FORENSIC EVIDENCE IN MARK ANTHONY`S SPEECH

SUBMITTED BY
NAME: UJJAWAL KUMAR
ROLL NO: 2437
SEMESTER: SECOND
YEAR: 2020-2025
COURSE: BBA. LLB (HONS)
SUBMITTED TO
DR.PRATUSH KAUSHIK
(LAW AND LITERATURE)

ROUGH DRAFT SUBMITTED IN THE PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE TITLED

COURSE
LAW AND LITERATURE

CHANAKYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

NYAYA NAGAR, MITTHAPUR, PATNA-800001

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INTRODUCTION

For centuries, stories have been told regarding that of uprisings, or wars, caused by disputes over
whom, or how, a country should be ruled, and this is evident in Shakespeare’s adaptation of The
Tragedy of Julius Caesar . In the play, many characters view Julius Caesar as a threat to Rome
because of his great ambition, including that of Cassius, Brutus, and Decius. These three are
amongst a larger group of conspirators who feel something must be done, else Caesar becomes
tyrannical. 

WILLIAM SHAKESPEAR
William Shakespeare has become the most famous and influential author in English literature.
Only active as a writer for a quarter century, he wrote thirty-eight plays, one hundred fifty-four
sonnets and two epic poems that reinvented and defined the English language to such a degree
that his works are required study all over the world.

Very little is known about Shakespeare's early life. He was born around 1564 in Stratford-upon-
Avon to a middle-class merchant family and by the age of eighteen he was married with a child
on the way. He would later father two more children. By 1592 he had become a successful actor
and playwright in London and was famous among Londoners for the popularity of his plays.

The plays are often categorized as tragedies, comedies or histories. Tragedies featured
sympathetic protagonists who were doomed by their flaws. Comedies tended to be more upbeat,
with happy endings that often led to a marriage. The historical plays were frequently politically
motivated to appeal to the Elizabethan court and featured British and Scottish kings.

Shakespeare retired from writing in 1613 and died three years later at the age of fifty-two. Most
of his works were published posthumously in 1623.

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THE TRAGEDY OF JULIUS CAESAR

Scholars are certain that Shakespeare wrote Julius Caesar before September 1599. In fact, the
play is thought to have opened on September 21 of that year.Some scholars believe he wrote the
play partially to express his worry that Queen Elizabeth I's impending death could bring about
civil war to their country. She never married, nor had any children. In fact, she was known as the
Virgin Queen. Elizabeth had been on the throne for 41 years and had not named an heir to
succeed her.

In Julius Caesar, the character of Julius Caesar parallels the story of the Queen. Neither of them
had an heir, and in the event of a sudden death chaos may ensue; Shakespeare's worry is reflected
when Caesar is assassinated and war breaks out in Rome.

Shakespeare used Plutarch's The Lives of the Greeks and Romans for his background
information. Plutarch's work consisted of biographies of notable people from Greece and Rome,
including two chapters which Shakespeare used primarily: The Life of Julius Caesar and The
Life of Marcus Brutus. Thomas North had translated Plutarch's work to English in 1579.

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Shakespeare used Plutarch for historical context, but he focused in his play on the public and
private relationships of historical characters. For example, Shakespeare shows us a domestic
scene between Julius Caesar and his wife, Calpurnia. In the scene, Caesar is wearing his
nightgown. The scene shows that even great and important people, such as Caesar and Queen
Elizabeth I, were still people as everyone else.

Of Shakespeare’s tragic characters, Mark Antony is quite outstanding in point of versatility. He

does not exactly fit the Aristotelian description of the tragic hero. He is reliable and trustworthy
friend, a highly intelligent and tactful man, a good psychologist, a skilful orator. Analysing
Antony’s famous speech of act 3, scene 2, we admire its uncanny rhetorical effects and the most
persuasive use of the emotional appeal that assist him in disentangling the truth from the pack of
lies concerning Julius Caesar that Brutus had just told the Roman citizens. By using the
apophatic approach (the device by which one mentions something by saying it will not be
mentioned: “I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him”, and “I speak not to disprove what Brutus
spoke”), Antony manages to do just what he was not expected or allowed to do: praise Caesar
and disprove what Brutus spoke.

The play has been popular throughout the 400 years since its initial performance it has been
performed by casts of hundreds, as wells by school children around the world. Its universal
themes of loyalty, flattery, political necessity, and fate continue to strike chords in the heart’s of
audiences around the world and has lent itself to production alterations like all female casts,
relocating the action into updated political settings, and has also been adapted to the screen with
such major film stars as Charlton Heston, John Gielgud, and Marlon Brando.

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 AIMS AND OBJECTIVE

1. The researcher tends to throw some light on character of Mark Anthony and Brutus.

2. The researcher tends to throw some light on rethorical devices used in the speech of mark
Anthony.

RESEARCH METODOLOGY

The researcher will be relying upon only doctrinal method of research to complete their project.

SOURCES OF DATA

The researcher will be relying upon secondary sources only to complete their project.

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 TABLE OF CONTENT

1. INTRODUCTION
 WILLIAM SHAKESPEAR
 JULIUS CEASAR
2. CONSPIRACY AGAINST JULIUS CEASAR
3. CHARACTER SKETCH OF
 MARK ANTHONY
 MARCUS BRUTUS
4. ABSTRACT OF ANTHONY`S SPEECH
 TRANSCRIPT OF SPEECH
5. ANALYSING ARGUMENTS IN THE SPEECH
6. RETHORICAL DEVICES USED
7. CONCLUSION
8. BIBLIOGRAPHY

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

 Websites Referred:
 https://www.playshakespeare.com/julius-caesar/characters
 http://www.shakespeare- online.com/plays/juliuscaesar/juliuscaesarcharacters.html
 https://www.history.com/news/julius-caesar-assassin-ides-of-march
 http://www.playshakespeare.com/license
 http://my-classic-books.blogspot.com/2012/12/final-conclusion-julius-caesar.html
 https://sites.google.com/site/insatiatrix/divers/mark-antony-s-speech---julius-caesar-
by-shakespeare
 https://studymoose.com/critical-analysis-of-mark-antonys-funeral-speech-essay
 http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/julius_3_2.html

http://www.bardweb.net/content/readings/caesar/index.html

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