JULIUS CAESAR by Zoe Gilligan

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CAESAR

JULIUS

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WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

JULIUS CAESAR

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Words encompassing ACT I SCENE III + ACT II SCENE I of JULIUS CAESAR by

ALEXA PHARRUNS JORDAN MYLES KAITLYN MCISAAC RORI LEBLANC ZOE GILLIGAN ENGLISH 10 / G.

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/ FOURTH PERIOD

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JULIUS CAESAR

BACKGROUND

JULIUS CAESAR, written in 1599, was allegedly the first play to be performed in the Globe Theater.

As Elizabeth I caused her subjects to question the future of politics in England, JULIUS CAESAR caused its audience to ask questions about the possible similarities between ancient Roman politics and English politics of the time.

After finishing a series of English political histories, Shakespeare wrote JULIUS CAESAR, which also embodied some English political concerns of the time (late sixteenth century). An aging, unmarried Elizabeth was worrying the people of England due to the fact that she had not produced an heir. Everyone was asking questions along the lines of, “Who will be the next ruler? Will he or she be a tyrant? Will anarchy ensue?”

Regarding Shakespeare’s primary source for the play, Plutarch’s famous biography ‘The Life of Julius Caesar’, written in Greek during the first century and later translated into English during 1579, greatly influenced him, as he and his contemporaries of the Elizabethan era were very taken with Roman culture and politics.

JULIUS CAESAR

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CAST OF CHARACTERS IN ACT I SCENE III + ACT II SCENE I

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BRUTUS CASCA CASSIUS CICERO CINNA DECIUS LUCIUS LIGARIUS METELLUS PORTIA TREBONIUS

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JULIUS CAESAR

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THEMES AND MOTIFS IN ACT I SCENE

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ACT II SCENE I

↣ blindly following the majority, morals, values, traditions, and superstitions ↣ duty ↣ fate ↣ honor and morality ↣ irony ↣ manipulation ↣ omens ↣ foreshadowing ↣ punishment/consequences ↣ right and wrong ↣ supernatural events ↣ pathetic fallacy ↣ symbols: ↣ sleep represents peace ↣ physical abilities represent governmental powers ↣ indecision represents rebellion ↣ tradition ↣ violence + sex

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JULIUS CAESAR

! ! ! ! ! ! ↣ Casca and Cicero meet on a ↣ Cinna, another conspirator, street in Rome during a enters. howling, frightening storm in ↣ Cassius devises ways for the evening. Cinna to convert Brutus to ↣ Casca tells Cicero about their cause: supernatural events which ↣ To place letters Cassius previously occurred: forged on Brutus’ chair in ↣ An owl — a nocturnal Senate and on Brutus’ statue, creature — flying around at then throw others through noon in the marketplace. Brutus' window. ↣ A lion walking ↣ The conspirators near the Capitol, believe that with but bizarrely Brutus, a morally ignored Casca whilst honorable man, on doing so. their side, he will OF ACT I SCENE III bring worthiness to ↣ A man whose hands the resistance. were on fire, yet whose flesh was not burning. ↣ Cicero departs, and Cassius “He sits high in all the enters. people’s hearts, / And that ↣ Cassius interprets the which would appear offence in omens as warnings of Caesar us / His countenance, like threatening to destroy the richest alchemy, / Will Republic change to virtue and to ↣ He strongly urges Casca to worthiness.” work with him in opposing Caesar. (I.III.157–60)

SYNOPSIS !

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JULIUS CAESAR

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“IT IS THE PART OF MEN TO FEAR AND TREMBLE WHEN THE MOST MIGHTY GODS BY TOKENS SEND SUCH DREADFUL HERALDS TO ASTONISH US.”

! CASCA. JULIUS CAESAR. (I.III.55-7)

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↣ Brutus is in his orchard at ↣ Cassius states that Mark night, thus asking Lucius to Antony ought to be killed, go fetch a taper from his along with Caesar, but once study. again, Brutus objects, as he finds it all too bloody. ↣ Brutus then delivers arguably one of the most ↣ The conspirators exit, important and vexed Lucius is fast asleep, and soliloquies of the play. Portia enters. ↣ He states that his reasons ↣ Muddled by her husband’s against Caesar are not behavior, Portia demands personal, but general — for Brutus to tell her what is the good of the public. troubling him. ↣ He fears that though Caesar ↣ Brutus, tentative at first, appears to be very generous is swayed to confide in Portia and enlightened, he will after she firmly asserts change once crowned, for power herself and reminds him that always induces she is no ordinary tyranny. woman, as she is the daughter of Roman ↣ Brutus then agrees nobleman Cato. to help assassinate Caesar, and compares ↣ Portia exits and OF ACT II SCENE I it to killing a Lucius awakens to serpent’s egg. usher in Caius Ligarius. ↣ Lucius re-enters, along with a letter thrown through ↣ Ligarius, who has previously Brutus’ window. been sick, sheds his sickness to join Brutus and the ↣ The conspirators enter — conspirators against Caesar, Cassius, Casca, Decius, Cinna, so long as the cause is Metellus, and Trebonius. honorable, to which Brutus ↣ Cassius suggests they honor attests. their pact through an oath, but Brutus objects, as it is “Set on your foot, / And with not necessary for men who are a heart new-fired I follow doing an honorable thing to you, / To do I know not justify it through an oath. what. / But it sufficeth / ↣ Cassius enquires about That Brutus leads me on.” recruiting Cicero, but Brutus objects to this too. (II.I.342–45)

SYNOPSIS !

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BIBLIOGRAPHY ! THE ATLASPHERE IMG KID BBC UK PAINTING AND FRAME PIXSHARK SPARKNOTES WIKIPEDIA

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JULIUS WILLIAM

SHAKESPEARE

CAESAR