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Julius Caesar, Act III, Scene II [Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears]

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Antony speaks at Caesar’s funeral

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. I have come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interrèd 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 honorable man; So are they all, all honorable 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 honorable 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 honorable 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 honorable 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 judgment, 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.

This poem is in the public domain.

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‘Friends, Romans, Countrymen’ Speech Analysis

Read the ‘ Friends, Romans, countrymen’  Julius Caesar monologue below with a modern English translation & analysis:

Spoken by Marc Antony, Julius Caesar, Act 3 Scene 2

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 answer’d 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 judgment! 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.

‘Friends, Romans, countrymen’ Monologue Translation

Friends, Romans and countrymen, please give me your close attention. I’ve come to attend Caesar’s funeral, not to praise him. I would like to say that the bad things one does live on in people’s memories; the good is often buried with their bodies. Let that be the Case with Caesar.

The noble Brutus has told you that Caesar was ambitious. If that was so it was a very serious failing, and it has had a serious consequence for him.

With Brutus and the others’ permission – for Brutus is an honourable man, and all the others are too – I have come to speak at Caesar’s funeral

He was a faithful and honest friend to me: but Brutus says he was ambitious, and Brutus is an honourable man. He brought many captive prisoners back to Rome, whose ransoms filled the treasury. Does that seem like ambition?

When the poor have cried, Caesar has wept. Ambition is supposed to be something harder than that. Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, and Brutus is an honourable man.

You all saw how, on the Lupercal public holiday, I offered him a royal crown three times, which he rejected each time. Was that ambition? And yet Brutus says he was ambitious, and one sure thing is that Brutus is an honourable man.

I’m not trying to contradict the things Brutus said, but I’m here to speak about what I know.

You all loved him once, with good reason. What reason now stops you from mourning for him? Oh, what’s happened to judgment? It’s gone to wild animals and men have lost their reason. Excuse me, give me a moment. My emotions are overwhelming at the sight of Caesar’s body and I must pause till I’ve recovered.

Read Shakespeare monologues >> Read Shakespeare soliloquies >>

Watch & Listen To Marc Antony’s ‘Friends, Romans, Countrymen’ Speech

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this quote is one of the best quote by shakespeare…………

This is a monologue but does ‘t suit for character enactment. Yet it is better than other sources if compared….but still it gives me idea of what i can imagine about mark antony

The information you have posted is very useful. The sites you have referred was good. Thanks for sharing

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The Shakespearean Student

For shakespeare lovers of any age.

Close Reading: Friends, Romans, Countrymen

Today I’m going to do an analysis of one of the most famous speeches in all of Shakespeare: Antony’s Funeral Speech in Act III, Scene ii of Julius Caesar, commonly known as the “Friends, Romans, Countrymen” speech.

I. Given Circumstances

Antony is already in a very precarious position. His best friend Julius Caesar was murdered by the senators of Rome. Antony wants vengeance, but he can’t do so by himself. He’s also surrounded by a mob, and Brutus just got them on his side with a very convincing speech. They already hate Antony and Caesar. His goal- win them back. Here is a clip of Brutus (James Mason) speaking to the crowd from the Joseph Mankewitz movie version of Julius Caesar:

So the stakes are very high for Antony: If he succeeds, the crowd will avenge Caesar, and Antony will take control of Rome. If he fails, he will be lynched by an angry mob.

II. Textual Clues

If you notice in the text of the speech below, Antony never overtly says: “Brutus was a liar and a traitor, and Caesar must be avenged,” but that is exactly what he gets the crowd to do. So how does he get them to do so, right after Brutus got them on his side?

Antony . You gentle Romans,— 1615 Citizens . Peace, ho! let us hear him. Antony . 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; 1620 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 answer’d it. Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest— 1625 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; 1630 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: 1635 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, 1640 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. 1645 You all did love him once, not without cause: What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him? O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts, And men have lost their reason. Bear with me; My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, 1650 And I must pause till it come back to me. First Citizen . Methinks there is much reason in his sayings. Julius Caesar Act III, Scene ii.

The two main methods Shakespeare uses to infuse Antony’s speech with powerful persuasive energy are the way he writes the verse, and his command of rhetoric.

The greatest gift Shakespeare ever gave his actors was to write his plays in blank verse. It not only tells you which words are important to stress, it gives you clues about the character’s emotional journey; just as a person’s heartbeat can indicate their changes in mood, a subtle change in verse often betrays the character’s pulse and state of mind. Antony uses his own emotions and his powers of persuasion to manipulate the crowd, so his verse helps show how he changes the pulse of the Roman mob.

I could write a whole post on the verse in this page, which I don’t need to do, since The Shakespeare Resource Center did it for me: http://www.bardweb.net/content/readings/caesar/lines.html What I will do is draw attention to some major changes in the verse and put my own interpretations on how Antony is using the verse to persuade the crowd:

• The first line of the speech grabs your attention. It is not a standard iambic pentameter line, which makes it rhythmically more interesting. In the movie version, Marlin Brando as Antony shouts each word to demand the crowd to just lend him their attention for a little while. He uses the verse to emphasize Antony’s frustration.
• “The Evil that men do, lives after them”- Notice that the words evil and men are in the stressed position. Antony might be making a subconscious attempt to say Brutus and the other evil men who took the life of Caesar are living, when they deserve to die.
• “ If it were so..” Again, Antony might be making a subtle jab at the conspirators. Brutus said Caesar was ambitious and Antony agrees that ambition is worthy of death, but he also adds an If, to plant the seeds of doubt in the crowd’s minds. To drive it home, the word if is in the stressed position, making it impossible for the crowd to not consider the possibility that Caesar wasn’t ambitious, and thus, didn’t deserve to be murdered.

B. Rhetoric

One reason why this speech is so famous is its clever use of rhetoric, the art of persuasive speaking. Back in ancient Rome, aristocrats like Antony were groomed since birth in the art of persuasive speech. Shakespeare himself studied rhetoric at school, so he knew how to write powerful persuasive speeches. Here’s a basic breakdown of the tactics Antony and Shakespeare use in the speech:

Ethos, Pathos, and Logos

The three basic ingredients of any persuasive speech are Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. Ethos is an appeal to the audience based on the speaker’s authority. Pathos is an appeal to the emotions of the crowd, and Logos is an appeal to facts and or reason. Both Brutus and Antony employ these three rhetorical tactics, but Antony doesn’t just appeal to his audience, he manipulates them to commit mutiny and mob rule.

Logos Antony has very few facts or logical information in his speech. His major argument is that again, since Caesar wasn’t ambitious, (which is very hard to prove), his death was a crime. Antony cites as proof the time Cæsar refused a crown at the Lupercal, but since that was a public performance, it’s hardly a reliable indication of Caesar’s true feelings.

You see logos as a rhetorical technique all the time whenever you watch a commercial citing leading medical studies, or a political debate where one person uses facts to justify his or her position. If you look at Hillary Clinton during the 2016 Presidental Debate, she frequently cited statistics to back up her political positions

Ethos is an argument based on the speaker’s authority. Brutus’ main tactic in his speech is to establish himself as Caesar’s friend and Rome’s. He says that he didn’t kill Caesar out of malice, but because he cared more about the people of Rome.

BRUTUS: If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of Caesar’s, to him I say, that Brutus’ love to Caesar was no less than his. If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer: –Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. JC, III.ii.

Antony employs the exact same tactics, establishing himself as Caesar’s friend and telling the crowd that, as Caesar’s friend, Antony believes that Caesar did not deserve his murder. His use of Ethos therefore, helps Antony refute Brutus’ main claim.

Again, the 2016 debate is another excellent way of showing ethos in action. Hillary Clinton and Brutus frequently cited their political experience and their strength of character to justify their views. There’s an excellent article that examines Hillary’s use of Ethos in her political rhetoric: https://eidolon.pub/hillary-clintons-rhetorical-persona-9af06a3c4b03

Pathos is the most frequently used rhetorical tactic: the appeal to emotion. Donald Trump uses this constantly, as you can see in this clip from the 2016 debate:

https://youtu.be/wMuyBOeSQVs

Pathos is bit more of a dirty trick than Ethos and Logos, which is why Brutus doesn’t use it much. As scholar Andy Gurr writes:

Brutus is a stern philosopher and thinker. His faith in reason fails to secure the crowd from Antony’s disingenuous appeal to their affections, which uses sharp sarcasm and some twisted facts.

Antony’s major appeals to emotion:

• His grief over losing Caesar
• His painting of Cæsar as a generous, faithful friend
• Shaming the crowd for not mourning Caesar’s death
• Appeal to piety by showing the body funeral reverence.
• His use of Caesar’s bloody body and mantle to provoke outrage from the citizens.
• His use of Caesar’s will to make the crowd grateful to Caesar, and furious at Brutus.

Rhetorical Devices

If Ethos, Pathos, and Logos are the strategies of rhetorical arguments, rhetorical devices are the artillery. If you check out the website Silva Rhetoricae, (The Forest Of Rhetoric), you can read about the hundreds of individual rhetorical devices that politicians have used in speeches and debates since ancient history. I will summarize here the main ones Antony uses over and over again in “Friends, Romans, Countrymen.” For another more compete analysis, click here: https://eavice.wordpress.com/2011/02/05/jv-rhetorical-devices-in-antonys-funerary-speech-from-shakespeares-julius-caesar/

• Irony The way Antony keeps repeating “Brutus is an honorable man,” is a particularly sinister form of irony, which here means to imply the opposite of what you have said to mock or discredit your opponent. The irony is that the more Antony repeats this idea that Brutus is honorable, the more the crowd will question it. If Brutus were truly honorable, he would not need Antony to remind them. Of course, Brutus can still be honorable whether Anthony mentions it or not, but this repetition, coupled with Antony’s subtle rebuttals Of Brutus’ arguments, manages to shatter both Brutus’ motives, and his good name, at least in the eyes of his countrymen.
• Antimetabole is the clever use of the same word in two different ways. Antony manages to work it in twice in this speech:
• “If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
• And grievou sly hath Caesar answer’d it.”
• “You all did love him once, not without cause : What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?”
• Rhetorical question This is the most famous rhetorical device which by the way in Antony’s day would have been known as Erotema. Antony asks a series of questions designed to refute the notion that Caesar was ambitious, from his mercy to his captives, to Caesar’s tenderness to the poor, and of course his refusal to take the crown during the Lupercal. Each question calls Brutus’ claims into question and seeds doubt in the crowd.

Performance Notes with link to Globe performance

https://youtu.be/1RL8Wg-b8k

Unlike most Shakespearean plays, with Julius Caesar, we have an eyewitness account of how the play was originally performed. Swiss student Thomas Platter wrote a long description of watching the play at the original Globe Theatre in 1599. This is a translation that I found on The Shakespeare Blog:

On September 21st after lunch, about two o’clock, I and my party crossed the water, and there in the house with the thatched roof witnessed an excellent performance of the tragedy of the first Emperor Julius Caesar, with a cast of some fifteen people; when the play was over they danced very marvellously and gracefully together as is their wont, two dressed as men and two as women… Thus daily at two in the afternoon, London has sometimes three plays running in different places, competing with each other, and those which play best obtain most spectators. The playhouses are so constructed that they play on a raised platform, so that everyone has a good view. There are different galleries and places, however, where the seating is better and more comfortable and therefore more expensive. For whoever cares to stand below only pays one English penny, but if he wishes to sit he enters by another door, and pays another penny, while if he desires to sit in the most comfortable seats which are cushioned, where he not only sees everything well, but can also be seen, then he pays yet another English penny at another door. And during the performance food and drink are carried round the audience, so that for what one cares to pay one may also have refreshment. The actors are most expensively costumed for it is the English usage for eminent Lords or Knights at their decease to bequeath and leave almost the best of their clothes to their serving men, which it is unseemly for the latter to wear, so that they offer them for sale for a small sum of money to the actors. Thomas Platter, 1599, reprinted from: http://theshakespeareblog.com/2012/09/thomas-platters-visit-to-shakespeares-theatre/

So the conclusions we can draw based on Platter’s account include that Antony was standing on a mostly bare stage with a thatched roof, raised slightly off the ground. We can also guess that, since the merchants were selling beer, fruits, and ale, that the audience might have been drunk or throwing things at the actors.

As Platter notes, and this page from Shakespeare’s First Folio confirms, there were only 15 actors in the original cast, so Shakespeare’s company didn’t have a huge cast to play the gigantic crowd in the Roman street. In all probability, the audience is the mob, and Antony is talking right to them when he calls them “Friends, Romans, Countrymen.” I believe that the audience was probably encouraged to shout, chant, boo, cheer, and become a part of the performance which is important to emphasize when talking about how to portray this scene onstage. A director can choose whether or not to make the audience part of the action in a production of Julius Caesar , which can allow the audience to get a visceral understanding of the persuasive power of politicians like Brutus and Antony. Alternatively, the director can choose instead to have actors play the crowd, and allow the audience to scrutinize the crowd as well as the politicians.

In conclusion, the reason this speech is famous is Shakespeare did an excellent job of encapsulating the power of persuassive speech that the real Antony must have had, as he in no small way used that power to spur the Roman crowd to mutiny and vengeance, and began to turn his country from a dying republic into a mighty empire.

If you liked this post, please consider signing up for my online class where I cover the rhetorical devices in Julius Caesar and compare them with several other famous speeches. Register now at http://www.outschool.com

◦ Interview with Patterson Joseph and Ray Fearon RSC: https://youtu.be/v5UTRSzuajo

1. Annotated Julius Caesar: https://sites.google.com/site/annotatedjuliuscaesar/act-3/3-2-57-109

2. Folger Shakespeare Library: Julius Caesar Lesson Plan: https://teachingshakespeareblog.folger.edu/2014/04/29/friends-romans-teachers-send-me-your-speeches/

3. Silva Rhetoric http://rhetoric.byu.edu/

3. Rhetoric in Marc Antony Speech

https://www.google.com/amp/s/eavice.wordpress.com/2011/02/05/jv-rhetorical-devices-in-antonys-funerary-speech-from-shakespeares-julius-caesar/amp/

4. Shakespeare Resource Center: http://www.bardweb.net/content/readings/caesar/lines.html

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4 thoughts on “ close reading: friends, romans, countrymen ”.

I learned a lot from this! I especially liked the examples of rethoric in the Pres debate and the RSC African version of JC.

If you liked this post, you can learn more about Julius Caesar in my online course: “The Violent Rhetoric Of Julius Caesar.” Register now at Outschool.com.

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Order it: mark antony's "friends, romans, countrymen".

Shakespeare & Beyond

Maurice Jones (Mark Antony), Julius Caesar , directed by Robert Richmond, Folger Theatre, 2014. Photo by Teresa Wood.

It’s often said that Shakespeare has a special appeal to audiences in Washington, DC, where the Folger Shakespeare Library is located, because of his handling of political subjects, among many other topics. Certainly, one of Shakespeare’s famous speeches from the plays is a brilliant piece of political oratory by Mark Antony in Julius Caesar, which begins “Friends, Romans, countrymen.”

Antony is a friend of Caesar, who has just been assassinated, and he speaks, with the permission of the assassins, after one of them, Brutus, has made the case for Caesar’s death. At first it seems that Antony is accepting that view and is simply praising his lost friend, but during his speech, the views of the crowd change. Later in the scene, Antony also shares Caesar’s will (above). In our quiz, can you rearrange the lines in Antony’s speech?

Order It: Mark Antony’s “Friends, Romans, countrymen”

Can you put these lines in the correct order?

Drag and drop these cards to correctly order the first few lines of Mark Antony’s famous speech.

What comes next?

Last one! How does the speech end?

Visit The Folger Shakespeare to read the rest of Julius Caesar . You can also find the full text of all of Shakespeare’s other plays and poems, expertly edited and made freely available by the Folger Shakespeare Library.

Quiz Maker – powered by Riddle

You can hear Antony’s speech at the Folger’s Listen: Julius Caesar —look for Act 3, Scene 2. The Folger and our publishing partner, Simon & Schuster Audio , hope you enjoy these excerpts from our audiobook of the play, performed by the professional actors of Folger Theatre in consultation with the editors of The Folger Shakespeare .

For some other insights into Julius Caesar , try our post on ‘Julius Caesar’ and Shakespeare’s change in the American curriculum, from rhetoric to literature or read this excerpt from Paterson Joseph’s Julius Caesar and Me: Exploring Shakespeare’s African Play .

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Mark Antony: The General Who Changed the Roman Republic

• B.A., History, Ohio University

Mark Antony, also called Marcus Antonius, was a general who served under Julius Caesar, and later became part of a three-man dictatorship that ruled Rome. While assigned to duty in Egypt, Antony fell in love with Cleopatra, leading to conflict with Caesar's successor, Octavian Augustus. Following a defeat at the Battle of Actium , Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide together.

Mark Antony Fast Facts

• Full Name:  Marcus Antonius, or Mark Antony
• Known For:  Roman general who became a politician and leader of ancient Rome, eventual lover of Cleopatra and father of her three children. He and Cleopatra died together in a suicide pact after the Battle of Actium.
• Born:  January 14, 83 B.C., in Rome
• Died: August 1, 30 B.C., in Alexandria, Egypt

Early Years

Mark Antony was born in 83 B.C. into a noble family, the gens Antonia. His father was Marcus Antonius Creticus, who was generally viewed as one of the most incompetent generals in the Roman army. He died in Crete when his son was only nine years old. Antony's mother, Julia Antonia, was distantly related to Julius Caesar . Young Antony grew up with little guidance following his father's death, and managed to rack up significant gambling debt during his teenage years. Hoping to avoid creditors, he fled to Athens, ostensibly to study philosophy.

In 57 B.C., Antony joined the military as a cavalryman under Aulus Gabinius in Syria. Gabinius and 2,000 Roman soldiers were sent to Egypt, in an attempt to restore Pharaoh Ptolemy XII to the throne after he was deposed by his daughter Berenice IV. Once Ptolemy was back in power, Gabinius and his men stayed put in Alexandria, and Rome benefited from revenues sent back from Egypt. It is believed that this is when Antony first met Cleopatra, who was one of Ptolemy's daughters .

Within a few years, Antony had moved on to Gaul, where he served under Julius Caesar as a general in several campaigns, including commanding Caesar's army in the battle against the Gallic King Vercingetorix . His success as a formidable military leader led Antony into politics. Caesar sent him to Rome to act as his representative, and Antony was elected to the position of Quaestor, and later Caesar promoted him to the role of Legate.

Political Career

Julius Caesar had formed an alliance with Gnaeus Pompey Magnus and Marcus Licinius Crassus, giving rise to the First Triumvirate to rule the Roman republic together. When Crassus died, and Caesar's daughter Julia—who was Pompey's wife—passed away, the alliance effectively dissolved. In fact, a huge divide formed between Pompey and Caesar, and their supporters regularly fought each other in the streets of Rome. The Senate solved the problem by naming Pompey the sole Consul of Rome, but giving Caesar control of the military and religion, as the Pontifex Maximus.

Antony sided with Caesar, and used his position as a Tribune to veto any of Pompey's legislation that might negatively effect Caesar. The battle between Caesar and Pompey eventually came to a head, and Antony suggested that both of them get out of politics, lay down their arms, and live as private citizens. Pompey's supporters were outraged, and Antony fled for his life, finding refuge with Caesar's army on the banks of the Rubicon . When Caesar crossed the river, moving towards Rome, he appointed Antony as his second in command.

Caesar was soon appointed Dictator of Rome, and then sailed to Egypt, where he deposed Ptolemy XIII, the son of the previous pharaoh. There, he appointed Ptolemy's sister Cleopatra as ruler. While Caesar was busy running Egypt and fathering at least one child with the new queen, Antony stayed in Rome as the governor of Italy. Caesar returned to Rome in 46 B.C., with Cleopatra and their son, Caesarion, accompanying him.

When a group of senators, led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus, assassinated Caesar on the floor of the senate, Antony escaped Rome dressed as an enslaved person—but soon returned, and managed to liberate the state treasury.

Mark Antony's Speech

"Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears" is the famous first line of Mark Antony's speech given in a funeral oration after Caesar's death on March 15, 44 B.C. However, it's unlikely that Antony truly said it—in fact, the famous speech comes from William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar . In the speech, Antony says " I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him ," and uses emotionally charged rhetoric to turn the crowd of onlookers against the men who conspired to murder his friend.

It's likely that Shakespeare modeled this speech in his play from the writings of Appian of Alexandria, a Greek historian . Appian wrote down a summary of Antony's speech, although it was not word for word. In it, he says,

Mark Antony... had been chosen to deliver the funeral oration... and so he again pursued his tactic and spoke as follows.

"It is not right, my fellow-citizens, for the funeral oration in praise of so great a man to be delivered by me, a single individual, instead of by his whole country. The honors that all of you alike, first Senate and then People, decreed for him in admiration of his qualities when he was still alive, these I shall read aloud and regard my voice as being not mine, but yours.

By the time Antony's speech concludes in Shakespeare's play, the crowd is so worked up that they are ready to hunt down the assassins and tear them to shreds.

Mark Antony and Cleopatra

In Caesar's will, he adopted his nephew Gaius Octavius and appointed him as his heir. Antony refused to turn Caesar's fortune over to him. After months of conflict between the two men, they joined forces to avenge the murder of Caesar, and formed an alliance with Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, creating the Second Triumvirate. They marched against Brutus and others who had been part of the assassination conspiracy.

Eventually, Antony was appointed as governor of the eastern provinces, and in 41 B.C., he demanded a meeting with the Egyptian Queen, Cleopatra. She had escaped Rome with her son following Caesar's death; young Caesarion was recognized by Rome as the king of Egypt . The nature of Antony's relationship with Cleopatra was complex; she may have used their affair as a way to protect herself from Octavian, and Antony abandoned his duty to Rome. Regardless, she bore him three children: twins Cleopatra Selene and Alexander Helios, and a son named Ptolemy Philadelphus.

Antony gave his children control of several Roman kingdoms after he ended his alliance with Octavian. More importantly, he acknowledged Caesarion as a legitimate heir to Caesar, putting Octavian, who was Caesar's son through adoption, in a precarious position. In addition, he flatly refused to return to Rome, and divorced his wife Octavia—sister of Octavian—to stay with Cleopatra.

In 32 B.C., the Roman Senate declared war on Cleopatra, and sent Marcus Vispania Agrippa to Egypt with his army. Following an overwhelming naval defeat at the Battle of Actium , near Greece, Antony and Cleopatra fled back to Egypt.

How Did Mark Antony Die?

Octavian and Agrippa pursued Antony and Cleopatra back to Egypt and their forces closed in on the royal palace. Mistakenly led to believe that his lover was already dead, Antony stabbed himself with his sword. Cleopatra heard the news and went to him, but he died in her arms. She was then taken prisoner by Octavian. Rather than allow herself to be paraded through the streets of Rome, she too committed suicide .

On Octavian's orders, Caesarion was assassinated, but Cleopatra's children were spared and taken back to Rome for Octavian's triumphal procession. After years of conflict, Octavian was finally the sole ruler of the Roman Empire, but would be the last Caesar. Antony had played a significant role in the change of Rome from republic to an imperial system

Although the fate of Antony and Cleopatra's sons, Alexander Helios and Ptolemy Philadelphus is unknown, their daughter, Cleopatra Selene, married King Juba II of Numidia, and became Queen of Mauritania.

• “Appian, Caesar's Funeral.”  Livius , www.livius.org/sources/content/appian/appian-caesars-funeral/.
• Bishop, Paul A.  Rome: Transition from Republic to Empire  . www.hccfl.edu/media/160883/ee1rome.pdf.
• Flisiuk, Francis. “Antony and Cleopatra: A One Sided Love Story?”  Medium , Medium, 27 Nov. 2014, medium.com/@FrancisFlisiuk/antony-and-cleopatra-a-one-sided-love-story-d6fefd73693d.
• Plutarch. “The Life of Antony.”  Plutarch • The Parallel Lives , penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Antony*.html.
• Steinmetz, George, and Werner Forman. “Inside the Decadent Love Affair of Cleopatra and Mark Antony.”  Cleopatra and Mark Antony's Decadent Love Affair , 13 Feb. 2019, www.nationalgeographic.com/archaeology-and-history/magazine/2015/10-11/antony-and-cleopatra/.

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StageMilk / Monologues For Actors / Marc Antony Monologue: Julius Caesar Act 3 Scene 1

Marc Antony Monologue: Julius Caesar Act 3 Scene 1

We’re going to take a closer look at a brilliant Shakespeare monologue, the Marc Antony speech from Julius Caesar Act 3 Scene 1. This is a dramatic Shakespeare monologue that covers grief and revenge. Let’s break it down …

Julius Caesar has returned to Rome from war victorious and is greeted with adoration by the people of Rome. Sounds pretty good for Caesar right? Well unfortunately for him not everyone is too keen on him. Cassius, Brutus and a number of other conspirators plan to kill Caesar before he can be made King in order to quash his power. When they invite Caesar to the senate, they all take turns stabbing him one by one, even Brutus. After the assassination, the lead conspirators call on Marc Antony who has since run home. They want to quash any doubts that Antony will be on their side, and they strike a deal with him. He will be loyal to them, so long as they allow him to speak at Caesar’s funeral. So we’re all mates then yes? Well yes, but also, no. Cassius is afraid of what Antony will do at the funeral, and rightly so, as we find out in this speech that takes place the moment Antony is left alone with the corpse of what was once Julius Caesar.

Original Text

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 livèd in the tide of times. Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood! 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— 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, All pity choked with custom of fell deeds, And Caesar’s spirit, ranging for revenge, With Ate by his side come hot from hell, Shall in these confines with a monarch’s voice Cry “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war, That this foul deed shall smell above the earth With carrion men, groaning for burial.

Verse Breakdown

Bold = Stressed Unbold = Unstressed (F) = Feminine Ending

O, par don me , thou bleed ing piece of earth , That I am meek and gent le with these butch ers! (F) Thou art the ru ins of the nob lest man That ev er liv èd in the tide of times . Woe to the hand that shed this cost ly blood ! O ver thy wounds now do I pro phe sy — Which, like dumb mouths , do ope their ru by lips To beg the voice and utt erance of my tongue — A curse shall light up on the limbs of men . Do mes tic fu ry and fierce ci vil strife Shall cum ber all the parts of It al y . Blood and des truct ion shall be so in use , And dread ful ob jects so fa mi li a r , That moth ers shall but smile when they be hold Their in fants quart ered with the hands of war , All pi ty choked with cust om of fell deeds , And Cae sar’s spi rit, rang ing for re venge , With A te by his side come hot from hell , Shall in these con fines with a mon arch’s voice Cry “ Hav oc!” and let slip the dogs of war , That this foul deed shall smell a bove the earth With car rion men , groan ing for bu ri al .

Modern Translation

Oh pardon me you bleeding corpse of this earth That I am polite and calm with these murderers You are the corpse of the most noble man That ever lived, in all time I hope woe comes to the hand that shed this valuable blood Over your wounds now I see the future Which do open and weep blood like speechless mouths And beg me to speak A curse shall come down upon the people Fury and fierce civil war Shall weigh down upon this all the parts of Italy Blood and destruction will be so common And weapons so familiar That mothers will merely smile when they see Their babies chopped to pieces by the hands of war All pity will be choked out of people who are so used to horrible deeds And Caesar’s spirit hunting for revenge With Ate by his side coming fast from hell Shall in this place and with the voice of a monarch Cry “Havoc” and unleash the dogs of war This horrible deed will stink all the way up to heaven Of the bodies of the dead begging to be buried

Thought Breakdown & Analysis 

O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, (Oh pardon me, you bleeding corpse of this earth) Marc Antony is apologising to Caesar’s corpse. He cares so much for him that he’s apologising to his dead body as it lies bleeding on the floor.

That I am meek and gentle with these butchers! (That I am polite and calm with these murderers!) This is what he’s apologising to Caesar for. He has remained civil and diplomatic throughout this whole event and has even come to an agreement with the conspirators/assassins. It’s also worth noting that this line is eleven beats, which throws our ears of kilter. It’s a good insight for the actor into how Antony is feeling, just in case the words didn’t quite make it clear enough. However, clear or not, the rhythm of this line really does convey the sense of despair he feels. Eleven syllable lines generally tend to have a sense of trailing off and be unfinal. Which whether we realise it or not, gives us a sense of uncertainty too.

Thou art the ruins of the noblest man (You are what remains of the most noble man.) He’s telling the body of Caesar how noble he thought he was.

That ever livèd in the tide of times. (That ever lived, throughout all time.) Antony tells Caesar that he was the noblest man that ever lived throughout all time.

Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood! (I wish woe upon the person that shed this valuable blood!) Antony curses the murderers.

Over thy wounds now do I prophesy— (Over your wounds now I’m seeing the future.) Here’s our turning point in the soliloquy. Antony has mourned and grieved mostly throughout the first part of the speech and now we’re getting into the consequences of the actions.

Which, like dumb mouths, do ope their ruby lips (Which like speechless mouths open their blood covered lips) He sees the wounds like a pack of mouths about to say something. But what?

To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue— (To be me to speak my voice.) The ruby lips of the wounds have opened their mouths speechless and begged Marc Antony to speak (according to him).

A curse shall light upon the limbs of men. (A curse shall come down upon the bodies of men.) This is the prophecy he saw over the wounds of Caesar.

Domestic fury and fierce civil strife (Fury and fierce civil war.)

Shall cumber all the parts of Italy. (Shall weigh down every part of Italy.) Fury, and civil war are coming for every part of Italy according to the prophecy so far.

Blood and destruction shall be so in use, (Blood and destruction will be so common.)

And dreadful objects so familiar, (And horrible weapons will be so familiar to the people of Italy.) Okay so blood, destruction and horrible objects, or weapons will be so common so familiar that… what?

That mothers shall but smile when they behold (That mother will merely smile when they see.)

Their infants quartered with the hands of war, (Their babies cut into pieces by the hands of war.) This is a long thought so let’s have a look at it. Blood destruction and weapons will be so familiar to the people of Italy that mothers will merely smile when they see their babies, their children cut to pieces, quartered by the hands of war. What a horrific, dark and grim prophecy Antony is seeing. This is how enraged, how horrified he is by what he considers to be regicide, the murder of his leader. And we’re not at the end yet.

All pity choked with custom of fell deeds, (All pity will be choked out of people with familiarity with the horrid deeds.) All of the people of Italy will have any pity, any compassion, any empathy choked out of them simply from the pure familiarity they will have with the horrific acts of war they will endure and commit.

And Caesar’s spirit, ranging for revenge, (And Caesar’s ghost hunting for revenge,)

With Ate by his side come hot from hell, (With Ate by his side coming up fast from hell) So Caesar’s ghost is on the hunt for revenge with the goddess Ate coming up fast from hell. Ate is the ancient Greek Goddess of mischief, delusion, folly and RUIN.

Shall in these confines with a monarch’s voice (Will in this place with the voice of a monarch)

Cry “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war, (Cry ‘Havoc!’ and unleash the dogs of war) So to recap, there will be blood destruction and civil war so horrific, so horrible, that the people will be unphased by it. Caesar will hunt for his revenge with the Goddess Ate and unleash the dogs of war. 

That this foul deed shall smell above the earth (This horrible deed will be smelled all the way in heaven) To cap this off Antony says this deed is so horrible that…

With carrion men, groaning for burial. (With the bodies of men, groaning for burial) This deed and what it will create, i.e the bodies of all those who will suffer and cry out to just let them die due to the consequences of these actions will be smelled in heaven, that’s just how bad this is, and will be.

Unfamiliar Language

Gentle (adj.) courteous, friendly, kind

Time (n.) past time, history

Tide (n.) course, stream, passage

Ope (v.) open

Domestic (adj.) old form: Domesticke internal, to do with home affairs, local

Cumber (v.) distress, trouble, burden

Use (n.) old form: vse usual practice, habit, custom

Quarter (v.) cut to pieces, hack, mutilate

Fell (adj.) cruel, fierce, savage

Custom (n.) old form: custome habit, usual practice, customary use

Range (v.) wander freely, roam, rove

Confine (n.) territory, region, domain

Slip, let let go, allow to leave, unleash

Havoc (n.) old form: hauocke [in fighting and hunting: calling for] total slaughter, general devastation

Carrion (adj.) lean as carrion, skeleton-like; or: putrefying

About the Author

is made up of professional actors, acting coaches and writers from around the world. This team includes Andrew, Alex, Emma, Jake, Jake, Indiana, Patrick and more. We all work together to contribute useful articles and resources for actors at all stages in their careers.

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A Short Analysis of Mark Antony’s ‘If You Have Tears, Prepare to Shed Them Now’ Speech from Julius Caesar

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘If you have tears, prepare to shed them now’: so begins one of Mark Antony’s most famous speeches from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar . That line is well-known, but it’s a testament to how many great speeches we find in this play that this isn’t even Mark Antony’s most famous speech from Julius Caesar : that mantle must go to his ‘Friends, Romans, countrymen’ address (which we have analysed here ).

But now, it’s the turn of the ‘If you have tears, prepare to shed them now’ speech, which we find in Act 3 Scene 2, shortly after Antony has delivered his ‘Friends, Romans, countrymen’ speech. As with that speech, the best way to offer an analysis of its meaning is probably by going through it one section at a time, summarising it as we go.

It is a significant speech because of its emotive content: it focuses on Mark Antony discussing the unjust murder of Julius Caesar before he dramatically reveals the dead body to the crowd.

If you have tears, prepare to shed them now. You all do know this mantle: I remember The first time ever Caesar put it on; ’Twas on a summer’s evening, in his tent, That day he overcame the Nervii:

Throughout Act 3 Scene 2 in particular, Mark Antony shows himself to be a gifted orator who is able to use rhetoric to influence the crowd. Here, he appeals to his audience’s emotions, preparing them for the poignant story he will go on to relate.

The Nervii, by the way, were a north-European tribe whom Julius Caesar defeated.

Look, in this place ran Cassius’ dagger through: See what a rent the envious Casca made: Through this the well-beloved Brutus stabb’d; And as he pluck’d his cursed steel away, Mark how the blood of Caesar follow’d it, As rushing out of doors, to be resolved If Brutus so unkindly knock’d, or no;

Mark Antony holds Julius Caesar’s cloak, covering the murdered dictator’s body, and points to where Cassius’s dagger pierced the fabric during the assassination of Caesar. He gestures to the tear in the fabric that Casca made elsewhere in the cloak. And here (we can imagine the actor playing Mark Antony pointing to a third hole) is where Brutus, whom Caesar loved and trusted, stabbed him.

Mark Antony then directs the crowd to observe where the blood from Caesar’s body flowed out through the hole when Brutus removed his dagger. Antony uses an ingenious simile, likening the path of the blood to someone rushing out through a door to see if it really can have been the trusted Brutus who was knocking so rudely at the door. (Recall Julius Caesar’s shock when Brutus stabs him after Cassius and Casca have already done so: ‘ Et tu, Brute? ’)

For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar’s angel: Judge, O you gods, how dearly Caesar loved him! This was the most unkindest cut of all;

The gods know just how dearly Caesar loved Brutus, so Brutus’ action with his dagger was the most unkind cut of all (of the conspirators’ cuts). Note: ‘most unkindest’ may sound ungrammatical to us, but in Shakespeare’s time things like double superlatives (‘most’ and ‘unkindest’?), like double negatives, were used to reinforce and underscore something. So, not just unkindest, but – for extra emphasis – most unkindest.

For when the noble Caesar saw him stab, Ingratitude, more strong than traitors’ arms, Quite vanquish’d him: then burst his mighty heart;

When Caesar saw Brutus stab him, and it was Brutus’ ungratefulness after all Caesar had done for him, more than the wounds inflicted by the other traitors, that killed Caesar, because it broke his heart that his friend would do such a thing to him.

And, in his mantle muffling up his face, Even at the base of Pompey’s statue, Which all the while ran blood, great Caesar fell.

Caesar fell down with his cloak (the one Mark Antony is now brandishing to the crowd) wrapped up over his face. This happened at the base of Pompey’s statue (the word should technically be pronounced as having three syllables, to agree with the iambic pentameter metre, as if ‘statue’ were ‘statué’: i.e., ‘sta-tyu-ay’), and the statue ‘ran blood’, i.e., seemed to bleed itself. Pompey was Caesar’s enemy, but the suggestion, as Daniell observes, is that Pompey has sympathy for his great rival’s unjust fate.

O, what a fall was there, my countrymen! Then I, and you, and all of us fell down, Whilst bloody treason flourish’d over us.

Antony remarks on what a fall it was – not just because of the violence of the crime, but because Caesar was a great dictator who had been brought down by a few knifemen. Its ramifications would be far-reaching. Note Antony’s use of ‘my countrymen’ to bring himself and his audience together as fellow Romans – against the conspirators. It recalls his earlier ‘Friends, Romans, countrymen’, too.

He then consolidates this by his use of the rhetorical pattern of three: I … you … all of us. Every Roman fell when Caesar fell, because Caesar was holding Rome together as its great ruler. (‘Flourish’d’ is also a nice touch: it doesn’t just mean ‘triumphed’ or ‘won’, but suggests a showy flourish, denoting a certain confidence, even arrogance.)

O, now you weep; and, I perceive, you feel The dint of pity: these are gracious drops. Kind souls, what, weep you when you but behold Our Caesar’s vesture wounded? Look you here, Here is himself, marr’d, as you see, with traitors.

Antony’s impassioned speech has had its desired effect upon his listeners: now, people in the crowd are weeping. Note the way the syntax of ‘I perceive’ and ‘you feel’, juxtaposed as they are, further bring Antony and his audience together as one: not just ‘I see that you are moved’ but ‘I perceive, just as you feel’.

The ‘dint’ of pity is the mark of sympathy: ‘dint’ suggests the mark left by a blow, much like the stab wounds left on Caesar’s body. It’s as if everyone has been emotionally ‘stabbed’ by hearing what happened to Caesar. He assures his audience that their tears are ‘gracious’ and noble and kind. ‘But if you find it upsetting to look merely at Caesar’s cloak, how about if I remove the cloak?’

Antony (rhetorically) asks them – before removing the mantle from Caesar’s body to reveal his wounded corpse to the audience. Here he is, Antony concludes his speech: Caesar’s body, destroyed by traitors.

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1 thought on “A Short Analysis of Mark Antony’s ‘If You Have Tears, Prepare to Shed Them Now’ Speech from Julius Caesar”

I dislike Mark Antony. I don’t know why. Something about him just doesn’t sit well with me and I can’t pinpoint it.

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Julius Caesar

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The Failing State Next Door

Mexico has its first woman president. But her big win may be a bigger danger to democracy and security.

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Produced by ElevenLabs and News Over Audio (NOA) using AI narration.

President Joe Biden’s next big foreign-policy crisis was waiting for him at his desk this morning: a southern neighbor heading fast toward authoritarianism and instability.

Over the past six years, Mexico’s autocratic president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has sought to subvert the multiparty competitive democracy that his country achieved in the 1990s. He has weakened the independent election agency that guaranteed free and fair elections. He has broken the laws and disregarded the customs that limited the president’s power to use the state to favor his preferred candidates. He has undermined the independence of the judiciary.

Mexican democracy gained a brief respite in 2021, when López Obrador lost his supermajority in Congress, removing his ability to rewrite the constitution at will. That respite temporarily reprieved the independence of the Mexican central bank and other government agencies not yet subordinated to direct presidential control. The electoral victory that López Obrador delivered to his chosen successor yesterday—59 percent of the presidential vote (as of this writing), apparently a large majority of the state governorships, almost certainly a restored supermajority in Congress—concentrates more power in López Obrador’s Morena party than any other Mexican government has wielded since the days of one-party rule.

The new Congress will take office on September 1; the new president will not do so until October 1. This means that, for a month, absolute power over the Mexican constitution will be in López Obrador’s hands.

David Frum: The man who now controls the U.S. border

López Obrador’s successor in the presidency is Claudia Sheinbaum, formerly the mayor of Mexico City. Sheinbaum will be the first woman to head the Mexican state, the first person of Jewish origin, the first from the academic left. These “firsts” will generate much excitement internationally. They should not obscure, however, her most important qualification: her career-long subservience to López Obrador.

Of the three candidates within the ruling party who vied for López Obrador’s favor, Sheinbaum was the one with the smallest and weakest following among Morena’s rank and file. Sheinbaum got the nod not because López Obrador wanted a pathbreaker, but because he wanted someone he could control after his mandatory departure from office at the end of a six-year term. López Obrador has built mechanisms to maintain his grip on Mexican politics, including a referendum at the presidency’s three-year mark, which provides a means of recalling López Obrador’s successor if she disappoints him and his following.

I interviewed Sheinbaum in Mexico City in January 2023. I found her highly intelligent but lacking in the people-pleasing ways of a professional politician. Most strikingly, she repeated every dogma of López Obrador ideology without a millimeter of distancing: The independent election commission was bad; the elections that López Obrador had lost earlier in his career were stolen from him; the act of replacing impersonal social-service agencies with personal handouts of cash from the presidential administration to the poor amounted to a social revolution equal to the other great transformations of the Mexican past, including the Mexican Revolution of 1913.

López Obrador repeatedly described the 2024 election not as a choice among candidates, but as a referendum on his record. He used every instrument of the state to win that referendum. The most important of those instruments was the selective deployment of violence.

The six years of the López Obrador presidency have been the most violent of Mexico’s modern history. We cannot know the exact number of those killed, because López Obrador destroyed the independence of the national statistical agency. Crime numbers are now often tampered with for political purposes. But a credible estimate suggests that more than 30,000 homicides have occurred in each year of López Obrador’s rule: nearly 200,000 altogether. (The United States, with nearly three times Mexico’s population, registers fewer than 20,000 homicides a year, and the number is dropping.) Only a tiny fraction of Mexican homicides are effectively pursued by the legal system. Tens of thousands of people have disappeared without a trace.

Read: The world leader backing Trump’s state of denial

Most of Mexico’s killings are not the result of personal disputes or casual street violence. Mexico is under attack from what has aptly been called a “ criminal insurgency .” U.S. officials have long privately warned that the Mexican state is losing control of its national territory, something that Secretary of State Antony Blinken publicly stated in 2023.

When Mexico’s security forces clash with a criminal syndicate, they can still win—but typically at terrible cost. In January 2023, Mexican security forces engaged a group of gunmen in Sinaloa. The forces had the advantage of surprise and helicopter gunships. They still suffered heavy losses in the shootout: 10 dead soldiers, 19 cartel members killed, and dozens of people wounded, to capture one most-wanted man. But in aggregate, the syndicates outgun the government.

What this means for Mexican democracy is very stark: Politicians and journalists, in particular, live or die according to whether the criminal syndicates believe they are protected by the state. I described last year the case of a prominent Mexican television personality who narrowly escaped death when his car was riddled with bullets after the president denounced him at his daily media briefing. In this most recent election cycle, more than 30 candidates for office were murdered. An opposition candidate for mayor in the state of Guerrero was gunned down in front of cameras. Hundreds more candidates have faced threats or, in some cases, have been kidnapped, on both the ruling and opposing sides.

On the eve of the election, a Mexican political analyst explained the violence to the Los Angeles Times : “Organized crime needs some kind of understanding with the authorities. That may be a kind of negotiation that can be friendly, or skirts legality, or involves bribes and collusion—or it can be violent, with threats, extortion or direct aggression.” The criminal cartels want to eliminate politicians they regard as enemies, but they also want to maintain a working relationship with the national government.

López Obrador’s own relationship with the cartels is murky. In January, ProPublica reported on an internal investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration suggesting that criminal cartels had likely directed $2 million in donations to López Obrador’s first campaign for president, in 2006. López Obrador indignantly denied the story and demanded an apology from the Biden administration for the DEA’s assessment. The tougher line pursued by the Biden-era DEA is one reason López Obrador has so openly preferred Donald Trump as Mexico’s American partner; he even traveled to Washington, D.C., to praise Trump to Mexican American voters during the 2020 election—and then delayed congratulating President-elect Biden for several weeks after the election.

There’s no denying that López Obrador has close personal relationships with important traffickers. Also in 2020, he visited a dusty mountain town in Sinaloa to pay respects to the mother of the drug lord known as El Chapo. When, that same year, the U.S. arrested a Mexican general (and former defense minister) on drug-trafficking charges, López Obrador publicly suggested —and privately threatened—to withhold antidrug cooperation unless the man was let go. Having then secured his release, López Obrador decorated the general at a public ceremony.

López Obrador came to power in 2018 with a huge mandate that he won in a free and fair election. Sheinbaum comes to power via an election that was free but not so fair. Because she lacks López Obrador’s charisma and popular appeal, her survival will depend on whether she can tilt the rules even more radically in favor of the ruling party.

Anne Applebaum: There is no liberal world order

In her campaign speeches, Sheinbaum committed herself to a highly contradictory program to please all political factions. She vowed more welfare spending, but also more fiscal discipline. She promised to respect the independence of the central bank while remaining faithful to the López Obrador vision of consolidated power. She expressed desire for warm relations with the United States while also rejecting crackdowns on organized crime in favor of addressing “the causes” of crime. If that program runs into trouble and she gets her supermajority, Sheinbaum will have the means to suppress opposition and dissent.

A Mexico that is losing its democracy will also continue to lose authority to the criminal syndicates. For Americans, the big question is: How much authority can the Mexican state lose before it fails altogether?

The fundamental paradox of Mexican society is this: The presidency is too strong; the state is too weak. López Obrador aggrandized the presidency still more and thus weakened the state even more. Now this powerful presidency will be occupied by a protégée beholden to a predecessor who aspires to control everything from behind the scenes. The impending power struggle between them can only work to the advantage of the forces of criminality and chaos that threaten to consume America’s southern neighbor.

Middle East Crisis Netanyahu Answers Biden’s Calls for Truce by Insisting on ‘Destruction’ of Hamas

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Netanyahu says Israel’s war plans ‘have not changed.’

A day after President Biden called on Israel and Hamas to reach a truce, declaring that it was “time for this war to end,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday reiterated that Israel would not agree to a permanent cease-fire in Gaza as long as Hamas still retained governing and military power.

In his statement, Mr. Netanyahu did not explicitly endorse or reject a proposed cease-fire plan that Mr. Biden had laid out on Friday, which would lead to a permanent truce. Two Israeli officials confirmed that Mr. Biden’s proposal matched an Israeli cease-fire proposal that had been greenlit by Israel’s war cabinet. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations.

But the timing of Mr. Netanyahu’s remarks, coming first thing the next morning, seemed to put the brakes on Mr. Biden’s hopes for a speedy resolution to the war, which has claimed the lives of more than 36,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

“Israel’s conditions for ending the war have not changed: the destruction of Hamas’s military and governing capabilities, the freeing of all hostages and ensuring that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel,” Mr. Netanyahu’s office said in the statement released on Saturday morning.

As outlined by Mr. Biden , the proposal did not mention who would rule the Gaza Strip after the war. Unless other arrangements are reached, that could leave Hamas de facto in charge of the territory, which the Palestinian armed group would consider a major strategic victory after nearly eight months of an Israeli military offensive.

On Saturday night, two of Mr. Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners — Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir — threatened to quit his government should he move forward with the proposal. Mr. Ben-Gvir labeled the terms of the agreement a “total defeat” and a “victory for terrorism.” If both of their parties left his coalition, it could mark the end of Mr. Netanyahu’s government.

For months, Mr. Netanyahu has promised his people “absolute victory” against Hamas in Gaza, but its leaders have largely managed to evade Israeli attempts to take them out. He has pledged to bring home the remaining 125 living and dead hostages, but would most likely have to accede to Hamas’s demand for a permanent truce to do so. And if he does agree to such a deal, his far-right coalition allies could pull out, threatening his hold on power.

Analysts in Israel said Mr. Netanyahu’s carefully worded statement reflected those tensions. He has sought to buy time, balancing competing demands at home and abroad while avoiding tough decisions that would jeopardize his political standing, they said.

Mr. Biden’s speech, however, may indicate that the clock is beginning to run out.

“Biden is challenging Israel, saying: ‘I am expecting you to allow this arrangement to go forward. Do not sabotage it. Do not drag the rug out from underneath it for political reasons,” said Uzi Arad, a former Israeli national security adviser under Mr. Netanyahu. “Put your money where your mouth is.”

But at home, Mr. Netanyahu faces a host of competing pressures.

The families of hostages held in Gaza have rallied public support for their call for a cease-fire deal amid rising fears over their loved ones’ fates, and large crowds regularly attend solidarity demonstrations in Tel Aviv. About 125 of the roughly 250 hostages taken captive by Hamas and other Palestinian militants are still in Gaza, and more than 30 of those are presumed dead, according to the Israeli authorities.

Gil Dickmann, whose cousin Carmel Gat was abducted from Kibbutz Be’eri during the Hamas-led massacre there on Oct. 7, conceded that the deal would be difficult to swallow for parts of the Israeli public. But he said reaching an agreement was critical, and not just for the remaining hostages.

“If this deal doesn’t go through, because of either Hamas or Israel, we are heading toward a forever war, where we sink deeper and deeper into the mud, dragging down Israelis, Palestinians and certainly the hostages,” said Mr. Dickmann.

Even before Saturday night, Mr. Netanyahu’s emergency unity government was already under threat. Benny Gantz, a rival who united with Mr. Netanyahu as a wartime measure, has threatened to leave unless the premier articulates a plan for postwar Gaza and bringing home hostages by June 8. If Mr. Gantz left, it would deprive Mr. Netanyahu of his most moderate partners, further damaging the Israeli government’s image abroad.

On Saturday, Mr. Gantz said the latest Israeli proposal had been approved unanimously in the war cabinet. He added that he would seek to advance the deal, saying that bringing home the hostages was an urgent national priority.

Yair Lapid, the leader of Israel’s parliamentary opposition, also urged Mr. Netanyahu to take the deal as outlined by Mr. Biden. He repeated that his party would back Mr. Netanyahu’s government if hard-liners like Mr. Ben-Gvir, the national security minister, left over a hostage release deal.

Political analysts said Mr. Netanyahu has tried to avoid that scenario, as it would make him dependent on some of his harshest critics.

Israel and Hamas first observed a weeklong truce in late November, during which 105 hostages and 240 Palestinian prisoners were released. Since then, both sides have dug in to seemingly intractable positions: Hamas conditioned any further hostage releases on Israel’s ending the war, while Israel vowed there would be no truce until it destroyed Hamas and brought home its hostages.

— Aaron Boxerman

Key Developments

Israeli, Egyptian and U.S. officials will discuss reopening Rafah, and other news.

Israeli, Egyptian and U.S. officials are expected to meet in Cairo on Sunday to discuss reopening the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza, according to Egyptian state media and an Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive subject. The Rafah crossing has been a key conduit to get desperately needed humanitarian assistance into the enclave and to allow sick and wounded Palestinians to flee. The crossing has been closed since Israel captured it in early May at the beginning of its offensive in Rafah, which is in southern Gaza.

World leaders and officials from the United Nations, the European Union, Britain, France and others have welcomed a cease-fire proposal laid out by President Biden. Germany’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, said on Saturday that the plan was an “unbelievably urgent hope for a lasting peace in the Middle East.”

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke about the proposal on Friday with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Jordan. He stressed to the Saudi foreign minister that “the proposal benefits both Israelis and Palestinians and should be accepted,” the State Department spokesman, Matthew Miller, said on social media .

Protesters in Tel Aviv and other cities call on Netanyahu to accept the cease-fire proposal.

• Tel Aviv, Israel Marko Djurica/Reuters
• Rome, Italy Yara Nardi/Reuters
• Jakarta, Indonesia Bagus Indahono/EPA, via Shutterstock
• Paris, France Andre Pain/EPA, via Shutterstock

Protesters in Tel Aviv and around the world Saturday called on Israeli leaders to accept the latest road map for a cease-fire and the return of hostages in Gaza, a day after President Biden said it was time for the war to end.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum in Israel said it was launching “an emergency operation” to pressure members of the government to accept the declaration outlined by President Biden on Friday. The plan would begin with an immediate, temporary cease-fire and work toward the return of all hostages, a permanent end to the war and the reconstruction of Gaza.

“The Forum demands the return of all the hostages, some for rehabilitation and others for burial, and not to miss the opportunity that has arisen to bring them home,” the group said in a statement on social media.

The group demanded an “immediate approval of the deal,” the statement said, adding, “Don’t lose this moment!”

Mr. Netanyahu was still calling for the complete destruction of Hamas and the freeing of all hostages before ending the war. And two of Mr. Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners — Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir — threatened to quit his government should he move forward with the proposal.

The debate over the latest proposal gave new life to protests held every Saturday in Tel Aviv. Thousands of demonstrators rallied in the streets there and in other parts of Israel on Saturday evening in support of the proposal.

Some protesters covered themselves in fake blood, and others walked through the streets holding the Israeli flag and signs that read “Bring Them Home.” Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper, reported that protesters blocked traffic in northern Israel, and that at least three people were detained.

Haaretz also reported that thousands of demonstrators rallied near Mr. Netanyahu’s house in Caesarea, a coastal town located midway between Tel Aviv and Haifa.

Protesters also gathered in Rome, Paris and Jakarta, Indonesia, on Saturday.

The United States also continued its efforts to push the region to work toward a cease-fire in Gaza.

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke on Saturday with the Egyptian foreign minister, Qatar’s prime minister and Qatar’s minister of foreign affairs. Egypt and Qatar have been working to help broker an agreement. In his phone calls, Mr. Blinken spoke about the urgent need for a cease-fire and called on Hamas to accept the deal without delay, said Matthew Miller, a spokesman for the State Department.

Aaron Boxerman contributed reporting.

— Alexandra E. Petri

In Gaza, a university lecturer asks of the latest cease-fire proposal: Who will govern us after the war?

Palestinians in Gaza welcomed President Biden’s endorsement of a proposal aimed at ending the war in Gaza, but some were skeptical that it would be implemented anytime soon, and at least one man — a lecturer at the Palestine University in Gaza — expressed a concern on many people’s minds: Who would govern Gaza going forward?

Hamas, which led an attack on Israel on Oct. 7 and had governed Gaza before the war, reacted positively to Mr. Biden’s speech in a statement on social media. It said that it was willing to deal “constructively” with any cease-fire proposal based on a permanent truce, the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, the return of displaced Palestinians to their homes and a “serious prisoner exchange.”

The proposal described by President Biden would be broken into three phases. The first phase would include a six-week cease-fire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the populated areas of Gaza, and the release of elderly and female hostages held by Hamas. In exchange, hundreds of Palestinian detainees would be released.

During the first phase, Israel and Hamas would continue to negotiate to reach a permanent cease-fire and kick off a second phase aimed at ending the war. If the talks take more than six weeks, the first phase of the truce would continue until they reach a deal, Mr. Biden said. The third phase would begin to tackle the enormous job of rebuilding Gaza.

Rami Shrafee, the university lecturer at the Palestine University, said it wasn’t clear who would represent Gazans in the second and third phase of the agreement. In the past, the United States has said that the Palestinian Authority, which runs the West Bank, ought to be brought in to run Gaza, but it wasn’t clear if that was still the U.S. position.

“Who is going to sign off on this deal, Hamas or the Palestinian Authority or the Palestinian people?” Mr. Shrafee asked.

He added that Israel has been clear that it doesn’t want either Hamas or the Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza after the conflict ends.

Mr. Shrafee sees the proposal as part of continued efforts to keep the Palestinian territories separate and undermine any prospect for a future Palestinian state.

“If there is no Palestinian unity and a Palestinian national plan, then the destructive efforts to the Palestinian existence will continue,” he said. “And Gaza will remain separate from the West Bank, and there will continue to be a division between the Palestinian Authority and whoever administers Gaza.”

Al-Qasem Saed, a lawyer and researcher with the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, said Mr. Biden’s position was a victory because it reflected the “resistance of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip” and the capitulation of “the leader of a country the size of the United States, that is considered the police officer of the world.”

Others, like Rania Al Khodary, who helped promote local business on social media, were just glad to see the United States talking about ending Israel’s war in Gaza. On social media , she captured the exhaustion and frustration many felt, saying, “Assuming Hamas agrees with Biden’s proposal and Israel accepts, the war will have ended with penalty kicks … or an offside goal … just let it end.”

— Raja Abdulrahim and Ameera Harouda

U.N. official describes ‘beyond crisis’ conditions facing people who fled Rafah.

Several rounds of displacement have left many civilians in Gaza “at their wit’s end” and unsure of where to seek aid or refuge, as organizations are racing to address worsening hunger and health conditions, the U.N. World Food Program’s director for the Palestinian territories has said.

Describing a recent 10-day trip to the enclave, Matthew Hollingworth, the W.F.P. official, said in a briefing Friday that food and other assistance had dramatically decreased in the southern city of Rafah since Israel’s military operation began there in early May and that supplies through the border crossings in southern Gaza had largely come to a halt.

Gaza’s most vulnerable populations are “beyond exhausted, from persistent and continuous rounds of displacement, from hunger, from trauma and absolute fear of what comes next,” Mr. Hollingworth said.

Many of the estimated one million people who have been forced to flee from Rafah, where they thought they could remain for the duration of the war with relatively reliable access to aid, expressed dismay at not knowing what to do next, he said.

“Should we try and leave? Should we try to storm the border with Egypt? Should we try to go back to Gaza City? What should we do?” people in Gaza repeatedly asked, Mr. Hollingworth recounted.

The areas people have relocated to from Rafah have no aid infrastructure and are at “beyond crisis levels” in terms of public health, with not enough space for a sufficient number of pit toilets, he said. As a result, there are high rates of diarrhea among children, he said.

“The sounds and smells of everyday life are horrific and apocalyptic,” he said.

After nearly two weeks when no World Food Program trucks entered southern Gaza, a “trickle” of aid has resumed through the border crossings into Rafah but not nearly enough to meet the need, he said. The U.N. agency is supplying about 27,000 meals a day in Rafah and about 400,000 meals a day in central Gaza as it tries to scale up in the areas where people were newly sheltering, he said.

At a separate briefing Friday, a spokeswoman for the World Health Organization cited a recent snapshot survey in which 85 percent of children said they had gone a full day without any food in the previous three days. She did not specify when the survey was conducted or how many people were polled.

“You ask, ‘Are the supplies getting through?’ No, children are starving,” Margaret Harris, the spokeswoman, said in Geneva .

Access to food in northern Gaza has markedly improved with the recent openings of northern border crossings, Mr. Hollingworth said. About 12,000 tons of aid entered northern Gaza through Erez and Erez West in May, he said.

“The north looks very different because of it,” he said.

— Victoria Kim

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