses antithesis
all the time and that's because it's really
effective.
It's really effective and again it's about,
it's very effective for the audience and makes
it easier for the audience to understand what
that person is saying and therefore it's easier
to convince the way I'm thinking, or to do
what I want them to do.
Great, and is there a little section? Can
we zoom in on a little section where we've
got, sort of, a list of things, we've got
antithesis, haven't we there, and we've got...
It's the idea not that I loved Caesar less,
but that I loved Rome more. Less, more, Caesar
and Rome.
Slave, freeman.
I really loved Caesar, but I loved Rome more...slave,
freeman.
Fantastic.
Had you rather Caesar were living, and die
all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to
live all freemen?
Fantastic - they're really clear opposites,
aren't they? That's nice and easy to digest.
Shall we look at that list where he repeats
that technique and also if we have repetition,
we don't just want to, kind of keep it on
a level, do we, we want to sort of build it
- it's a really useful way either with lists,
or if we're repeating something that we kind
of feel like it's really going somewhere,
it's getting to a climax.
And he does it often; we think of in rhetorical
speeches, the rule of three: it's not this,
it's not this, it's this. But actually Brutus
kind of, he likes giving three things and
then gives a fourth one to slam it down.
Shall we look at that section and really focus
in on that and kind of slam dunking that final;
so using that repetition, those antithesis,
and then bam, hammer it home.
As Caesar loved me, I weep for him. As he
was fortunate, I rejoice at it. As he was
valiant, I honor him. But, as he was ambitious,
I slew him. There is tears for his love, joy
for his fortune, honor for his valor, and
death for his ambition.
And then he goes on to the next one, these
lists and three questions, and I think he
maybe does a similar thing here, shall we
try that?
Who is here so base that would be a bondman?
If any, 40
speak, for him have I offended. Who is here
so rude that would not be a Roman? If any,
speak, for him have I offended. Who is here
so vile that will not love his country? If
any, speak, for him have I offended. I pause
for a reply.
So those, the repetition, the emphasis, and
then hopefully it can elicit more and more
of an emotional response from your audience
if they can feel this way.
It gets the heart rate pumping, doesn't it?
Who is here, who is here, who is here? Really,
really underlining those.
It's like a wave rising.
Yes.
