24 April: Julius Caesar Day 1

Late papers, folders, PowerPoint handouts, and note cards were turned in.

Students identified qualities of
- a good leader
- a bad leader
- a good friend
- a bad friend

Pre-Reading Vocabulary definitions:

1. bard – a poet. Shakespeare is known as “The Bard.”


2. ambition – n. a strong desire


3. Caesar – title of a Roman emperor (Czar)


4. pulpit – n. platform for giving sermons


5. taper – n. candle


6. ides – n. the fifteenth day of March, May, July, or October, and the thirteenth day of the other months


7. triumvirate – n. group of 3 rulers


8. fickle – adj. easily changeable; unstable

Act I Notes (students filled in blanks on a handout)

• Anachronism – historically, something is out of chronological order (ex: in the play, a clock strikes. The play is set more than 2000 years ago when clocks didn’t exist)


• Lupercalia - A fertility festival in ancient Rome, celebrated on February 15 in honor of the pastoral god Lupercus.
  - Julius Caesar begins on this day.
  - But the next day is the Ides of March. This is why we don’t read the play as a history. Shakespeare squeezes months into days.


• Themes in Julius Caesar (copied into notes)
  -Friendship
  -Leadership
  -Betrayal
  -Ambition
  -Superstition & fate

Students received handouts for Act I. These included detailed study questions for all scened and separate handouts for each scene.

• Act I, Scene i handout: read the definition of "pun" and identify which of the 7 sentences at the bottom are puns.
• Basic background for scene i:
  **The play opens as Julius Caesar is returning to Rome after defeating Pompey.
  **He used to be friends with Pompey. They used to rule together with Crassus, the first triumvirate. ***First triumvirate = Caesar, Pompey, Crassus
  **Marullus and Flavius are tribunes (police officers). They are angry with the people for cheering for Caesar.

Students read Act I, scenes 1 and 2 aloud in class. We will finish Act I and begin Act II next class.

HOMEWORK:

• Define Acts I and II vocabulary (students had time in class to use the book or a dictionary). Direct links to definitions on dictionary.com can be found here
• Worksheets pages 2 & 3 (These are individual worksheets for Act I: scene i and ii (scene 1 and 2)
• Links to copies of the play online can be found on the left-hand side of this blog.