Name: __________________________________ Date: _____________ Period: __________
He said what? Finding the main idea in Antony’s speeches.
Marc Antony is a brilliant schemer, as shown in his speeches in Act 3.
Warm-Up
Imagine that you have to talk to a group of people who has just beat up or murdered one of
your friends. How would you feel? What would you say?
Today you will be cutting Antony’s speeches in half to help you understand them and to find
the main idea. Here is an example. Note that the cut version need not be in poetic form but
must retain the main idea:
The Original: Act 3, sc 1, lns 159-162 (33
words)
BRUTUS
I know that we shall have him well to friend.
CASSIUS
I wish we may; but yet have I a mind
That fears him much, and my misgiving still
Falls shrewdly to the purpose.
Cut in Half (15-18 words):
BRUTUS
We shall have him to friend.
CASSIUS
We may: yet I have a mind that fears him
much.
The Main Ideas
* Brutus is optimistic and thinks Antony will be on the conspirators’ side.
* Cassius is pessimistic and fears Antony.
The speeches you will be working with represent Antony's reaction to Caesar's murder—the
same situation you wrote about at the beginning of the class. You will cut your assigned
speeches and then present the speech orally. Then, explain why you cut the speech the way
you did in the space below. You will also read this explanation to the class.
Next, compare the cuts made by different groups. What is the same? What is different? What
is important? What is unimportant? What do your cuts show us about Shakespeare’s
language?
Name: __________________________________ Date: _____________ Period: __________
The Original: 3.1.164-179 (136 words)
ANTONY (with conspirators and Caesar’s body):
O mighty Caesar! dost thou lie so low?
Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils,
Shrunk to this little measure? Fare thee well.—
I know not, gentlemen, what you intend,
Who else must be let blood, who else is rank.
If I myself, there is no hour so fit
As Caesar's death hour, nor no instrument
Of half that worth as those your swords made rich
With the most noble blood of all this world.
I do beseech you, if you bear me hard,
Now, whilst your purpled hands do reek and smoke,
Fulfill your pleasure. Live a thousand years,
I shall not find myself so apt to die;
No place will please me so, no mean of death,
As here by Caesar, and by you cut off,
The choice and master spirits of this age.
The Cut Version (65-70 words)
The Main Ideas
Name: __________________________________ Date: _____________ Period: __________
The Original: 3.1.209-230 (170 words)
ANTONY (with conspirators and Caesar’s body):
Gentlemen all—alas, what shall I say?
My credit now stands on such slippery ground,
That one of two bad ways you must conceit me,
Either a coward or a flatterer.—
That I did love thee, Caesar, O, 'tis true!
If then thy spirit look upon us now,
Shall it not grieve thee dearer than thy death
To see thy thy Anthony making his peace,
Shaking the bloody fingers of thy foes—
Most noble!—in the presence of thy corpse?
Had I as many eyes as thou hast wounds,
Weeping as fast as they stream forth thy blood,
It would become me better than to close
In terms of friendship with thine enemies.
Pardon me, Julius! Here wast thou bay'ed, brave hart,
Here didst thou fall, and here thy hunters stand
Signed in thy spoil and crimsoned in thy Lethe.
O world, thou wast the forest to this hart,
And this indeed, O world, the heart of thee.
How like a deer strucken by many princes
Dost thou here lie!
The Cut Version (82-88 words)
The Main Ideas
Name: __________________________________ Date: _____________ Period: __________
The Original: 3.1.280-301 (173 words)
ANTONY (alone with Caesar’s body):
O pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,
That I am meek and gentle with these butchers.
Thou art the ruins of the noblest man
That ever lived in the tide of times.
Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood!
Over thy wounds now do I prophesy
(Which, like dumb mouths do ope their ruby lips
To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue)
A curse shall light upon the limbs of men;
Domestic fury and fierce civil strife
Shall cumber all the parts of Italy;
Blood and destruction shall be so in use
And dreadful objects so familiar
That mothers shall but smile when they behold
Their infants quartered with the hands of war,
All pity choked with custom of fell deeds;
And Caesar's spirit, ranging for revenge,
With Ate by his side come hot from hell,
Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice
Cry “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war,
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men groaning for burial.
The Cut Version (83-89 words)
The Main Ideas
Name: __________________________________ Date: _____________ Period: __________
Cutting Antony's speeches: "I am meek and gentle with these butchers" Lesson 11
Plays/Scenes Covered
Julius Caesar 3.1
What’s On for Today and Why
This lesson will allow students to identify Mark Antony's scheming brilliance which is couched in his
three major speeches in the second half of 3.1. Students will isolate the main idea by cutting the
speech in half and then perform the speech chorally.
What To Do
1. As a warm-up, ask students to imagine that they have to talk to a group of men that has just
murdered one of their friends. Discuss how they would feel doing this and what they would say.
2. Explain to the students that their task is to cut speeches in half while keeping the essential
meaning. Work through an example using the Cutting Text Model Handout. Note that the cut
version need not be in poetic form but must retain the main idea.
3. Divide students into groups of three and distribute copies of Antony's speeches, printed on the
Speech Handouts; several groups will be working on the same speech which will enrich the activity.
Explain that these speeches represent Antony's reaction to Caesar's murder—the same situation that
the students wrote about at the beginning of the class. Students should cut their assigned speeches
and then present the speech orally.When finished, students should offer justification for their cuts.
4. Have students compare the cuts made by different groups and discuss what this indicates about
Shakespeare's language; which bits did each group find important/unimportant? Why?
5. Have students write on index cards their own predictions about what will happen next in the
scene and turn these exit cards in as they leave.
6. As extension activities:
a) Have students choose one cut phrase that they would like to return to the speech and explain their
choice.
b) Have students identify three phrases that Shakespeare included and suggest what they add to the
speech.
This lesson will take one to two class periods.
What You Need
Index cards
Documents:
Cutting Text Model Handout
Speech Handout 1
Speech Handout 2
Speech Handout 3
How Did It Go?
Were the students able to retain the main ideas in their cut versions and ensure that their version
made sense? Did the exit cards show reasonable predictions about the next scene demonstrating an
understanding of Antony's character and Shakespeare's language?