The Revengeful and Loyal Antony
“O pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, that I am meek and gentle with these butchers. Thou art the ruins of the noblest man that ever lived in the tide of times. Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood!” (Act 3, Scene 1, Lines 254 – 258) Antony’s loyalty towards Caesar shows how he respected him so much and he called Caesar the noblest man who ever lived and how he was sorry for his death. His loyalty towards Caesar lead to his revengefulness towards the conspirators when he says that suffering will come to the hand who did this to Julius Caesar. Mark Antony was devastated when the news struck him of Caesars death, he was fueled with revenge and vowed himself to get back at the conspirators all due to his loyalty towards Caesar.
Mark Antony’s revengefulness was surely triggered by Caesars death. The conspirators completely underestimated Antony, but now, Antony filled with revenge from the death of his best friend, Julius, he will practically do anything to get the conspirators killed for doing what they have done, murder Caesar. “Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war, that this foul deed shall smell above the earth with carrion men, groaning for burial.” (Act 3, Scene 1, Lines 273-275) He will do anything, even slip the dogs of war to take out whoever is left from the war, the war is going to be so brutal that even dead men would wish they were buried, this shows Antony’s feelings towards the conspirators at the moment and how his revengefulness will lead into war. The murder of Caesar surely generated Antony to become more angry and arrogant. This is significant because he can easily get the people angry and arrogant with him with his skills of getting the crowd to go against the conspirators for they are very gullible, which makes them want to kill the conspirators even more. When Caesar was killed, Antony was enraged and he spoke to Caesars dead body about how he will start a fierce and destructive civil war. “A curse shall light upon the limbs of men; domestic fury and fierce civil strife shall cumber all the parts of Italy; blood and destruction shall be so in use, and dreadful objects so familiar, that mothers shall but smile when they behold their infants quartered with the hands of war.” (Act 3 Scene 1 Lines 262-268). This clearly shows Antony’s revengefulness against the conspirators because its meaning displays that there will be a bloody and destructive civil war against the conspirators and their followers and Antony and his followers all because of Antony’s revengefulness towards the conspirators and loyalty towards Caesar.
Antony was not only revengeful but also very loyal at the same time towards Caesar. His love and affection for Caesar really drived him into being loyal towards Caesar and how he respected him like a god. “That I did love thee, Caesar, O, ‘tis true!” (Act 3, Scene 1, Line 194) He truly loved Caesar and respected him greatly, he did not ever do anything behind Caesars back, he was always with Caesar, because he was a loyal friend and was never against him, he would do anything for him and do it straight away. “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)”. (Act 3, Scene 1, Lines 259 – 261) Antony and Caesar were good friends and Antony did what he thought was right for Caesar, speaking for Caesars wounds who can’t have a say because Caesar has fallen. Antony being a loyal friend had to speak up for those wounds and make sure nobody involved with this gets away with it, and he took action straight away. Which also brings up his revengefulness towards the conspirators and whoever was part in Caesars death. Antony’s loyalty resulted him into become very confident and determined because he kept going for his goal, trying to get back at the conspirators and to speak for Caesars wounds, he never gave up. He did all of this by putting himself into danger. This shows his confidence and determination in doing what’s right for his best friend Caesar, leading to great loyalty.
Throughout the play of Julius Caesar, Antony was always loyal towards Caesar, always with him and never against him and never seemed to be a big threat towards the conspirators. But when nearing the end of the play, Caesar’s death triggered Antony into bringing out his true loyalty and love towards Caesar and revengefulness towards the conspirators for doing such a tragic thing. Antony started being a bit more arrogant, confident and determined about what he was going to do after Caesars death always trying to achieve his goal which was to get back at the conspirators and make sure no one gets away with Caesars death. In the end, Antony manages to achieve his goal wholly by creating a civil war against the people for and against Caesar, and Antony with the Roman people by his side and his evidence of why Caesar’s death was not an honorable act grew out a big army and slowly overcame the battle, and with the conspirators slowly giving up on fighting against Antony and under so much stress that everyone was dying, eventually killed themselves helping Antony achieve his goal. The main things which helped Antony achieve his goal was his confidence and determination, he did not give up on his goal of getting back against the conspirators for killing Caesar, he made sure they suffered for what they have done. He even risked himself by putting himself in danger to achieve this goal, these two traits of Antony really drove him all the way into achieving his goal, which in my point of view was neither worthy nor noble. His goal of trying to get back at the conspirators for what they did to Caesar was not worthy because no good comes out of killing the conspirators, they wont gain anything, what they wanted had already gone. It was neither noble because Antony wanted to kill everyone who was against Caesar, he would even slip out the dogs of war to kill the ones who were left. He also did not fear to destroy Rome and damage his own country, this was not a noble act. Antony got what he wanted, but what he wanted was not worthy or noble.
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