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NOTES: Julius Caesar
POLITICS, PATRIOTISM, AND PROTEST OPINIONNAIRE
NAME: ____________________________
DATE: _____________________________
In the space provided mark whether you agree or disagree with each statement.
Agree or Disagree
_______________ 1. It is never right to kill another person.
_______________ 2. Political leaders usually act in the best interest of their countries.
_______________ 3. If a political leader has done something wrong, it is all right to get rid of
him or her by whatever means necessary.
_______________ 4. "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
_______________ 5. In certain situations it may be justified for a political leader to bend or
break the law for the good of the country.
_______________ 6. People should never compromise their ideals or beliefs.
_______________ 7. "My country right or wrong" is not just a slogan; it is every citizen's
patriotic duty.
_______________ 8. No cause, political or otherwise, is worth dying for.
_______________ 9. "Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant taste of death
but once."
_______________10. "The evil that men do lives after them; the good is [often buried] with
their bones."
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NOTES: Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Background: For centuries, Romans debated and even fought civil wars while trying to decide
whether a monarchy, a republic or a dictatorship was the best form of government. Until 509 B.C.,
Rome was a monarchy, but, in that year, the Brutus family evicted Trarquinius Superbus from the
throne and Rome was established as a republic.
By 100 B.C., Rome was a moderate democracy in form; in actual practice, the Senate was ruling
Rome. In 60 B.C., a triumvirate (a 3-man rule) of Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey was formed to
govern Rome.
In 58 B.C., Caesar was made governor of part of Gaul, and at the age of 44 began his military career.
During the next ten years, he proceeded to conquer all of Gaul.
After Crassus was killed in battle, trouble began to develop between Pompey and Caesar. Pompey,
jealous of Caesar’s popularity, persuaded the Senate to order Caesar to disband his army and return
to Rome. But Caesar invaded Rome and made himself absolute ruled of Rome. Meanwhile,
Pompey fled to Greece. Caesar defeated Pompey’s army and Pompey fled to Egypt where he was
later murdered.
Three years after Caesar defeated Pompey’s army, Caesar defeated Pompey’s two sons. By now,
Caesar had been made dictator for life. Thus, as Shakespeare begins his play with Caesar returning
in victory from Spain, Caesar was the undisputed leader of master of the entire Roman world. (see
map)
Hero: Just as Romeo and Juliet was a tragedy, so is Julius Caesar. Unlike Romeo and Juliet where the title
characters were the heroes of the play, Julius Caesar is not the hero. The hero in this play is Brutus, a
noble man who truly believes his actions are for the good of his country. Brutus dominated much
of the play. Perhaps the title should be The Tragedy of Marcus Brutus.
Setting: The setting is Rome, Italy, part of the continent of Europe, and it is situated along the
Tiber River.
Life in Rome: There were two classes of people in Rome. The people were either rich or poor.
The rich were called Patricians and the poor were called Plebeians.
Politics: Julius Caesar is a political play, and political issues are the root of the tragic conflict in the
play. It is a play about a general who would be king, but who, because of his own pride and
ambition, meets an untimely death. Shakespeare seems to be saying that good government must be
based on morality. In this respect the play has relevance to the politics of the modern world.
The focus of the play: This play focuses on those men who were responsible for the assassination
of Caesar and their ill-fated attempt to control Rome.
Timeline: Shakespeare compresses the actual historical time of 3 years into a period of 6 days.
When’s When in Julius Caesar
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NOTES: Julius Caesar
The chart below gives the actual historical time frame as well as the dramatic time frame used by
Shakespeare in his play.
Day
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
In Shakespeare
Six Days with
Intervals
In History
Date Three Years
Act 1 Scenes 1 and 2.
– Caesar’s Triumph
and the Lupercalia
being placed on the
same day.
Interval
Act 1 Scene 2 –
nighttime
Oct. 45 B. C. – 44 Caesar’s triumph for his
B.C.
victory at Munda, Spain.
Acts 2 and 3
March 15
Feb. 15
March 14
43 B.C.
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Festival of the Lupercalia
Interval of 1 month
during which Caesar
prepares for an
expedition into Illyricum
and Parthia
Assassination of Caesar.
Interval of more than 7
months. Brutus is in
Macedonia and Cassius
is in Syria.
A 3-day conference of
the Triumvirate at
Bononia
Interval
October 43 B.C.
Act 4 Scene 1
Interval
42 B.C.
Interval of about 3
months. Cicero and
others are put to death.
January
Interval of about 9
months
Battle of Philippi – The
second engagement, 20
days after the first.
Act 4 Scenes 2 and 3
Interval
Act 5. The two
engagements at
Philippi being
described as one.
October
Julius Caesar Act One
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NOTES: Julius Caesar
Study Guide
1. Where does the first scene take place?
2. What are Flavius and Marullus doing?
3. Who claims to be a “mender of bad soles,” a “surgeon to old shoes,” and one who lives by
the “awl?”
4. According to a laborer, why have the people left their shops and assembled?
5. Who was Pompey?
6. How do Marullus and Flavius rebuke the people?
7. Who was Lupercal, and when did the Feast of Lupercal occur?
8. What character establishes the notion that Caesar is ambitious, and that he flies too high and
is a danger to free men?
9. The purpose of the Feast of Lupercal was to secure purification and fertility for the spring
planting. What other purpose did it serve for women as well?
10. In scene two, who, in particular, is instructed to stand in Antony's way and why?
11. What warning does the fortuneteller give to Caesar?
12. What is Caesar’s response to the fortuneteller’s warning?
13. What do Cassius and Brutus discuss after Caesar and his followers leave?
14. With whom is Brutus upset and why?
15. Cassius openly works on contrasting Brutus’s humility to Caesar’s presumptuousness and
arrogance. Why?
16. What fear does Brutus blurt out when shots are heard and a trumpet sounds?
17. When Caesar returns from the race, which character’s countenance seems to disturb him?
18. How does Caesar contrast Cassius with Antony?
19. Why does Antony have to speak to Caesar from his right side?
20. Why does Brutus grasp Casca’s cloak? What does he want to know?
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NOTES: Julius Caesar
21. What does Casca tell him has happened?
22. What other physical impairment does Caesar have?
23. According to Casca, did the Roman people seem to want Caesar to be king?
24. What dramatic action had Caesar taken in front of the people before his fainting?
25. How did Casca react to the events at the Lupercal Festival?
26. What has happened to Marullus and Flavius and why?
27. Cassius’s major plan involves Brutus. What is it?
28. What secretive means does Cassius intend to use to persuade Brutus he is more noble than
Caesar?
29. In scene three, it is the evening of the Ides of March. Describe the weather.
30. Casca meets Cicero on the streets. State two unexplainable events.
31. What is Caesar to do tomorrow?
32. Cassius compared the storm to whom?
33. According to Casca, what do the senators plan to do tomorrow?
34. What pledge does Casca give to Cassius?
35. Who is Cinna?
36. According to Cinna, acquiring the cooperation of who would be more beneficial?
37. Cinna is to deliver the forged letters to what three places?
38. According to Cassius, what fraction of Brutus remains to be won over?
39. Who “sits high in all the people’s hearts?”
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NOTES: Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Act One Quotations
1. “O you hard-hearted people, you cruel men of Rome,
didn’t you know Pompey the Great?”
2. “If we can pluck these growing feathers out of Caesar’s wing,
we can force him to fly lower.”
3. “barren women, when touched in this holy race,
are able to shake off the curse of sterility.”
4. “I shall remember
When Caesar says ‘Do this,’
It is done.”
5. “Beware the Ides of March.”
6. “I fear that the people choose Caesar
for their king.”
7. “I was born as free as Caesar and so were you.
We both have eaten as well, and we can both
Suffer the winter’s cold as well as Caesar.”
8. “Cassius over there is too lean and hungry looking;
he things too much. Such men are dangerous.”
9. “Such and such are reasons, they are natural occurrences,
because I believe that they are completely strange events, full of meaning
for the place where they occur.”
10. “It’s a very pleasing night to honest men.”
11. “O, he has a high place in the hearts of the Roman people,
and what would appear offensive if we did it,
his approval, like precious alchemy,
will transform it to something virtuous and worthy.”
Protagonist: Brutus
Antagonists: Antony, Caesar
Foil of Brutus: Cassius
Julius Caesar: Triumphant general and political leader of Rome. Although he is highly competent and
multi-talented, he is also condescending and arrogant. In his conversation, he frequently uses the thirdperson "Caesar" instead of the first-person "I" to refer to himself and also sometimes substitutes the
kingly "we" for "I." He depicts himself as a man of unshakable resolve, but he proudly and recklessly
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NOTES: Julius Caesar
ignores warnings about his safety. Rumors abound that he plans to be crowned king. Historically,
evidence to support the view that Caesar sought elevation to a throne is inconclusive.
Marcus Brutus: Roman senator and praetor who helps plan and carry out Caesar's assassination.
Historically, Marcus Junius Brutus (84-42 B.C.) enjoyed a reputation in his day among Roman
republicans as a noble and fair-minded statesman. However, his opponents–notably supporters of
Caesar–regarded him as a traitor. First, Brutus sided with Pompey the Great against Caesar when the
Roman Civil War started in 49 B.C. After Caesar defeated Pompey at Pharsalus, Greece, in 48 B.C., he
pardoned Brutus and appointed him governor of Cisalpine Gaul in 46 B.C. and a praetor of Rome in 44
B.C. But Brutus turned against Caesar a second time, helping to lead the conspiracy that led to Caesar’s
assassination in 44 B.C. Brutus believed the action was necessary to prevent Caesar from becoming
dictator-for-life, meaning that all power would reside in Caesar and not in the delegates representing the
people. In Shakespeare’s play, Brutus’s nobility and idealism gain the audience’s sympathy. But in the
ancient Roman world of power politics, characterized by perfidy and pragmatism, it is his virtues that
doom him. His downfall and death are the real tragedy of the play, not the death of Caesar.
Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony): A member of the ruling triumvirate after the assassination of Julius
Caesar. Marcus is also known as Mark Antony, or simply Antony. He is cunning and pragmatic, a
thoroughgoing politician who can wield words just as effectively as he wields weapons. Antony is a main
character in another Shakespeare play, Antony and Cleopatra.
Gaius Cassius Longinus: Clever and manipulative senator who persuades Brutus to join the
assassination conspiracy. Unlike Brutus, Cassius is no idealist; his primary motivation for conspiring
against Caesar appears to be jealousy. Though small-minded and mean-spirited early in the play, he later
displays courage and a modicum of honor on the field of battle.
Octavius Caesar (Octavian): Grandnephew of Julius Caesar and a member of the ruling triumvirate after
the assassination of Julius Caesar. Octavius, also known in history books as Octavian, later became
emperor of Rome as Augustus Caesar.
Marcus Aemilius Lepidus: A member of the ruling triumvirate after the assassination of Julius Caesar.
Because he is weak, he is easily pushed aside.
Cicero, Publius, and Popilius Lena: Roman senators. Cicero, a supporter of republican government, is
killed by the supporters of Caesar in the aftermath of Caesar's assassination. However, Cicero did not
take part in planning or carrying out the assassination.
Publius Servilius Casca: One of the leading conspirators against Caesar. According to the Greek
biographer Plutarch, Casca was the first of the conspirators to stab Caesar, plunging a dagger into his
back.
Other Conspirators: Casca, Trebonius, Ligarius, Decius Brutus, Metellus Cimber, Cinna. (Note: At least
59 conspirators participated in the actual assassination of Caesar in 44 B.C.)
Tribunes: Flavius and Marullus
Artemidorus: Teacher of rhetoric who attempts to warn Caesar that Brutus, Cassius, and others have
turned against him.
Soothsayer: Seer who warns Caesar to beware of the ides of March (March 15). Shakespeare does not
name the soothsayer. However, in ancient texts by Plutarch and Suetonius, the soothsayer is identified as
an astrologer named Spurinna.
Poets: Cinna and an unnamed poet.
Friends of Brutus and Cassius: Lucilius, Titinius, Messala, Young Cato, Volumnius.
Servants of Brutus: Varro, Clitus, Claudius, Strato, Lucius, Dardanius.
Servant of Cassius: Pindarus.
Calpurnia: Julius Caesar's wife.
Portia: Brutus's wife.
Minor Characters: Senators, citizens, commoners, soldiers, guards, attendants, messenger.
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NOTES: Julius Caesar
Name_______________________
Pd._______________
Julius Caesar: Act I Reading and Study Guide
I. VOCABULARY: Be able to define the following words and understand them when they
appear in
the play.
wherefore____________________________________________________________________
exeunt ( k s - nt , - nt )__________________________________________________________
vulgar_______________________________________________________________________
What part of speech is vulgar when used by Flavius in line 72?__________________________________
construe_____________________________________________________________________
II. LITERARY TERMS: Be able to define each term and apply each term to the play.
blank verse ___________________________________________________________________
List characters who speak in verse___________________________________________
prose________________________________________________________________________
List characters who speak in prose___________________________________________
**What possible reason do some characters speak in prose and some speak in
verse?_________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
tragedy______________________________________________________________________
pun_________________________________________________________________________
Example from Act I, scene i:_______________________________________________
conflict ___________________________________________
External: 1. _______________ vs. ________________
2. _______________ vs. ________________
3. _______________ vs. ________________
Internal: 4. ________________ vs. ________________
soliloquy (s -l l -kw ) __________________________________________________________
Example:_______________________________________________________________
iambic meter _________________________________________________________________
iambic pentameter _____________________________________________________________
metaphor ____________________________________________________________________
Example: ________________________________________________________
simile _______________________________________________________________________
Example: ________________________________________________________
III. Questions: answer the following questions.
Background
1. Where and when was Shakespeare born?
2. What theatre did Shakespeare help build?
3. When did he die?
4. In what historical period was Shakespeare living? Who was the ruler of England at that time?
5. What three types of plays did Shakespeare write? Give an example of each.
6. What was it like to go to a play during Shakespeare’s time?
7. What historian did Shakespeare use as a source for writing Julius Caesar?
8. When and where did Julius Caesar live?
9. Who is Pompey? Although he is not a character in the play, why is he important to the plot?
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NOTES: Julius Caesar
Scene 1:
10. What is the setting? What holiday is being celebrated?
12. Who are Marullus and Flavius?
13. Why do they want to drive the commoners from the street?
14. What else do Marullus and Flavius do to further hinder the celebration of Caesar’s victory?
Scene 2:
15. What does Caesar tell Antony to do to Calpurnia?
16. Why might Caesar ask Antony in front of everyone else?
17. What is a soothsayer? Of what does he warn Caesar?
18. What does ides mean?
19. Does Marcus Brutus like Caesar? What does Brutus think of Caesar’s rise to power? Use
lines
from play to support your answer.
20. 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?
21. What story does Cassius tell Brutus?
22. What is Cassius’s point in telling this story?
23. What is Caesar’s opinion of Cassius? Why does he feel this way?
24. What handicap does Caesar reveal about himself when speaking to Antony?
25. How many times was Caesar offered a coronet, or a small crown?
26. What was Caesar’s reaction to the offering, according to Casca?
27. What sickness does Caesar have?
28. What happens to Marullus and Flavius?
29. What does Cassius plan to do to convince Brutus to conspire against Caesar?
Scene 3:
30. What unusual events occur during the storm?
31. What meaning does Cassius interpret from the storm?
32. According to Casca, what are the senators planning to do to Caesar tomorrow?
33. Who is definitely part of the conspiracy?
1. 4.
2. 5.
3. 6.