Transcript Julius Caeserx

Julius Caesar
Shakespeare-General Info
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Known as “the Bard”
Wrote 37 plays
Described himself as a poet
Based his plays on history or existing fiction
Invented 1,700 words
We know very little about his life, no interviews,
autobiographies, or letters exist.
• His main talent was the ability to write a vast
range of material.
Shakespeare's theater
• Bearbaiting- Popular sport in old England where
bears were tied to a stake and attacked by dogs
while people bet on the winners.
• Boys played all the women’s roles.
• The theater could hold 3,000 people. The poor
stood with no roof, but rich had covered seats.
• There was almost no stage decorations, it was all
done by imagination.
• Most theaters were supported by a patron, who
was a nobleman.
The Theater
A modern, recreated,
Globe theater exists
near the spot of the
original.
Shakespeare’s life
• He was born in the Spring of 1564 in Stratford
upon Avon.
– That year the plague hit England
• Queen Elizabeth was the ruler of England
• His dad was high bailiff (mayor) and so he got
to go to school, where he learned Latin and
Greek.
• He was impressed by the classics like Ovid.
Shakespeare’s life continued
• His first taste of theater were the traveling
players who came to his town.
• When he was 18 he married the older Anne
Hathaway. They had 3 kids.
• He worked as an actor/writer in 1592.
• His first two plays were Two Gentlemen of
Verona and Henry VI.
• The Earl of Southampton was his patron- and
maybe the man he loved.
Shakespeare’s life continued
• Shakespeare wrote beautiful sonnets (poems)
to the Earl of Southampton
• In the 1590’s the plague killed 1,000 a week,
and so the theater was closed.
• The plague got Hamnet (Shakespeare’s only
son) in 1596 at age 11. Shakespeare was
devastated by the loss of his only son.
Shakespeare’s life continued
• When the lease on Shakespeare’s theater ran
out they moved it across the river and called it
the Globe Theater.
• In 1603 James I became king, and
Shakespeare’s troop became The King’s Men.
• Late in his life Shakespeare wrote deep (sad)
plays. His last one was The Tempest.
• In 1613 a cannon burned down the Globe
during a performance of Henry VIII.
Shakespeare’s life- Death
• On April 23, 1616 Shakespeare died in Stratfordupon-Avon.
– According to popular belief he was killed by fever that
he got from eating too many pickled herrings and
drinking too much wine.
– It was his 52nd birthday.
• He left his fortune to his daughter Suzanna and
her husband. He left his 2nd best bed to his wifethey weren’t close.
• Ben Johnson worked with actors to combine all of
Shakespeare's plays into one book.
Pictures!
A recreation of Shakespeare’s house.
A portrait of Shakespeare.
Queen Elizabeth I
Earl of Southampton
King James I
Roman Republic Government
• Patrician- Members of noble families or wealthy
middle class citizens who held power in ancient Rome.
• Plebian- A working class person who has little power
but is represented.
• Consuls- The 2 highest officials, elected yearly.
• Senate- Governing body of 600 members, selected by
the consuls.
• Tribunes- 10 plebians who represent the lower classes
and check the other governing bodies.
• Republic- The Roman form of government where
people are represented by people who make important
decisions.
The Roman holdings at Caesar’s
death are in Orange.
Julius Caesar takes power
• Julius Caesar lived from 100 to 44 B.C.
• He won victories in Spain and was elected as a
consul
• He formed a Triumvirate (3 people who rule a
nation) with Pompey and Crassus
• Soon Pompey started fearing Caesar's power and
fame and tried to defeat him at The battle of
Pharsalus in 48 BC, but Caesar won.
• By 45 B.C. Caesar was in charge, and by 44 B.C.
he was named Dictator.
Why would you kill Caesar?
• Caesar wanted to marry the Egyptian queen,
Cleopatra. The people of Rome hated the idea of
bowing before a foreign queen.
• Brutus was the descendant of the man who killed
the last king of Rome and started the Republic, he
considered himself the protector of the Republic.
• Brutus had been Caesar’s friend but decided
(with persuasion) he needed to kill him for the
Republic.
Assassination
• In 44 BC Caesar was killed by his friend Brutus.
• The assassins claimed they wanted to
preserve the Republic, but it was in the chaos
after the assassination that the Roman empire
was born.
Important people
• Mark Antony- (83-30 BC) A friend of Caesar and great
General.
• Octavius- Caesar's heir, formed triumvirate with Antony
and Lippidus after the assassination.
– After a Quarrel Antony sides with Cleopatra, and the two
are defeated, leaving Octavius as Dictator.
• Brutus- (85-42 BC) A descendent of the man who killed
the last king and thought of as a protector of the
Republic.
• Cassius- Roman general who recruited Brutus to
oppose Caesar. He committed suicide with Brutus after
their army was defeated by Mark Antony.
Background to Julius Caesar
• English history often upset the monarchs as it
seemed a political statement. Because of this
Shakespeare turned to Ancient history.
• The play was based on Plutarch’s Lives of the
Noble Greeks and Romans
Act 1- Scene 1
• Murellus gets mad at a cobbler who says he is not
working because he will watch Caesar’s victory
parade.
• Murellus tries to downplay Caesar’s victory to the
cobbler, and then has Flavius go to remove any
crowns from the statues of Caesar. They both
agree to try to keep people from celebrating
Caesar’s victory.
• Introduces the theme of Fickleness as the masses
change devotion from Pompey to Caesar.
Act 1- Scene 2
• Caesar and several others enter, a soothsayer calls out for
Caesar to “Beware the Ides of March”
• Brutus and Cassius worry that Caesar is being made king, and
talk about his weaknesses. They both agree they don’t like the
way the country is going.
• Caesar admits he distrusts Cassius for thinking too much.
• Casca tells how Caesar refused the crown three times and
then had a seizure, and how Flavius and Murellus lost their
positions for taking decorations off Caesar’s statue.
• Cassius, speaking to himself, declares he will try to bend
Brutus’ noble nature by forging mail from citizens and
throwing it in his house.
Act 1- Scene 3
• Casca and Cicero talk of the awful storm, and describe
several strange events (such as an owl in the day) they
think are foreshadowing to future events.
• Cassius says he thinks the gods are using these signs to
say the government is bad.
• Casca reports that the senate plans to make Caesar
king the next day. Then Cassius and Casca talk about
how something must be done, and Cassius says he has
already swayed lots of people.
• A conspirator named Cinna enters, telling of his nearcomplete swaying of Brutus. He says Brutus will make
their cause worthy.
Our characters are unable
to correctly interpret the
signs they see.
Act 2- Scene 1
• Brutus struggles with the idea of killing Caesar
but is sure Caesar will become a corrupt king
• The fake letter convinces Brutus the people
want Caesar gone, and the conspirators arrive
at his house. Soon Brutus and the others make
a plan to boldly kill Caesar, but not Antony.
• Ligarius asks if Brutus’ scheme is honorable.
When Brutus says it is Ligarius rejoices and
joins the scheme.
Act 2- Scene 2
• Caesar’s wife (Calpurnia) has nightmares about his murder
and they keep her awake.
• Calpurnia warns Caesar to not leave the house after all the
signs, and even the augurers (animal entrails) say to stay
home, so Caesar agrees to stay.
• Decius comes to bring Caesar to the senate. When Caesar
says he’ll stay due to Calpurnia’s dream of his bloody
statue, Decius says the dream really means that Rome will
gain lifeblood from Caesar (not that he’ll die). He also says
he may not get the crown if he stays home today, and that
the population will think he’s a wimp if he does. Caesar
decides to go.
• Herro!
Act 2- Scene 3 + 4
• Artemidorus has a letter he wants to give Caesar
warning of the conspiracy against him, he waits
along Caesar’s path to give the letter to him. He
thinks he can save Caesar with the letter.
• Portia sends a servant to watch Caesar at the
Senate and see how he’s doing.
• The soothsayer says he’ll go and wait along the
road to warn Caesar, if the others will let him.
Despite all the signs Caesar is warned with, he
still goes to the Senate.
Act 3- Scene 1 (part 1)
• Artemidorus tries to give his letter to Caesar, who
simply dismisses him as crazy.
• All the conspirators come forward, pleading for Caesar
to let the banished brother of Metellus (Publius
Cimbar) return to Rome.
• Using this as cover, they all get close to Caesar. Casca,
then the other conspirators, and finally Brutus stab
Caesar. Caesar is surprised to see Brutus stab him- his
last words are “Et tu, Brute?-Then fall Caesar” (Et tu,
Brute? = And you, Brutus?
• Many senators quickly leave, including Antony. The
conspirators announce the triumph of liberty.
Act 3- Scene 1 (part 2)
• The conspirators bathe their hands in Caesar’s blood and walk
to the forum to proclaim peace, freedom, and liberty.
• Antony says he’ll side with Brutus. He assures them multiple
times he is loyal, and is allowed to give a funeral oration for
Caesar.
• Antony predicts that turmoil will result from Caesar’s death.
• Octavius (Caesar’s adopted heir) sends his slave into Rome.
The slave sees dead Caesar and, after talking to Antony,
decides to see how the funeral goes and then decide if it is
safe for Octavius in Rome.
• The blood on Antony’s hands (from shaking hands with the
others) is a symbol that he is a self-appointed weapon of
vengeance.
Act 3- Scene 2+3
• Brutus announces to the public that he killed Caesar to preserve the
Republic; Caesar was just too ambitious.
• Antony says that Caesar was not ambitious and loved the poor. He
says they should mourn for him- but says the conspirators are good
men. The crowd remembers how Caesar refused the crown, and
think that more ambitious people have taken his place. They call
the conspirators traitors and demand Antony read Caesar’s will.
• Antony shows the body, and again says the conspirators are good
men, but states facts against them. He reads Caesar’s will, which
left money to everyone in Rome and opened his gardens to the
public. Soon the crowd erupts in mutiny.
• Octavius arrives at Caesar’s home, and the conspirators are driven
from the city.
• Cinna- a poet, and not the conspirator- is mistaken by the mob as
Cinna the conspirator and is killed. This shows the anarchy in Rome.
There is now
Anarchy in Rome.
Act 4- Scene 1
• Antony meets Octavius and Lepidus at his
house. They decide on who to kill. They talk
about ways to redirect Caesar’s funds to them.
• After Lepidus leaves, Antony and Octavius
discuss if he is worthy enough to rule with
them. Octavius thinks so, but Antony doesn’t.
• Finally they discuss that they must confront
Brutus’ and Cassius’ army.
Act 4- Scene 2
• Brutus and Cassius get in a fight, but make up.
Brutus says that he is unstable because Portia
committed suicide.
• They hear that the triumvirate (Antony, Octavius,
and Lepidus) put 100 senators to death, and
decide to march to Philippi to attack.
• While Brutus is reading that night and everyone is
asleep the ghost of Caesar comes to him. He says
he is “thy evil spirit”(IV.ii.333), and that they’ll
meet again at Philippi. No one else saw it.
Act 5-Scene 1
• Octavius and Antony are ready for battle, but
disagree on who will attack from which side.
• Octavius meets with the enemy leaders
(Brutus, Cassius, etc.) before the battle and
declares that he will kill them all.
• Cassius tells Messala about bad omens. He
then talks to Brutus who says that he will die
before being taken prisoner if they lose.
Act 5- Scenes 2
• The sides surge against each other the first
time.
• Brutus has Messala tell Cassius that he senses
a weakness in Octavius’s army and will push
forward to exploit it.
Act 5- Scene 3
• Cassius watches from a hill as his army loses, and Antony
burns his tents. He sends Titinius to check if some
approaching men are allies. He thinks Titinius has been
captured and has Pindarus kill him with the same sword he
used to kill Caesar- as he remarks with his last breaths.
• It turns out that Titinus met up with Brutus’s men and kills
himself when he sees Cassius’s mistake.
• Brutus enters with Messala, and remarks that Julius is still
powerful in death. He thinks that Caesar is reaping havoc
even in death.
• Although Antony’s forces defeated those of Cassius,
Brutus’s legions rallied to defeat those of Octavius.
Act 5- Scene 4+5
• Lucillus pretends to be Brutus, and is captured. Antony
recognizes him and has his soldiers search for the real
Brutus, and tells his soldiers to treat their prisoners kindly.
• Brutus runs himself through (honorably) on a sword. He
says Caesar's Ghost came to him and that it’s a good time
to die. He says that Caesar is avenged.
• Antony and crew find Brutus’s body, and take his soldiers
into their ranks. Antony says that Brutus was a very noble
man, the only conspirator who killed for the greater good
and not envy. He says he will give him a honorable burial.
• The men leave to celebrate their victory.
Brutus is the true hero of the play.
1. He is the only person who truly does what he thinks is right- although he
chooses the wrong thing by killing Caesar.
2. He is the only one who correctly interprets the signs and accepts his fate- to die.
Important quotes
• "Beware the ides of March." (Act I, Scene II, line 23)
– Warns Caesar not to go out, but he does.
• "But, for my own part, it was Greek to me." (Act I,
Scene II, line 285-286)
– Literally Casca says he doesn’t speak Greek so he can’t
understand. More deeply is shows how brutish and
unrefined Casca is.
• "Et tu, Brute? Then fall Caesar" (Act III, Scene I, line 87)
– Caesar gives up when he sees his best friend is killing him.
“Et tu, Brute?” Means “You too, Brutus?” In Latin.
Important Quotes (2)
• "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your
ears; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him."
(Act III, Scene II, line 77-78)
– Acknowledges the crowd as peers, proclaims he has
no motives but to bury Caesar. It is the lead up to his
speech which sets the people against the conspirators.
• "This was the noblest Roman of them all." (Act V,
Scene V, line 68)
– Brutus’s eulogy. Antony says that Brutus was the only
conspirator to act for the good, not out of envy. He
says he was noble to the death, even killing himself
rather than surrendering.