Julius Caesar - What will your verse be?

Common Test 1
• Unseen Poetry (25m)
– Answer all questions (part i and part ii)
• Julius Caesar (25m)
– Act One Passage Based Questions
– 3 Questions
• 2 questions – 10 marks
• 1 question – 5 marks
ACT ONE
Agenda
• Character Map: who’s who in
Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar
• Introduction of Julius Caesar: Act One
• Julius Caesar: the politician, the man and
the friend
Character Map
• Julius Caesar has a lot of characters with
names which are quite difficult to
remember.
• To make it easier, before we start into Act
One we’ll look at the characters and
some of their motivations in the play
Character Map
• Instructions:
–Look at the hand-out that you have
been given
–Fill in the missing names of the
characters in the play
–Paste it into your journal for
safekeeping!
Character Map
Introduction of Act One
• Essential Question: Perspectives - What
we see vs what we choose or want to
see. (Reality vs choice)
– Throughout Julius Caesar we witness moments in
the play where we see characters caught between
two points:
• making their own decisions
• Or being persuaded or forced into certain
situations
Theory
• Perspectivism: Theory by Friedrich
Nietzsche
– The truths and ideas about the world are
created through people’s perspectives.
– What we see is very different from what we
choose to see.
– It is the different perspectives that we have
that decides the truth of the world.
Theory
• Perspectivism: Theory by Friedrich
Nietzsche
– Eg. What a victim of an accident perceives is
very different from a bystander’s
perspective
– Similarly, what the person who hit the
victim perceives will be very different
– Those attitudes shape the truth and history
of the event as we know it
Theory
• Perspectivism: Theory by Friedrich
Nietzsche
– Similarly in Julius Caesar we will be studying
the different perspectives of Caesar that the
characters in the play have about him
– The common people
– The politicians
– His friends, his enemies and Himself
Essential Question
• Our task as Literature students is to study
these moments and decide the following:
• Politicians’ Perspective
– Or is Caesar a power hungry tyrant that seeks to
use the people’s favour for his own gain to rule
Rome and become emperor? (Politicians’
perspective of Caesar)
Essential Question
• Caesar’s Perspective
– Caesar sees himself as one who is unafraid of
anybody or person. He refuses to hide from danger
and is confident in his position and authority
– He is also rather proud (to the point of arrogance)
• Common People’s Perspective
– Is Caesar a great leader who brings glory to Rome
and is worthy of admiration and respect?
(Commoner’s perspective of Caesar)
Essential Question
• Readers’ Perspective (as Students of Literature)
– Or is Caesar in fact neither of those roles?
– Or is he both of them?
– We have to study the play to decide our own perspective
and view of Caesar
– It can be argued that he is capable of both of these
actions and is both good and evil (or perhaps just human)
Keep these perspectives in mind as
we study Julius Caesar!
Themes in Julius Caesar
• Themes in Julius Caesar:
–Power & Politics
• Power is a constant issue in Julius Caesar as
the characters strive to increase their power
• (eg. The other senators who fear Caesar’s
rise to power)
• How do they retain their power?
• How do they increase their power?
• Why do they need power?
Themes in Julius Caesar
• Themes in Julius Caesar:
– Individual Choice vs Choice made for you
(Free will vs no control)
• This theme is related to the issue of power.
• There are characters who have the power to
choose and decide their actions
• But there are also characters who are
persuaded to make certain decisions
• So is it better to choose or is it better for
others to choose for you?
Act One
• So before we finally start Act One, here’s
a quick summary of what we’ve gone
through:
– Character Map
– Essential Question: Perspectives (What we see vs
what we choose to see)
– The different perspectives of Julius Caesar
– Important Themes in the play
Act One: Summary of Scene 1
• Scene 1 (p.23-31)
– We see the commoners reactions to Caesar’s
great military victory
– But we also see the tribunes (minor government
officials) very different reaction to Caesar
Act One: Scene 1
• Scene 1 (p.23-31)
• Commoner’s love for Caesar
– Cobbler, a commoner, (p.27, Scene 1, Line 33-34):
“we make holiday to see Caesar, and to rejoice in
his triumph”
• The common populace celebrating Caesar’s victory in
war
Act One: Scene 1
• Scene 1 (p.23-31)
• Politicians’ Fear of Caesar
– Marullus, a tribune, (p.29, Scene 1, Line 35-38):
“Wherefore rejoice? What conquest brings he
home?
What tributaries follow him to Rome,
To grace in captive bonds his chariot-wheels?
You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless
things!”
Act One: Scene 1
• Scene 1 (p.23-31)
– There is a huge difference in perception of
Caesar between the people and the
politicians
– The people love him
– The politicians fear him
– Why?
Act One: Scene 2
• Scene 2 (p.33-57)
– We see how Caesar is perceived by the politicians
and the people around him and we also see
Caesar’s impression of himself
– We are introduced the several key characters,
Brutus, Mark Antony and Cassius
– We see Cassius’ envy and fear of Caesar and how
he plants a seed of doubt in Brutus’ mind about
his friend Caesar
Act One: Scene 2
Caesar as he sees himself
• Soothsayer warns Caesar of danger to his life
but Caesar ignores him
– “He is a dreamer; let us leave him” (1.2.25)
• Caesar says of himself: “I rather tell thee what
is to be feared than what I fear; for always I
am Caesar” (1.2.213-214)
Act One: Scene 2
The Danger of Caesar (Politician’s Fear)
• Cassius persuading Brutus of Caesar’s danger
– “it is very much lamented, Brutus that you have
no such mirrors as will turn, your hidden
worthiness into your eye, that you might see your
shadow. I have heard, where many of the best
respect in Rome – except immortal Caesar –
speaking of Brutus and groaning underneath this
age’s yoke have wishes that noble Brutus had his
eyes” (1.2.56-63)
Act One: Scene 2
• As Cassius and Brutus talk, the crowd keeps
shouting and exclaiming in the background
– Flourish and shout (p.41: 1.2.79)
– Shout. Flourish. (p.45: 1.2.133)
– With each shout, Cassius’ words grow heavier on
Brutus as he hears the power that Caesar wields over
them
• Brutus says:
– I do believe that these applauses are for some new
honours that are heaped on Caesar (p.45: 1.2.134-5)
Act One: Scene 2
• Cassius (continuing to persuade Brutus):
– “Why man he doth bestride the narrow world like
a Colossus and we petty men walk under his huge
legs and peep about to find ourselves
dishonourable graves. Men at some time are
masters of their fates: The fault dear Brutus is not
in our stars but in ourselves that we are
underlings.” (p.45: 1.2.137-142)
Act One: Scene 2
• We later learn from Casca that the shouts
are of Caesar refusing the crown thrice
– P.51: “I saw Mark Antony offer him [Caesar] a
crown … twas one of those coronets. He put it by
once (rejected the crown) … then he offered it to
him again; then he put it by again … and then he
offered it the third time; he put it the third time
by” (1.2.245-9)
Act One: Scene 2
• P.53: “the rabblement hooted and clapped
their chapped hands and threw up their
sweaty night-caps and uttered such a deal of
stinking breath because Caesar refused the
crown” (1.2.245-9)
– Each time Caesar refuses, the people love him
more and more
Act One: Scene 2
• P.53 “the tag-rag people did not clap him
and hiss him according as he pleased and
displeased them as they use to do
players in the theatre I am no true man”
(1.2.259-262)
– Casca says that Caesar is manipulating the people
as an actor would manipulate the audience in a
theatre
Act One: Scene 2
• P.55 “if Caesar had stabbed their mothers
… they would have forgave him with all
their hearts” (1.2.273-5)
– Caesar’s unshakeable grip over the people’s
loyalty and admiration
• We see the difference in the way the
people treat him and the way the
politicians look at his actions
Act One: Scene 3
• Scene 3 (p.59-71)
– Cassius and Casca conspire against Caesar and
seek to gain Brutus’ support as well as the other
important members of the Roman senate
Conclusion
• Conclusion:
– We also looked at the themes and concerns of the
play
– Act One: we are introduced to the main characters
in the play
– We see the difference in perceptions of the
different classes in society
(People/Politicians/Caesar)
– We see what different perspectives show about
Caesar as well