Character of Mark Antony in Julius Caesar | Shakespeare | facexor

Sketch the character of Mark Antony in Julius Caesar.

Mark Antony in Julius Caesar is a hardly likable person. He is apparently a light-hearted pleasure, pleasure-loving young man. Caesar, Brutus, Titinius, is though in different sprit, refer it this aspect of Antony’s character. Yet it is against him that the shrewd Cassius repeatedly warned Brutus. Cassius is new that Antony’s love for Caesar would always make him an enemy to Caesar’s murderers. He knew also that if Antony could at all be purchased, it would be not by appeals to his higher idealism, for Antony had none, but to his self-interest.

Cassius was not wrong. Antony was really a scheming, designing ambitious man. As a contrived, he was Cassius's equal; duplicity he was much superior. By carry out acting, he won the self-assurance of Brutus and even weakened the ill-will of Cassius. By excellent oratory, he mastered and influenced the citizens, In the critical moment of the drama, when Antony faced Brutus and Cassius after the murder, one false step would have spelled disaster for him. But Antony made no mistake. He studied his opponents and played his hand with unerring skill, and the man of revelry soon mastered the situation. As a result, the conspirators had soon fled away from the city of Rome.

But Antony's preeminence was the only impermanent. Soon his personal aims manifested themselves. He was working not for any cause, not for any party, but for his own self. He is morally wrong and unscrupulous. He bribes, he cajoles, he manoeuvres with Machiavellian adroitness. But he meets his match in the cold, calculating resolute Octavius. With Octavius, he is reduced almost to a state of pitiful whining. Greatness deserts him and he relapses into the level of mediocrity from which he had raised himself for a moment.

 The one quality that is at all praiseworthy in the character of Antony is his love for Cesar and loyalty to his memory. To some extent, this love is the reflex of the homage which an impulsive young man feels for genuine greatness. Love for Caesar is the one unselfish trait in the whole career of Mark Antony.