Question

Read the excerpt from act 3, scene 2, of Julius Caesar.

[ANTONY.] 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.

How is the word honourable used in the context of Antony’s speech?

It is used as a public expression of praise toward Brutus.
It is used as a negative and ironic word to describe Brutus.
It is used to show Brutus that Antony thinks more highly of him than Antony does of Cassius.
It is used to explain how necessary and noble both the conspirators’ cause and Caesar’s death were

Answer 1

It’s the second option: it’s used negatively and ironically. Antony repeats “Brutus is an honourable man” sarcastically to undermine Brutus’s claim that Caesar was “ambitious,” calling attention to facts that contradict that claim and persuading the crowd to distrust the conspirators.