Julius Caesar for Dummies (an easy to follow description of the play)

1. Julius Caesar for Dummies(an easy to follow description of the play)

2. Shakespeare Background • Wrote in bars and pubs because: • Free light from candles • Cheap food • Inspiration

3. Globe Theater • Nicknamed “The Wooden O” • Pennystinkers/ Lower Class • First level– closest to the stage • Middle Class • At the bottom, on the benches behind the Pennystinkers • Royalty/ Clergy • Upper two levels, away from Pennystinkers

4. Levels of Shakespearean Writing • Sex/ love/ magic/ innuendo– Lowest or basest level. For the uneducated. • Plot– for the middle class & those that want to know first and foremost what happens. • Poetic Language– Reserved for the educated, usually the clergy or royalty. • Universal Truths– Reserved for those that think and are educated. (Critics, clergy, and/or royalty)

5. Types of Writings • Shakespeare wrote • Sonnets • Three types of plays • Histories • Tragedies • Comedies

6. Sonnets • 14 lines long • Written in iambic pentameter • 3 quatrains • 1 couplet • Usually about love • Written to the “Dark Lady” • Could be an older female lover • Could be a young royal

7. Histories • Tell the history of the kings of England • Boring for American students • Often ignored

8. Tragedies Five Elements • Very Important People • (e.g., kings, princes, movers and shakers in Renaissance society) • Very Important Things • (e.g., wars, coronations, marriages, battles as the story begins) • Tragic hero with a tragic flaw • Tragic flaw– A personality defect that will cause the protagonist’s downfall. • Magic or fantasy • (e.g., ghosts, magical storms, witches, or witchcraft) • Hero dies

9. Comedies Five elements: • End well and not necessarily funny • Usually end in at least one marriage • Bestiality • Confused gender/ identity • Magic or fairy involvement

10. Poetry Terms • Monologue– One person speaking on stage • E.g., Antony’s speech to the plebeians about Caesar • Soliloquy– A long speech wherein a character tells his innermost thoughts and feelings. • e.g., Antony speaks aloud to himself after he shakes all the conspirators’ hands and tells of his plans for vengeance. • Aside– One person telling the audience something in a short statement. • Tragic flaw– A personality trait that leads to the downfall of the protagonist in a Shakespearean tragedy. • Brutus is gullible and trusts the wrong people.

11. Act I, scene i • Cops and cobbler argue about the cobbler’s job • Example of a pun • Pun– A play on words • Aimed at Level I Pennystinkers • Caesar just won a major victory against the sons of Pompey • Cops don’t like Caesar

12. Act I, scene ii • Soothsayer warns Caesar of March 15 • Brutus and Cassius fear Caesar becoming king • King = Dictatorship • Cassius is prepared to assassinate Caesar, but Brutus isn’t so sure • Caesar doesn’t trust Cassius • Caesar refuses the crown three times • Cassius decides to trick Brutus with paper

13. Quotable Quotes: I, ii SOOTHSAYER: “Beware the Ides of March!” CASSIUS: "Men at some time are masters of their fates: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves." CAESAR: “Let me have men about me that are fat;Sleek-headed men and such as sleep o' nights:Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.”

14. Act I, scene iii • Scene opens with a huge, fantastic storm • (Example of one of five elements in tragedy) • Cassius convinces Casca to join in his plot to kill Caesar • Cassius tells Cinna to throw a piece of paper through Brutus’ window

15. Act II, scene i • Brutus is unsure as to kill Caesar or not until his servant brings him the paper Cassius tricked him with to the orchard • Brutus agrees to the plot, but says they shouldn’t kill Antony, too, because it will “seem too bloody” • Portia notices that Brutus is acting strangely, but doesn’t know about the assassination

16. Act II, scene ii • Calpurnia is worried (like Portia) and asks Caesar not to go to the senate • Calpurnia’s dream = Supernatural and symbolic element of a tragedy • Caesar agrees until Decius appeals to his sense of pride and vanity • Decius tells Caesar the senate is going to offer him a crown • Caesar is convinced to go

17. Quotable Quotes • CAESAR: "Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once.”

18. Act II, scene iii • The scholar Artemidorous discovers the plot and writes down the names of the guilty on a piece of paper

19. Act II, scene iv • Portia is again worried about Brutus • Soothsayer comes by and again tries to warn Caesar

20. Act III, scene i • Caesar is killed • Climax of the play • The crowd goes nuts as the guilty senators try to calm them down • Antony asks why & doesn’t like the answer • Antony calls for civil war

21. Quotable Quotes • CAESAR: "Et tu, Brute!" • ANTONY: “Cry 'Havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war!”

22. Act III, scene ii • Brutus talks to crowd and convinces them that he had to kill Caesar • Antony then talks to crowd and makes them hate the assassin senators • The crowd burns down Brutus’ house and calls for his head • Antony heads to Caesar’s house to meet with Octavius

23. Quotable Quotes • BRUTUS: “Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.“ • ANTONY: “Now let it work. Mischief, thou art afoot,Take thou what course thou wilt!”

24. “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him… When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;And Brutus is an honorable man… Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;And, sure, he is an honorable man.I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,But here I am to speak what I do know.”

25. Universal Truths from Antony’s Speech • UNIVERSAL TRUTH ONE: • The more educated you are, the more likely you can make people do what you want them to do. • UNIVERSAL TRUTH TWO: • Don’t trust entirely to what other people tell you. Educate yourself also, to make certain you know what you need to know.

26. Act III, scene iii • The crowd, out of control, kills the wrong Cinna • UNIVERSAL TRUTH NO. THREE: • One person is usually smart, but people, as a whole, are dumb, illogical, mean-spirited beasts.

27. Act IV, scene i • Antony and Octavius make a list of those that have to die • Antony shows how unsentimental he is by agreeing that his own nephew has to die

28. Act IV, scene ii • Brutus talks of Cassius being “cold” • UNIVERSAL TRUTH– People tend to cool off after they get what they want from you. • Cassius arrives at Brutus’ camp and tells him to get over it • They go into Brutus’ tent to talk it over

29. Act IV, scene iii • While Brutus and Cassius argue, a poet comes in and tells Brutus his wife, Portia, has committed suicide by swallowing hot, burning coals • Brutus doesn’t seem to care about his dead wife • All leave except Brutus, who meets Caesar’s ghost • The ghost tells Brutus they will meet again in Phillippi

30. Act V, scene i • The two armies meet at Phillippi • Brutus & Cassius v. Octavius & Antony • Cassius tells he is scared of “the portents” • Two former eagles have fled in place of ravens and crows • Brutus says he’d rather kill himself than return to Rome a prisoner

31. Act V, scene ii • Brutus sees an opportunity to strike Octavius' forces and he sends Cassius orders to attack immediately

32. Act V, scene iii • Cassius thinks his tents are on fire and he has lost the war • In reality, those were his men celebrating winning a skirmish • As a result of his misconstruing the scene, Cassius kills himself • Irony Alert: Cassius mistakes the situation, just as Brutus had earlier and dies, in the end, of gullibility.

33. Act V, Scene iv • Lucilius pretends to be Brutus so that Brutus can escape Antony’s men • This means Antony’s forces are winning the war and Brutus is soon to be defeated

34. Act V, Scene v • Brutus sees the ghost of Caesar again • He asks all his friends to help him commit suicide, but only Strato helps him • Brutus dies

35. Quotable Quotes • ANTONY: “This was the noblest Roman of them all.”