JULIUS CAESAR LITERARY & DRAMA TERMS
city that was the assembly place for judicial activity and
public business.
1. ANACHRONISM:
Person, place, or thing placed in the wrong period of
time.
Ex: A clock is mentioned in Julius Caesar, but clocks
had not yet been invented.
4.
IDES:
In the ancient Roman calendar, the fifteenth day of
March, May, July, or October, and the thirteenth day of
the other months.
5.
PATRICIAN:
A member of one of the noble families of the ancient
Roman Republic, which before the 3rd century B.C. had
exclusive rights to the Senate and the magistracies (a
position where one has the power to enforce or create
laws)
6.
PLEBEIAN:
Of or relating to the common people of ancient Rome
7.
PROVINCE:
Any of various lands outside Italy conquered by the
Romans and administered as self-contained units.
8.
SENATE:
The supreme council of state of the ancient Roman
Republic and later the Roman Empire
9.
TRIBUNE:
(A) An officer of ancient Rome elected by the plebeians to
protect their rights from arbitrary acts of the patrician
magistrates.
(B) a protector or champion of the people.
2. APOSTROPHE:
An address to the absent or dead are spoken to as if
present or the inanimate, as if alive
3.
ASIDE:
Remarks unheard by other actors on the stage when
an actor on stage turns his head toward the audience
to speak
4. BLANK VERSE:
Unrhymed lines written in iambic pentameter
Each line has 5 sets of unstressed then stress
syllables – 10 syllables total
5. COMIC RELIEF:
Humor inserted into the play to break a serious mood
6. FORESHADOWING:
The dropping of important hints by the author to
prepare the reader for what is to come.
Ex: “Beware of the ides of March”
7. HYPERBOLE:
The conscious use of overstatement or exaggeration
by a writer for effect
Ex: He died a thousand deaths.
10.
TRIUMVIRATE:
A government of three officers or magistrates
functioning jointly
11.
STOICISM
A philosophy that focuses on
 Duty, self-discipline, and subjection to the
natural order of things
 Civic obligations; duty BEFORE self!
 Repressing all emotions—do not outwardly
show happiness, sadness, etc.
 Speaking in a calm and emotionless manner
12.
EPICUREAN
A philosophy that focuses on
 Human freedom; “I am the center of my
universe” attitude
 being good only to increase one’s own
happiness; self BEFORE duty!
 Eliminating fear from life, especially fear of death
and the fear of the supernatural (the gods live in
their own world and are too busy to bother with
us on earth).
 Speaking in a vibrant and emotional manner
8. OXYMORON:
A figure of speech which combines two terms that in
ordinary usage are contraries or opposites
Ex: Jumbo shrimp
9. PUN:
Humorous play on words indicating different
meanings
Ex: A cobbler saying he is the “mender of soles”
10. SOLILOQUY:
Speech delivered while the actor is alone on stage. It
informs the audience of what is happening in the
character’s mind or gives needed information about
other characters.
JULIUS CAESAR ROMAN TERMS
1.
CONSUL:
Either of the two chief magistrates of the Roman
Republic, elected for a term of one year.
2.
FEAST OF LUPERCAL:
A Roman festival supervised by priests on February 15 th
celebrating the god of fertility. The festival included a race
in which men dressed in sacrificial goat skins would run
through spectators in the streets, and their touch was
thought to cure sterility.
3.
FORUM:
The public square or marketplace of an ancient Roman