Shakespeare Blog Entries

You must complete 6 of the following prompts at least one from each act.

     

    ACT I
    1. In the second scene of Julius Caesar, Cassius, a general, is angry and jealous after Caesar is crowned king. In the following speech, he tries to convince his friend Brutus that Caesar is no better than Brutus. Copy the following speech to your blog and then put this speech in your own words, using modern English
     

    Cassius: Men at some times are masters of their fates.
    The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars
    But in ourselves, that we are underlings.     (I.ii.140-142)

       
    2. Strange events foreshadow Julius Caesar's death. Explain these strange events in your own words.
     

    Casca: Against the Capitol I met a lion,
    Who glared upon me and went surly by,
    Without annoying me. And there wer drawn
    Upojn a heap a hundred ghostly women,
    Transformed with their fear, who swore they saw
    Men all in fire walk up and down the streets.
    And yesterday the bird of night did sit
    Even at noon-day upon the marketplace,
    Hooting and shrieking.     (I.iii. 20-28)
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    ACT 2
    3. In the second act of Juilus Caesar, Brutus has almost decided to kill Caesar. He says that from the moment you decide to do something horrible until the moment you actually do it, everything feels like a bad dream. Read the passage below and reflect on whether or not you've felt this way. Have you ever decided to do something bad and waited nervously and guiltily until the moment came to do it? How did you react to your guilt and what happened.
     

    Brutus: Between the acting of a dreadful thing
    And the first motion, all the intrim is
    Like a phatasma or hideous dream.     (II.i.63-65)
       
    4.

    Portia, Brutus's wife, senses that something is bothering her husband. But every time she asks him what's wrong, he brushes her off or tells her he's just tired (in reality, he's worried because he's decided to kill Caesar.) Write about a time when you've been in a situation when you sensed that someone you cared about was keeping a secret from you or a time when you kept a secret from someone who cared for you.

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    ACT 3
    5. When a loyal friend of Caesar's named Mark Antony learns that Brutus and the others have killed Caesar, he pretends to shift his loyalty to Brutus while Brutus is in the room. But when Antony is left alone with Caesar's corpse, he expresses his grief and fury and predicts dire consequences for Italy. He says mothers will get used to seeing their babies cut to pieces by war, and Caesar's ghost will wreak havoc. After reading the passage below, imagine that one of your best friends has been killed. Write a speedch that captures how you would respond. Fill it with anger and sadness, as Brutus does.
     

    Antony: 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 . . .
    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 . . .     (III.i. 273-280)

       
    6. After Brutus speaks to the crowd, Antony makes a speech (an excerpt is below). After reading this excerpt, choose one word that encapsulates the tone of this speech and write about why you chose the word you did with specific words or phrases from the text.
     

    Antony: Caesar was my friend, faithful and just to me.
    But Brutus says he was ambitious,
    And Brutus is an honorable man.
    He hath brought many captives home to Rome
    Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill.
    Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
    When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept.
    Ambition should be made of sterner stuff.
    Yet Brutus says he was ambitious,
    And Brutus is an honorable man.     (III.ii. 83-92)
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    ACT 4
    7. In this sinister dialogue, a group of men decide who has to be killed -- including several of their siblings. After reading this dialogue, write a scene of your own in which the characters are hatching a sinister plan. Do not limit yourself to Shakespeares time or to killing.
     

    Antony: These many, then, shall die. Their names are pricked.
    Octavius (to Lepidus): Your brother too must die. Consnet you, Lepidus?
    Lepidus: I do consent -
    Octavius: Prick him down, Antony.
    Lepidus: Upon condition Publius shall not live
    Who is you sister's son, Mark Antony.
    Antony: He shall not live. Look, out with a spot I damn him. (IV.i. 1-7)
       
    8. When Brutus is alone one night, the ghost of Caesar visits him. Put Brutus's response in your own words.
     

    Brutus: ... Art thou any thing?
    Art thou some god, some angel, or some devil
    That makest my blood cold and my hair to star?
    Speak to me what thou art.     (IV.iii. 281-284)
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    ACT 5
    9. When Antony confronts Brutus and Cassius on the battlefield, he hurls smile after simile at them as shown in the passage below. Analyze this passage being sure to write about why Antony compares his enemies to apes, dogs, and servants as well as what his similies suggest about Brutus and Cassius.
     

    Antony: Villians, you did not so when your vile daggers
    Hacked on another in the sides of Caesar.
    You showed your teeth like apes, and fawned like hounds,
    And bowed like bondsmen, kissing Caesar's feet,
    Whilst damned Casca, like a cur, behind
    Struck Caesar on the neck. O you flatterers!     (V.i. 40-45)
       
    10. When Brutus realizes that the battle really has been lost, he dedices that suicide is the only noble response. Volumnius refuses to help him kill himself, but a man names Strato accedes to Brutus's request and holds the sword while Brutus impales himself on it as illustrated in the following passage.If you were put in such a position, would you do as Volumnius did and refuse, or as Strato did and assist Brutus in his suicide? Why
     

    Brutus: It is more worthy to leap in ourselves
    Than tarry till they push us. Good Volumnius,
    Thou know'st that we two went to school together.
    Even for that our love of old, I prithee,
    Hold my sword hilts, whist I run on it.
    Volumnius: That's not an office for a friend, my lord. (V.v. 24-29)
     

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    These prompts are based on Shakespeare warm-up activities in The Daily Spark by SparkNotes.

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