Thursday, April 16, 2015

Antony's soliloquy at the end of act 3, scene 2, indicates what intentions regarding the assassins? What does his speech foreshadow?

This speech, which foreshadows the defeat and deaths of
the conspirators, has several memorable lines.


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Over thy wounds now do I
prophesy,


Which like dumb mouths do ope their ruby
lips


to beg the voice and utterance of my
tongue.



Here, Antony creates
a metaphor expressing the idea that Caesar’s wounds are mouths that are unable to speak,
so Antony will speak for them. In so doing he has done a masterful job of convincing the
Roman populace to turn against the conspirators.


Then
Antony prophesy's what he believes will happen next:


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And Caesar’s spirit ranging for
revenge,


With Ate by his side come hot from
hell,


Shall in these confines with a monarch’s
voice


Cry, “Havoc,” and let slip the dogs of
war.



Antony has used another
metaphor, referring to the armies he shall command as as the “dogs of war.” This implies
that the soldiers shall be merciless to the point of being animalistic in their
violence.


Notice also that Antony refers to Caesar’s spirit
has having a “monarch’s voice.” This is a special stab at the conspirators, whose fear
of Caesar’s quest for dictatorial power is what spurred them to action in the first
place. The implication is that Caesar will be even greater and more dangerous in death
than he was in life.


This turn of events was not wholly
unexpected by the conspirators. Cassius warned Brutus not to allow Antony to speak at
Caesar’s funeral:


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Know you how much the people may be
moved


By that which he will
utter?



Brutus makes several
crucial decisions against the advice of Cassius. This was the one that turned the tide
against them.

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