There is an overwhelming amount of evidence in history showing the power of persuasive speech and the effects it may have on a people. Only in the last century, individuals such as King, Kennedy, Churchill and others have moved, through a direct play on emotions, masses of people to do uncanny things (yes, even evil can and has understood the power of speech, i.e., Hitler).

One of the most proficient speakers of the past from literature who offer us lessons in effective delivery is from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar in the character of Mark Antony. Antony realized where Brutus did not that the single and most important factor in dealing with any mass of people is emotions. Crowds as crowds do not reason: they feel. Effective speaking doesn’t appeal to reason: it appeals to emotions. Therefore, the words, their composition and their delivery, have to create an emotional appeal — not a rational one.

You can find tons of information on effective speaking these days on the internet. However, if you really want to understand public speaking (and not get turned off by what you hear these days being spoken publicly), examining a classic delivery like Mark Antony’s speech and the techniques he uses can help us become better speakers.

Don’t Go First

One of the first lessons is the line up of speakers. There are pros and cons about going first or last, but if you are speaking to a large crowd, don’t go first. You can see this in political rallies, or at conferences. While there are exceptions (i.e., a keynote speaker at a major conference might go first), there is still something lost if you go first: anticipation. More important, you can’t “react” to what was said before your speech. Mark Antony was second, behind Brutus, and he used what Brutus said to his advantage. One can argue that without Brutus going first, Antony’s speech would have been far less effective.

Don’t Be Reasonable

Brutus’ fatal error in addressing the crowd was believing they would listen to reason. That is lesson number two: emotion trumps reason.

There is certainly nothing wrong with Brutus’ explanation of why he rose against his dear friend and killed him:“not that I loved Caesar less, but that I/loved Rome more.” And he takes great care to note that he only offended, by his actions, the base, rude or vile. Surely no one in the listening crowd will admit to these traits. Sounds reasonable enough, doesn’t it?

Brutus is a rational speaker; he is logical, taking care to “rationalize” the murder of his friend.

His final offer to the crowd — that he has a “dagger for myself/when it shall please my country to need my death” is a most reasonable statement to justify what he has done. And one gets the sense the crowd buys the argument. After all, he’s willing to die for his actions if the crowd desires it. Which they don’t, at first.

Mob Mentality

A crowd is not reasonable. Just as human beings aren’t reasonable (try reasoning with someone under intense emotion). Brutus has made a critical error in thinking he can reason his way with the crowd. But, mobs are never reasonable (they don’t call them a herd for nothing). Though they listen to him and agree with what he is saying, they don’t “feel” the arguments. As Antony will show, directly playing on their emotions is the key to results. And he uses effective speaking techniques to do this — not rational arguments. And despite the odds being against him, he accomplishes his goal: bringing the crowd to a fever pitch to avenge the death of his friend.

Antony has two things working against him from the start: he made a promise to Brutus that he would not speak against the assassins, and the fact that the people were “well disposed” toward Brutus as a Roman. They liked Brutus. However, Antony also has something Brutus lacked: the knowledge of effective speaking.

Fire with Fire

Antony begins by tearing down (logically) what Brutus said about Caesar’s ambition. He draws on two examples: one from the far past (Caesar’s handling of captives for ransom) and another from the recent past (Caesar’s turning down the crown). He is not speaking against Brutus or the others, for they are, as he calls them, “honorable” men. He is simply being “rational” and “reasonable” in his presentation. What he is really doing is starting out slow.

One of the keys to effective speaking is crescendo. You want to build up to a point. Of course, that depends on your goal for the speech. But in any speech, the goal is always to take some kind of action: to take away a key point, to do something. A good speech is like a musical composition. There is a rhythm to it, with everything leading to the finale. Antony’s speech is just that: a crescendo of words that lead the crowd down the path Antony wants.

In referring to the assassins as “honorable” (he does so eight times throughout the speech), he keeps his promise to Brutus while at the same time uses the word to fit his own needs – that of moving the crowd’s emotions. Because the juxtaposition he is painting is that they are NOT honorable men, for they have murdered his friend. One of the key ingredients of a speech is repetition of a word, or a phrase. In this case, Antony has changed the definition of “honorable” to mean dishonorable. And he does it by repetition and examples of actions that are not honorable.

Take a Breath

Antony’s use of pauses is also excellent. Using silence in a speech at the right time is one of the most effective methods of getting your point across. Many great speakers used this, and still do (though you wouldn’t know it from watching some of the people make speeches these days). Silence can shape people’s emotions sometimes more than the words.

My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, And I must pause till it come back to me.

He is so moved, so overwhelmed with emotion, that he has to pause. The mob, watching, gets a chance to feel their own emotions.

Beginning again, Antony tells the crowd about Caesar’s will, and in a brilliant maneuver, manages to tell them about “him that made the will” instead of the will itself. He holds it up, but he speaks about the man who wrote the will, not the content. He keeps the content in suspense, driving the crowd slowly mad with anticipation. Here, the use of a prop is important, and the technique of speaking not about the prop, but around the prop. The mob sees the prop, but the words are around it to build up the emotion of the crowd.

In doing this, Antony is not only playing on their emotions (saving the actual reading of the will as a final device); he is building up their anger toward the traitors. It is also at this point that he manages to tear Brutus down and turn the masses against him, thereby overcoming his second obstacle: destroying the admiration the mob had for Brutus.

For when the noble Caesar saw him [Brutus] stab, / Ingratitude more strong than traitor’s arms, / Quite vanquished him. Then burst his mighty heart,… Then I, and you, and all of us fell down, / Whilst bloody treason flourished over us.

Filling them so with grief, Antony adds a finishing touch by removing Caesar’s robe from the body so that the crowd can look directly at the traitors’ handiwork. So skillfully a manipulated grief must find an outlet: “Revenge! About! Seek! Burn! Fire! Kill! Slay!”

Antony, however, is not quite finished; he calms their rage by telling them he is not an orator, but a “plain blunt man.” This is mob psychology at its best, and can be seen in wrestling matches. The promoter, always keenly aware of the audience, brings emotions up and down depending on the wrestlers (good versus evil in every case). The promoter knows he can bring the crowd to a fever pitch, and then calm them down by just altering “who’s on top.”

This keen insight into the psychology of a crowd, however, is what Antony knows perfectly well.,

For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth,/ Action nor utterance, nor the power of speech,/ To stir men’s blood. I only speak right on,/ I tell you that which you yourselves do know,/ Show you sweet Caesar’s wounds, poor poor dumb mouths,/ And bid them speak for me. But where I Brutus,/ And Brutus Antony, there were an Antony / Would ruffle up your spirits, and put a tongue / In every wound of Caesar that should move / The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny.

Not only is Antony’s speech more poetic; it is filled with reverse psychology: he keeps insisting he is not doing anything, or that he is not wronging the “honorable” men when, in fact, he is doing exactly that. Antony is driving the crowd’s emotions and says he does not have the ability to “stir men’s blood” when he is doing just that effectively.

Antony’s final move is to bring up the “forgotten” will. When the people hear they are Caesar’s heirs, they are so filled with anger caused by Antony’s speech, that their only course is to riot through the streets of Rome. The emotional volcano had to erupt.

We can see, then, that the basic reason for Antony’s being the more effective speech is his knowledge of crowds, and that crowds do not think: they feel.

Insights

If you are going to make a speech, start with your objective, your goal, what you want your audience to do at the end. Antony’s goal was to start a riot. Your goal may be to have people call you for more information, or read your blog.

Once you have your goal, shape your speech with words using some of the techniques Shakespeare used in Antony’s delivery: crescendo, repetition of key words, pauses.

Speech writing is science and art, but part of the science is to step back and remember that people are not rational: they are emotional. And study good speeches. Outline them for yourself, and then watch the rhythm of language. In addition, don’t be fooled by great speeches you Google on the Internet. Great is in the eye of the beholder. Antony’s speech was 1100 words or so. Churchill’s “Finest Hour” speech over 4300. Length is dependent on objective, and audience, and location. What you want to study is the structure of the speech. And when you give it, walk around. Interact with your audience. You’ll not stir up the right emotions leaning on the wall behind you and reciting from memory.