A stick-figure Shakespeare comic by Mya Lixian Gosling
OK! Enough holiday shenanigans. Let's get back to Julius Caesar. If you remember, when we last left Antony, he was in the midst of making the speech of his life, having just exposed the bleeding body of Caesar to the extremely easily persuaded mob.
Apparently Caesar's gift to Rome's citizens was indeed part of his will. However, in this scene it almost seems as if Antony has made it up himself in order to further whip the citizens into a frenzy. I wouldn't put it past him, the smooth talker....
HAPPY NEW YEAR! It's time for another round of Shakespearean New Year's Resolutions!
Here are some resolutions from past years:
And I just realized that this is going to be my FIFTH YEAR drawing Good Tickle Brain! I started back in September of 2013. That's crazy. Thanks for sticking with me through another year of Shakespearean silliness. Here's to many more!
The holidays are upon us! Celebrate by substituting the words to your favorite carols with these decidedly more Shakespearean verses:
Oh, I'm sorry. Did you think Antony's speech-making ended after the whole "friends, Romans, countrymen" bit? Oh no. Oh no he's JUST GETTING STARTED.
Mark Antony: master of mass emotional manipulation.
HERE IT IS. THE LINE. THE SPEECH.
You probably had to memorize this speech for school sometime, but don't let that put you off it. It's actually a REALLY GOOD SPEECH. There are lots of fun versions of it on YouTube. Here's Marlon Brando from the 1953 film:
OK, let's get those speeches started! First we have Brutus's prose preaching:
It's kind of a pity Brutus's speech is often overshadowed by The Big Speech that follows it, because it's really very good. You 100% believe Brutus's sincerity and good intentions. Too bad he didn't listen to Cassius about Antony...
Speaking of Cassius, we never hear what he says to the angry mob he is delegated to speak with. What did he say? Was he as convincing as Brutus? Did it work to placate the mob or did they throw tomatoes at him? Theories on the back of a postcard, please.
OK, let's wrap up the Assassination scene so we can move on to the Everyone Making Big Speeches scene.
I love the Servant who comes on here and has an emotional breakdown at the sight of Caesar's body. One of the better spearcarrier roles in Shakespeare, in my opinion.
Tune in next week for SPEECHES! Lots of SPEECHES! They're REALLY GOOD SPEECHES.
Yep, we're still here, in the Capitol, with a dead body on the ground. Get used to it.
Julius Caesar isn't exactly packed with laughs, but as far as I'm concerned, Cassius's line "Brutus, a word with you" is the most hilarious line in the entire play.
