Mark Antony as the genius of Julius Caesar Mark Antony: the boy is a genius. He gives the most powerful and emotional speech ever conjured by a human mind. He draws this powerful emotion from the grief of losing his friend Julius Caesar. In Shakespeare's play about the ill-fated Roman ruler, a gang of conspirators plots to kill Julius Caesar. They succeed, and Caesar's best friend, Antony, is enraged. However, he manages to keep his cool, until he is allowed to speak at Caesar's funeral. Brutus, the leader of the conspiracy, attempts to win the popularity and support of the crowd, and does so with a speech full of glittering generalities. His speech sounded good, but it actually meant nothing. The people favor Brutus until Antony takes a stand and exposes the hard facts, turning the crowd into an angry stampede. The persuasive techniques used by Antonio helped him gain the support of the crowd. If he had not used these techniques, Antonio would have simply been taken off stage and thrown into the crowd. The techniques he used (to make his speech persuade the crowd to help him) were: his recognition of the opposing argument, his slowly increasing emotional expression and the use of a simple refrain which becomes increasingly sarcastic every time .Antonio must recognize the opposite argument, because it helps him show the crowd that he does not have a selfish or one-sided mind. "The noble Brutus told you that Caesar was ambitious. If so, it would be a grave sin." (Act III, Scene ii, 79-81) Even though the crowd knows this, Antony says that Brutus said that Caesar was ambitious. Why? Antony reiterates what Brutus said to make a p...... middle of paper...... Antony has just made fun of Brutus. Once again, only one small detail is changed in the refrain to produce sarcasm: "and of course." It's hard to believe that just by changing a few words you can have such a huge impact on a speech. Through the use of these three persuasive techniques, Mark Antony is able to gain the support of the entire crowd. By acknowledging the opposing argument, slowly letting his emotions take over, and using a “simple” refrain, Antonio delivers the perfect oration to manipulate the crowd. Antonio knows the psychology of persuasion and demonstrates it when he gives the speech. The qualities of a persuasive speech, to speak of Antonio's methods, are not at all evident. They come slowly, and that's the way to have a crowd in your hands. Works Cited: Shakespeare, William. Julius Caesar. New York: Simone, 1975.