During the funeral scene of Shakespeare's Julius
Caesar, human beings are revealed as stupid and
fickle.
First, the crowd wholeheartedly accepts Brutus's
version of events, and the reasons for those events. The crowd is probably ready
at this point to kill for Brutus. But within a matter of minutes,
they become ready to kill Brutus, as well as the other
conspirators. Such a quick reversal on the part of the crowd, regardless of whose
argument is correct, shows stupidity, and a willingness to be played with and
manipulated, intellectually speaking. It shows a willingness to commit too easily to
extremes.
Antony's speech, however, is not primarily
emotional. Emotion finishes what intellect starts. The main part of his argument is
rational and based on reason. He uses irony, created with juxtaposition (the placing of
opposites side by side) to create a powerful rational and reasonable
argument.
Antony does this with the following logical
steps:
- He describes an unambitious action by
Caesar - He uses the refrain: But Brutus says he was
ambitious, and... - Brutus is an honorable
man.
One example looks like
this:
- Caesar turned down the crown
three times - But Brutus says he was ambitious,
and - Brutus is an honorable
man.
This is a rational argument, not an
emotional one. It may create emotion in the listeners, but it is an argument that uses
reason.
And the crowd gets it, demonstrating that it is
capable of reasoning. It is also fickle, however, and is eager to leap from one extreme
to the other without considering the consequences. Though capable of using reason, they
neglect to do so, and thereby demonstrate ignorance and
stupidity.
This ignorance and stupidity reaches new heights
when the crowd, turned into a mob, kills Cinna the Poet, thinking, at first, that he is
Cinna the conspirator. Even after the mobsters become aware that they have the wrong
man, though, they kill him anyway. This mob doesn't need a reason to kill; it just
wants to kill.
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