Murellus and Flavius use several verbal tactics. First, Flavius insults the plebeians, calling them "idle creatures." When, in return, the plebeians (such as the cobbler) mock the tribunes, Murellus uses more subtle verbal tactics, giving them a well-developed argument by asking them 8 rhetorical questions to redirect their thinking away from Caesar. Then he too insults them with "you blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things," but then changes his appeal again, treating them as caring, and appealing to the guilt they might feel: "Knew you not Pompey?" He then acknowledges them as citizens of Rome (44-46). Altogether this causes the crowd to disperse, but whether they do so because they are ashamed or because they are resentful or because they are afraid--this we do not know (the director would have to decide). Regardless of how the two men dismiss the crowd, they do rouse their emotions and interfere with what is otherwise a carnival atmosphere when the play opens. Toying with the crowd not only shows us the audience how fickle the mob is but it also confuses them as to what they feel for their emotions shift one way and the other.
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