Julius Caesar: Act 1 Reading and Study Guide

I. Vocabulary



wherefore - for that reason



exeunt - used as a stage direction to indicate



vulgar - rude, offensive



What part of speech is vulgar when used by Flavius in line 72? noun



construe - deduce; explain



II. Literary Terms



blank verse - highly expressive, rhythmical literary piece



List of characters who speak in verse: Caesar, Brutus, Marullus, Flavius



prose - written, nonrhythmic literature



List characters who speak in prose: Marullus, Brutus, Flavius



*What possible reason do some characters speak in prose and some speak verse?



Because its their way of making their characters more alive.



Tragedy - disater, costastophe, disappointment



Pun - play on words

Example from Act I, scene I: Flavius says "Go on good countrymen"



Conflict: fight, warfare

External: 1. Caesar vs. Brutus

2. Cassius vs. Caesar

3. Antony vs. Casca

4. Soothsayer vs. Caesar



Soliloquy - speech by one, apostrophe

Example: Caesar says a log speech to his civilians about being a king for Rome



Iambic Meter - metric foot used in various types of poerty



Iambic Pentameter - a common meter in poetry consisting of



Meatphor - figure of speech, implied comparison

Example: Caesar is talking to Antony about his habits



Simile - uses words "like" or "as"

Example: Brutus is talking to Cassius about his plan to kill Caesar



III. Questions



1. Where and when was Shakespeare born? 1564, England



2. What theatre did Shakespeare help build? The Lord Chamberlain's Men



3. When did he die? 1616



4. In what historical period was Shakespeare living? Who was the ruler of England at that time? The Renaissance, Queen Elizabeth I



5. What three types of plays did Shakespeare write? Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet



6. What was it like to go to a play during Shakespeare's time? Royalty, casual, Roman like culture



7. What historian did Shakespeare use as a source for writing Julius Caesar? Plutarch



8. When and where did Julius Caesar live? Suburna, Rome 100 B.C.



9. Who is Pompey? Although he is not a character in the play, why is he important to the plot? Rivalry to Caesar. He doesn't like Caesar to be king.



Scene 1:



10. what is the setting? What holiday is being celebrated? Rome, Lupercal



11. who are Marullus and Flavius? two tribunes



12. Why do they want to drive the commoners from the street? To see Caesar's celebration of defeating Pompey.



13. What else do Marullus and Flavius do to further hinder the celebration of Caesar's victory? To cheer on.



Scene 2:



14. What does Caesar tell Antony to do to Calpurnia? To touch her to lose the curse of sterility.



15. Why might Caesar ask Antony in front of everyone else? Because it's a ritual.



16. What is a soothsayer? Of what does he warn Caesar? A symbol of the omens, The Ides of March.



17. What does ides mean? March 15th



18. Does Marcus Brutus like Caesar? What does Brutus think of Caesar's rise to power? Use lines from play to support your answer. No, he thinks that it's too much for Caesar to be king with his power. "No Cassius for the eye cannot see itself except when it's reflected by something else."



19. Brutus says, " For let the gods so speed me as I love/ The name of honor more than I fear death." What do these lines imply about Brutus's most important value in life? He rather save his people than to let Caesar ruin this city.



20. What story does Cassius tell Brutus? He's planning to assasinate Caesar.



21. What is Cassius point in telling the story? Caesar's power is growing more on the streets.



22. What is Caesar's opinion of Cassius? Why does he feel this way? He doesn't trust him, He's afraid that Cassius is not his friend he seemed to be.

23. What handicap does Caesar reveal about himself when speaking to Antony? He's suspicious about his ambition of becoming king.

24. How many times was Caesar offered a coronet, or a small crown? Three times

25. What was Caesar's reaction to the offering, according to Casca? He refused to accept the crown because it holds too much power.

26. What sickness does Caesar have? He might get betrayed by his friends when the ides of March comes.

27. What happens to Marullus and Flavius? They left because of the storm and Caesar was being crowned king.

28. What does Cassius plan to do to convince Brutus to conspire against Caesar? He tells that Caesar will be king if he gets the crown and have so much power.

Scene 3:

29. What unusual events occur during the storm? Thunder and lightning

30. What meaning does Cassius interpret from the storm? The bad qualities of how Caesar must die.

31. According to Casca, what are the senators planning to do to Caesar tomorrow? to crown him king, and then kill him.

32. Who is definitely part of the conspiracy?
1. Brutus 4.Casca
2. Cassius 5.Cinna
3. Caius 6. Trebonius

Shakespeare Study Questions

William Shakespeare is the greatest writer of all time.

He lived in the country of England during the Renaissance.

He was born in the year 1564, when Elizabeth I was queen of England.

England was established as a world power in 1588, when the English defeated an attempted invasion by Spanish Armada.

Plays in which dialogue is mostly poetry is called verse drama.

In the 1590's, Shakespeare's theatre group was a place called the Lord Chamberlain's Men.

When Queen Elizabeth I died, the group's new sponsor was King James I and the group changed it's name to the King's Men.

The Globe Theatre was located on the banks of the Thomas River.

The theatre was three stories, made of wood, and could hold as many as three thousand spectators. Customers, called theatergoers stood on the pit by the stage and paid the lowest price for admission. Richer patrons sat in balconies, also called inner galleries.

Most theatres in that day had no artificial lighting or heating, so performances were given in daylight in warmer weather.

Many commonly quoted phrases came from Shakespeare's plays. Some examples are: " Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears." from Julius Caesar, "O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?" from Romeo and Juliet, and "To be or not to be." from Hamlet.

Terms

1. Verse Dramas - plays that the dialogue is mostly poetry.

2. Blank Verse - nonrhythmic lines of iambic pentameter.

3. Iambic Pentameter - distressed, stressed.

4. Soliloquy - a long speech given by a character while alone on stage to reveal his or her private thoughts.

5. Aside - a character's quiet remark to the audience or another character that no one else on stage can hear.

6. Rhetorical Devices - persuade.
1) Repetition
2) Parallelism
3) Rhetorical Questions

7. Irony - contrast between appearance and reality.

8. Dramatic Irony - reader knows something that one or more characters do not know.

9. Pun - play on words.

10. Allusion - whenever a writer refers to a person, place, poem, book, or movie that he expects alluding, indicating, inference.

You Should Know:

1. Ambition - selfish, a strong desire for status, fame, or power.

2. Vanity - something that is vain.

3. Envy - such hatred.

4. Revenge - plotting against someone in an evil way, somebody turns against the person, and that gets payback on that somebody who betrayed him or her.

In your opinion, is it right to ask a close friend to do something dangerous? Explain.

Not really because it would be so wrong to say or do something like that. It's really unnecessary.

Lord of the Flies Blog Response (300-400) Words

If people choose to be a good person by following a true friend, parent, or the president by making good decisions of what they want to do with their lives when they are growing up. Because the good citizens of the world are trying to make something out of themselves. If they choose the bad side, which is their inner demon, they would end up as being killers, terrorists, cons, criminals, rapists, and molesters. These innocent people are trying to obey the laws of their own country, and their own world to make it better for themselves. Sometimes the good people can get bad stuff happened to them by getting more sick, killed, shot, raped, blamed, or even the ultimate drug lords of their own gang, and businesses. This world needs a lot more love, courtesy, respect, dignity, pride, achievement, confident, enthusiastic, and a whole lot more of obedience with their behavior.

The bad essential people need to look and tell themselves that this whole experience that they're making of themselves are very wrong of what they're doing to the community. Their examples would be more like the Jack character from "Lord of the Flies" novel. Jack was a sick boy who doesn't care about the rules, people dying, and enjoying the pleasure to kill his own tribe, including Ralph. Jack has a sick and twisted mind of his own to be torturing people like Piggy, and the littluns. He wants to live for himself so he can be rescued by the soldiers in the helicopters. Jack has a rivalry in his hands, and that person is Ralph. The reason why he doesn't like Ralph is because Ralph on the other hand can be more civilized, save all of the children on being rescued, and most importantly Ralph can be a better chief than Jack. Jack would be more childish, self-centered, crazy, sick-minded, and a complete psycho in his mind to kill people. He would always try to get his way when Ralph, Piggy, and Simon are against him and his hunters. Some bad people can be a lot more crazy inside and out when they think of something more wicked, evil, cruel, and tormenting to harm the innocence of becoming the victim in their own demising plans. Jack from "The Lord of the Flies" was treated so cruel that he even treated the littluns to be tortured and beaten to death. I feel so sorry for the bad people for living their lives into being misery every time they think about it when they are constantly doing the wrong things. Such as like killing other people, going suicidal, being raped, and being beaten to death. The bad essential people are just like the devil's children who came up from hell to cause a lot of chaos, and misery for God's children. Also the bad people can be more cruel, evil, malevolent, crazy, psychotic, and too strange at things. To me they are a bunch of cowards being too sorry to do some things on their own to make it out there. Adolf Hitler was the perfect master-mind to create such hell on earth to have a lot of power to begin his invasion. Most of the time, Hitler would send his Nazis to kill every Jew they would find in houses, and other countries to begin his plans. So many people are trying to make a difference of themselves, but the bad people are dragging them down with them.

The good essential people are the most delicate human beings that are more civilized on this earth to make a better life of themselves. On the other hand the bad essential people are bringing them to their knees to join them, but some good essential will say no for their own sake to be free from this world of hate. This whole good vs. evil thing is going too far for the world, and God does not want that to happen to all of us. The reason why the good human beings are so good is because they would always do the right thing by listening to their parents, the right friends, and the right people who believes in them to make their lives a better one than they had. The first example is Ralph, Piggy, and Simon from "Lord of the Flies". They would always look out for each other when they're in danger on the island. Ralph is the most respected person in his group, the reason why he a better leader than Jack is because he knows how to treat a person with heart, respect, dignity, and pride of their will to be brave in what they do. The second example is Michael Jackson. Michael was a teriffic person in his business, and for the whole world. There were too many politics talking about him so much that it drived him to the limit, especially when he was accused of raping a boy, which was not true at that moment. Michael was just trying to make a difference in everyone to make a better person in ourselves make this world more social and friendly. To think of it, this world is in a war between angels and demons from this tv show called "Supernatural". We need peace on this planet, or it all will come to an end.

Lord of the Flies Chpt. 9 Discussion Questions

1. What was the "cannon" that "continued to play" throughout chapter 9?

the thunder

2. Who sat, like an idol, painted and garlanded, in the center of the lawn?

Jack

3. During the party, evening had come, not with calm beauty, but with the : threat of violence.

4. At the party, who acted like the pig?

Roger

5. What happened to the parachutist?

Carried by the wind over the lagoon and went into the sea,

6. Who was killed because the boys thought he was the beast?

Simon

7. What happened to the body on the beach?

It was free from the rocks

Who said it?

8. "Do our dance! Come on! Dance!"

Jack

9. "Let them go. I don't care."

Ralph

10. "P'raps we ought to go on too...I mean to make sure nothing happens."

Piggy

Lord of the Flies Chpt 8 Discussion Questions

1. Who called the first assembly?

Jack

2. During the assembly, how many voted that Ralph shouldn't be chief?

no one

3. On page 140 the hunters get a new name. What is it?

The tribe

4. The group of boys looked at it with affectionate respect. What was it?

The conch

Who said it?

5. "I'm not going to play any longer. Not with you."

Jack

6. " I think we ought to climb the mountain."

Simon

7. "We'll hunt and I'm going to be chief."

Jack

8. "The head is for the beast, it's a gift."

Jack

9. "I'd like to put on war-paint and be a savage. But we must keep the fire burning."

Jack

10. "Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill."

Jack

11. "You knew didn't you? I'm part of you?"

Ralph