Read the excerpt from Act III of Julius Caesar.
Announcer 1: The crowd, which loved Pompey and then Caesar and now Brutus, waits to hear Antony speak.
Citizen 1: (With conviction) This Caesar was a tyrant.
Citizen 3: Nay, that's certain. We are blessed that Rome is rid of him.
Citizen 2: Peace, (He sees Antony trying to quiet them.) let us hear what Antony can say.
Announcer 2: Antony begins by stating he will only bury his friend, not say how good he was.
Antony: (Sadly) Friends, Romans, countrymen lend me your ears. I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The noble Brutus hath told you Caesar was ambitious. (He sighs.) If it were so, it was a grievous fault, and grievously hath Caesar answered it.
(He sighs again, and the citizens begin to feel uncertain about the "if'') He was my friend, faithful and just to me. But Brutus says he was ambitious, and Brutus is an honorable man. (With grief) When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept! (Sarcastically) Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, and Brutus is an honorable man.
Announcer 1: Antony then makes his main point - the crowd saw Caesar refuse the crown three times.
Antony: You all did see that on the Lupercal I thrice presented him a kingly crown, which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition? (The citizens shake their heads.) Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, and sure, he is an honorable man. (By now the citizens exchange worried looks, as the facts do not make sense.)
(Pointing to Caesar's corpse) You all did love him once, not without cause. (He wipes tears from his face.) Bear with me. My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, and I must pause till it come back to me. (He covers his face with his robe.)
Citizen 1: (Unhappily) Methinks there is much reason in his sayings.
Citizen 2: (Shocked) Caesar has had great wrong.
Citizen 4: Marked ye his words? He would not take the crown, therefore, 'tis certain he was not ambitious. (The others agree.)
How does Antony's speech change the viewpoint of the citizens?
They realize that Caesar should not have been murdered and Brutus misled them.
They understand that Brutus was telling the truth about Caesar's ambition.
Antony reminds them that Brutus is a good person, and only wants what is best for Rome.
Their love for Caesar is gone, and they are convinced that Antony should be the next emperor.