Question

read the excerpt from julius caesar, act 3, scene 2.antony. friends, romans, countrymen, lend meyour ears.i 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 brutushath 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 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.which conclusion does this excerpt best support?antony agrees with brutus that caesar was toopersistentantony wants to make the people angry bydefending caesar.antony believes that brutus and the others are asvirtuous as caesar.antony wishes that caesar would have been moredetermined.

Explanation:

Antony's speech uses verbal irony: he outwardly acknowledges Brutus as "honourable" while subtly defending Caesar by noting his loyalty and framing the claim of ambition as unproven. His goal is to turn the crowd against Brutus and the conspirators by undermining their narrative of Caesar's ambition, which will stir anger in the people. The other options are incorrect: he does not agree Caesar was overly persistent, does not see Brutus as virtuous as Caesar, and does not wish Caesar was more determined.

Answer:

Antony wants to make the people angry by defending Caesar.