MonoMonday: "Speech" - Mark Anthony

FlyingPRGal has asked us to illustrate the theme "Speech" for MM today, in recognition of the fact that Winston Churchill became the first British prime minister to make a speech to the US Congress on 26 December 1941.


Whilst I was pondering my choice of subject, my Editor came to my rescue by suggesting a blip of one of the most famous speeches of all time, that of Mark Anthony at Caesar's funeral as told by Shakespeare. It's certainly one of my favourite speeches, illustrating the state of the art in saying one thing whilst meaning quite the opposite. I studied the play for my O-level GCE many years ago; until then I'd hated studying Shakespeare plays in class as it made them seem so dry, but I actually loved studying Julius Caesar, partly because of the teacher we had that year (I don't think his technique worked for everyone, but he was zany and as a teacher he "clicked" with me) and partly because it's such a brilliant play.