UNIT 4 Worksheet 4: Satirical speech

A famous example of the use of satire is Mark Antony’s speech at Caesar’s funeral, from
Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, in which Mark Antony turns the people of Rome against
Caesar’s assassins. Caesar was considered by his enemies to have wanted to become King
of Rome, which was at that time a republic. The Lupercal was a cave in Rome where an
annual feast was held on 15 February. The murder of Caesar took place in March. The
group of conspirators was led by Brutus, Caesar’s friend.

Listen to this speech being read aloud or watch a film clip on YouTube before answering
the questions.

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;

I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him;
The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft interred with their bones,
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answered it.
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest,
For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all; all honourable men –
Come I to speak in Caesar’s funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
He hath brought many captives home to Rome,
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then to mourn for him?
O judgement! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.

© Cambridge University Press 2014 Cambridge Checkpoint English 9: A World View 1

 UNIT 4 Worksheet 4: Satirical speech

1 This speech is a dramatic monologue. Who is the invisible audience?

2 What is the meaning of the following words, in bold in the passage?

interred

thrice

withholds

3 What is the meaning of the following figurative expressions, in italics in the passage?

lend me your ears

thou art fled to brutish beasts

Bear with me

4 Do you remember what this kind of verse is called, and what is its metre?

5 How many rhetorical devices can you identify? Underline them in the speech and give
them a number in the margin.

6 Name or describe each of them, according to their number.

© Cambridge University Press 2014 Cambridge Checkpoint English 9: A World View 2

 UNIT 4 Worksheet 4: Satirical speech

7 Comment on the end of the speech and its effect on listeners.

8 Why do you think Mark Antony is making a satirical speech rather than simply saying
that he thinks it was wrong of the conspirators to kill Caesar?

9 Are you persuaded by this speech into thinking that Caesar may have been a more
honourable and less ambitious man than Brutus? Give your reasons.

© Cambridge University Press 2014 Cambridge Checkpoint English 9: A World View 3