Julius Caesar

Roman Political Structure

Rome had a 500-year-old Republic A form of government in which the head

of state is an elected president rather than a monarch (King or Queen)

This head of state works for the people directly or through elected representatives called senators

Roman political structure

Caesar Head of state

Senators Elected representatives (aristocrats)

Tribunes Elected officials to protect the rights of commoners (from aristocrats)

Key terms for Julius Caesar

Tragic hero – a character who falls from greatness

due to one critical flaw in personality

Hubris – excessive pride, self-assurance

Pun - playing with the sound or double

meaning of a wordExample: A photographer was great at botany because he knew photo synthesis.

Pathos - sympathy felt for a character

Nemesis - just reward or punishment, just

retribution Soliloquy - a speech given by a

character sometimes alone on stage, meant to

reveal the inner thoughts of that character; gives

audience insight into the character’s motivations

Caesar’s Rome

Shakespeare on friendship

"Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,

Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel.“

What other wise words have you heard on friendship?

Friendship constitution

Groups of four will form sub-committees on friendship before the final summit to form the Friendship constitution.

We will refer to this often throughout our study of Julius Caesar.

Act I Key Passage

Cassius compares Caesar to the night himself, who

“like this dreadful night, . . . thunders, lightens, opens graves, and roarsAs doth the lion in the Capitol.”(I.iii.72–74)

Act I Key passage – Casca

Are you not moved, when all the sway of the earthShakes, like a thing unfirm? O Cicero, I have seen tempests, when the scolding windsHave rived the knotty oaks, and I have seen The ambitious ocean swell, and rage, and foam, To be exalted with the threatning clouds,But never till tonight, never till now, Did I go through a tempest dropping fire.Either there is a civil strife in heaven, Or else the world, too saucy with the gods,Incenses them to send destruction. (I. iii. 3-13)

Key Quotation

“Beware the ides of March.”

Omens in Act I

Several omens and portents in this act Raise questions about the force of fate

versus free will Function and meaning of omens is puzzling

and seemingly contradictory as announcements of an event or events to come

– appear to prove the existence of some overarching plan for the future

as warnings of impending events – suggest that human beings have the power to alter that destiny if provided with the correct information in advance

Do you believe in fate, or free will?