Question

1. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;

2. I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
3. The evil that men do lives after them;
4. The good is oft interred with their bones;
5. So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
6. Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
7. If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
8. And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it.
9. Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest-
10. For Brutus is an honourable man;
11. So are they all, all honourable men-
12. Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.
13. He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
14. But Brutus says he was ambitious;
15. And Brutus is an honourable man.
16. He hath brought many captives home to Rome
17. Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:
18. Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
19. When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
20. Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
21. Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
22. And Brutus is an honourable man.
23. You all did see that on the Lupercal
24. I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
25. Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?
26. Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
27. And, sure, he is an honourable man.
28. I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
29. But here I am to speak what I do know.
30. You all did love him once, not without cause:
31. What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?
32. O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
33. And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;
34. My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
35. And I must pause till it come back to me.

Over which issue do the claims and counterclaims in this speech mostly focus?


Whether Antony could take Caesar's place

Whether the people respected Caesar

Whether Brutus knew Caesar well

Whether Caesar was overly ambitious

Answer 1

I think it's between A and B...
i havent done this in a while sorry i cant be of more help :(

Answer 2

Answer: Whether Caesar was overly ambitious.

Explanation: In this speech from Act III, Scene II, of "The Tragedy of Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare, the issue over which the claims and counterclaims of this speech mostly focus is whether Caesar was overly ambitious. Brutus has just said in his speech that he has killed Caesar out of his love for Rome. Then, Antony speaks to the crowd and makes the people think of what they have been told by Brutus and what Caesar really was. Through his claims and counterclaims, he wants to make them focus on whether Caesar was so overly ambitious as Brutus stated.