Yesenia Cardenas
All about Antony
Perhaps there isn’t a more power hungry character in
William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar as Antony, Caesar’s supposed
right-hand man. His actions and words after Caesar’s death are what make him
into an undesirable leader for Rome. At
first, Antony appears to be the perfect wing man to Caesar saying things like,
When
Caesar says “Do this,” it is performed. (I, ii, 13)
It makes Antony seem very loyal
and dotting to Caesar. It appears that he wouldn’t make such a bad ruler. After
that, Antony isn’t mentioned much save for comments on his undying loyalty to
Caesar, but we already knew that. But, does it seem like a coincidence to say
that after Caesar died is when Antony starts to show his true colors? At least
to this Roman, Antony’s performance after Caesar’s death wasn’t at all
convincing. When he speaks of Caesar, it seems as if he speaks of himself and
his greatness, not of Caesars. Even with the supposed will of Caesar does he
relish in the attention he gets from the crowd after being in Caesar’s shadow
for so long. It says in the text,
Will you be patient? Will you stay a while?
I have o’ershot myself to tell you of it.
I fear I wrong the honorable men
Whose daggers have stabbed Caesar. I do fear it. (III,
ii, 161-164)
As always throughout his
speech, he manages to make it all about him. How he feels or how he is reacting
rather than focusing on the people, who have first priority as they don’t have
anyone to really rule them. To make matters worse, he obviously doesn’t like
the people because as he descends to the public to read the will, the public
gets excited and he says this,
Nay, press not upon me. Stand far off. (III, ii, 179)
Of course, he should be
worrying about other things but instead decides to worry about himself. With
all of this in mind, I made the political cartoon to display Antony’s true
character in the play and not the phony he’s trying to convince everyone of.
While he is dressed “luxuriously”, the people are in dirty rags. And to top it
all off he is being celebrated and carried by the people to show he thinks of
himself as the one who truly matters in this entire dilemma. The question at
the bottoms reads, “Is this Rome?” and it is place at the bottom where the
people can see it so they rethink their feelings toward Antony. Because of
this, Antony is one of the unsuitable successors for candidacy.
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