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Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar

Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. An Overview. Elizabethan Times. Time for heroes—Men were: Witty, eloquent Examined own nature Adventurers, fencers, poets, conversationalists Women had lower social status, despite nation being run by a Queen. Elizabethan Times.

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Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar

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  1. Shakespeare’sJulius Caesar An Overview

  2. Elizabethan Times • Time for heroes—Men were: • Witty, eloquent • Examined own nature • Adventurers, fencers, poets, conversationalists • Women had lower social status, despite nation being run by a Queen

  3. Elizabethan Times • Great Chain of Being (social structure) • Royalty, nobility, peasantry considered different species from each other • Upset in Great Chain portended (warned) by signs and nature • Weather, unusual animal behavior, etc. • Divine Rule of Kings • Reigning monarch was God’s agent • Rebelling against monarch = rebelling against God; upset of the great chain

  4. Elizabethan Times • England in a succession crisis • Queen Elizabeth left no heirs, refused to marry • People feared another War of the Roses (long bloody battle-rival families fighting for crown) • British people very concerned about this problem • Shakespeare could not comment directly on England’s political affairs; did so indirectly in theater

  5. Elizabethan Times • 1599 very important year • Globe Theater completed • Julius Caesar first performed • Caesar very popular subject • Writers saw numerous similarities to England’s situation • Political uncertainty due to lack of heir • First attempts at colonization (Roanoke 1585)

  6. Shakespeare’s Caesar • Primary source for information on Caesar • Plutarch’sLives of Noble Grecians and Romans • Written in blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter) • Often shifts from poetry to prose • Create mood, establish the status of a character, etc.

  7. Shakespeare’s Caesar • Play begins in medias res (in the middle of something) • Figurative language • Simile • Metaphor • Irony • Dramatic Irony: audience knows something characters do not • Situational Irony: when what happens is different than what is expected • Verbal Irony: speaker says something but means another

  8. The Tragic Hero • Aristotle’s definition • A god, demi-god, hero, high-ranking official • Rises to high position then falls from position, usually to utter desolation or death • Two forces equally powerful in classic tragedy - Hero’s tragic flaw (hamartia) - Fate

  9. Tragic Hero • During Renaissance, people felt less like pawns, more in charge of their destinies • Elizabethan tragic hero responsible for own downfall, rather than fate • “Waste of human potential” tragic to Elizabethans • Contrast between destiny and free will recurring theme in play

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