The Tragedy of Julius Caesar
Blank verse
• Unrhymed iambic pentameter
• Iamb:
– Two syllable foot
– Unstressed syllable followed by stressed syllable
• Pent: five
But soft, what light through yonder window breaks.
• Which characters speak in blank verse? Which
characters speak in prose?
Puns
• Play on words that sound the same but
have two meanings.
• Used for humorous or rhetorical effect.
• Puns in Act I, Scene 1:
– Cobbler: shoemaker; one who messes up
– Soles: soles of shoes; souls: inner being
– Awl: leather tool; All: everyone
• What is the effect of the use of puns?
Act I, Scene 1
• Blank verse:
– Murellus and Flavius: Tribunes (ruling class)
– Oppose Caesar
• Prose:
– Cobbler and Carpenter: Tradesmen (working
class)
– Support Caesar
• Language forms illustrate conflict between
those who support Caesar and those who
oppose Caesar.
Motif
• Recurring element in literature:
– Object
– Idea
– Structure
• Repeats a theme: disorder.
• In Julius Caesar: unnatural sightings,
portents, omens.
–
–
–
–
Casca reports sightings.
Calphurnia reports sightings.
Caesar’s augerers receive a bad omen.
Caesar’s ghost appears to Brutus.
Speech Types
• Monologue: a long speech by one
character.
• Soliloquy: a speech delivered by a
character alone on stage that reveals
the speaker’s thoughts and feelings.
• Aside: dialogue spoken in an
undertone; intended to be heard by
the audience but not by other
characters on the stage.
Anachronism
• A reference to something that did not
exist at the time being described.
• Examples:
– Brutus: Peace, count the clock.
– Cassius: The clock hath stricken three.
• Clocks did not exist in Ancient Rome.
Irony
• Dramatic irony: audience knows
something character on stage does not.
– “Beware the Ides of March.”
• Verbal irony: the opposite of what is
said is meant.
– “Ambitious”
– “Honorable”
Apostrophe
• A figure of speech in which an absent or
dead person, an inanimate object, or an
abstract idea is spoken to as if capable of
understanding.
• Purpose is not to get a response but to
express emotions.
• Examples:
– “O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts and
men have lost their reason.”
– “O mighty Caesar! Dost thou lie so low?”
Apostrophe Examples
• “Hello, darkness, my old friend. I’ve come to
talk to you again.”
• “O Death, be not proud!” (Donne)
• “Bright star, how I wish I were as steadfast
as thou art!” (Keats)
• “Blue Moon, I saw you standing alone
Without a song in my heart, Without a love
of my own.”
Tragedy
• Tragedy (Aristotle): a drama that
includes the downfall of a character
because of a flaw in that character.
• Audience experiences catharsis
(purging of pity and fear) when they
see character suffer his/her fate.
Tragic Character
• Character experiences a downfall (good
Fortune to bad); character’s punishment
exceeds his/her crime.
• Character holds high status in society; is
noble and virtuous but not perfect.
• Character has a tragic flaw or hamartia or
makes an error in judgment.
• Character gains self-awareness or discovers
something as a result of the punishment.