xYear 11 English Advanced | Module B |

Julius Caesar
ACT II SCENE 1 – EXTRACT 5
CASSIUS
But it is doubtful yet,
Whether Caesar will come forth to-day, or no;
For he is superstitious grown of late,
Quite from the main opinion he held once
Of fantasy, of dreams and ceremonies:
It may be, these apparent prodigies,
The unaccustom'd terror of this night,
And the persuasion of his augurers,
May hold him from the Capitol to-day.
DECIUS BRUTUS
Never fear that: if he be so resolved,
I can o'ersway him; for he loves to hear
That unicorns may be betray'd with trees,
And bears with glasses, elephants with holes,
Lions with toils and men with flatterers;
But when I tell him he hates flatterers,
He says he does, being then most flattered.
Let me work;
For I can give his humour the true bent,
And I will bring him to the Capitol.

ACT II SCENE 1 – EXTRACT 6

PORTIA
Is Brutus sick? and is it physical
To walk unbraced and suck up the humours
Of the dank morning? What, is Brutus sick,
And will he steal out of his wholesome bed,
To dare the vile contagion of the night
And tempt the rheumy and unpurged air
To add unto his sickness? No, my Brutus;
You have some sick offence within your mind,
Which, by the right and virtue of my place,
I ought to know of: and, upon my knees,
I charm you, by my once-commended beauty,
By all your vows of love and that great vow
Which did incorporate and make us one,
That you unfold to me, yourself, your half,
Why you are heavy, and what men to-night
Have had to resort to you: for here have been
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 Some six or seven, who did hide their faces
Even from darkness.
BRUTUS
Kneel not, gentle Portia.
PORTIA
I should not need, if you were gentle Brutus.
Within the bond of marriage, tell me, Brutus,
Is it excepted I should know no secrets
That appertain to you? Am I yourself
But, as it were, in sort or limitation,
To keep with you at meals, comfort your bed,
And talk to you sometimes? Dwell I but in the suburbs
Of your good pleasure? If it be no more,
Portia is Brutus' harlot, not his wife.
BRUTUS
You are my true and honourable wife,
As dear to me as are the ruddy drops
That visit my sad heart
PORTIA
If this were true, then should I know this secret.
I grant I am a woman; but withal
A woman that Lord Brutus took to wife:
I grant I am a woman; but withal
A woman well-reputed, Cato's daughter.
Think you I am no stronger than my sex,
Being so father'd and so husbanded?
Tell me your counsels, I will not disclose 'em:
I have made strong proof of my constancy,
Giving myself a voluntary wound
Here, in the thigh: can I bear that with patience.
And not my husband's secrets?
BRUTUS
O ye gods,
Render me worthy of this noble wife!

ACT II SCENE 2 – EXTRACT 1

CALPURNIA
What mean you, Caesar? think you to walk forth?
You shall not stir out of your house to-day.
CAESAR
Caesar shall forth: the things that threaten'd me
Ne'er look'd but on my back; when they shall see
The face of Caesar, they are vanished.
CALPURNIA

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 Caesar, I never stood on ceremonies,
Yet now they fright me. There is one within,
Besides the things that we have heard and seen,
Recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch.
A lioness hath whelped in the streets;
And graves have yawn'd, and yielded up their dead;
Fierce fiery warriors fought upon the clouds,
In ranks and squadrons and right form of war,
Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol;
The noise of battle hurtled in the air,
Horses did neigh, and dying men did groan,
And ghosts did shriek and squeal about the streets.
O Caesar! these things are beyond all use,
And I do fear them.
CAESAR
What can be avoided
Whose end is purposed by the mighty gods?
Yet Caesar shall go forth; for these predictions
Are to the world in general as to Caesar.
CALPURNIA
When beggars die, there are no comets seen;
The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.
CAESAR
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard.
It seems to me most strange that men should fear;
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.

Re-enter Servant

What say the augurers?

Servant
They would not have you to stir forth to-day.
Plucking the entrails of an offering forth,
They could not find a heart within the beast.
CAESAR
The gods do this in shame of cowardice:
Caesar should be a beast without a heart,
If he should stay at home to-day for fear.
No, Caesar shall not: danger knows full well
That Caesar is more dangerous than he:
We are two lions litter'd in one day,
And I the elder and more terrible:
And Caesar shall go forth.
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 ACT II SCENE 2 – EXTRACT 2
CALPURNIA
Say he is sick.
CAESAR
Shall Caesar send a lie?
Have I in conquest stretch'd mine arm so far,
To be afraid to tell graybeards the truth?
Decius, go tell them Caesar will not come.
DECIUS BRUTUS
Most mighty Caesar, let me know some cause,
Lest I be laugh'd at when I tell them so.
CAESAR
The cause is in my will: I will not come;
That is enough to satisfy the senate.
But for your private satisfaction,
Because I love you, I will let you know:
Calpurnia here, my wife, stays me at home:
She dreamt to-night she saw my statua,
Which, like a fountain with an hundred spouts,
Did run pure blood: and many lusty Romans
Came smiling, and did bathe their hands in it:
And these does she apply for warnings, and portents,
And evils imminent; and on her knee
Hath begg'd that I will stay at home to-day.
DECIUS BRUTUS
This dream is all amiss interpreted;
It was a vision fair and fortunate:
Your statue spouting blood in many pipes,
In which so many smiling Romans bathed,
Signifies that from you great Rome shall suck
Reviving blood, and that great men shall press
For tinctures, stains, relics and cognizance.
This by Calpurnia's dream is signified.
CAESAR
And this way have you well expounded it.
DECIUS BRUTUS
I have, when you have heard what I can say:
And know it now: the senate have concluded
To give this day a crown to mighty Caesar.
If you shall send them word you will not come,
Their minds may change. Besides, it were a mock
Apt to be render'd, for some one to say
'Break up the senate till another time,
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 When Caesar's wife shall meet with better dreams.'
If Caesar hide himself, shall they not whisper
'Lo, Caesar is afraid'?
Pardon me, Caesar; for my dear dear love
To our proceeding bids me tell you this;
And reason to my love is liable.
CAESAR
How foolish do your fears seem now, Calpurnia!
I am ashamed I did yield to them.
Give me my robe, for I will go.

ACT II SCENE 3 – EXTRACT 1

SCENE III. A street near the Capitol.

Enter ARTEMIDORUS, reading a paper

ARTEMIDORUS
'Caesar, beware of Brutus; take heed of Cassius;
come not near Casca; have an eye to Cinna, trust not
Trebonius: mark well Metellus Cimber: Decius Brutus
loves thee not: thou hast wronged Caius Ligarius.
There is but one mind in all these men, and it is
bent against Caesar. If thou beest not immortal,
look about you: security gives way to conspiracy.
The mighty gods defend thee! Thy lover,
'ARTEMIDORUS.'
Here will I stand till Caesar pass along,
And as a suitor will I give him this.
My heart laments that virtue cannot live
Out of the teeth of emulation.
If thou read this, O Caesar, thou mayst live;
If not, the Fates with traitors do contrive.

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Modern Critical Reshaping of Shakespeare Shifting Perspectives on Julius Caesar and Antony and
Cleopatra Among 20th Century Critics by Kjetil Skjønberg Hansen

As the influence of the play in the collective social consciousness of Julius Caesar as a man and a
myth is profound, not to mention the impact of the ongoing discussion during the last two millennia
of whether he was a tyrant or not, let us therefore delve into the discussion of tyranny as it existed
in the Renaissance. In the English Renaissance, there was a vivid and present debate of tyranny, a
debate in which Shakespeare took part. As stated by Miola:

The question of tyrannicide (with all of its attendant inquiries) preoccupied the England of
Shakespeare’s time as it did the rest of Europe. The homilies against rebellion, the doctrine of
passive obedience, the rhetoric of the divine right theory, the ubiquitous condemnation of
civil strife-all evidence presumptively the vitality and importance of the tyrannicide question
in England.20

Julius Caesar, with its central thematic discussion of the validity of Caesar’s rule, raises the following
questions to the audience: is he a tyrant or a benevolent dictator? Is he the usurper of the Republic,
or is he the one who is being usurped? Is his murder justified, or is it a thoroughly vile act? According
to Miola, Caesar displays traits that are clearly tyrannical:

Shakespeare's Caesar has some of the salient characteristics of the tyrant in practice. He
fears plots and conspiracies, twice observing early in the play that such men as Cassius are
"dangerous" ([Link]. 195, 21o). Despite stirring denunciations of fear, Caesar orders a sacrifice in
response to the unnatural portents of the storm. Calphurnia persuades him of the threat to
himself and he fashions an excuse for staying home, "Mark Antony shall say I am not well"
([Link]. 55). He shows superbia, arrogant pride, another distinguishing characteristic of the
tyrant. Shakespeare's Caesar considers himself a special creation, far superior to ordinary
mortals.28

Shakespeare’s Caesar, in possessing a fear of opposition and rebellion, is clearly developing in an

authoritarian direction towards such display of tyranny, a direction that opposes the view of Caesar
as a man who shows his enemies forgiveness and leniency. This is a view that is at least partly
justified by the play – Caesar is a tyrant in the making. While many aspects of Caesar are ambiguous,
one issue seems very clear: Caesar’s extensive arrogance and delusions of godhood are what lead
him on a path to self-destruction.

Covering a wider spectrum of historical opinion than the universally condemned emperors, Caesar as
he appears in the play is an enigmatic character that cannot be fully associated with the Renaissance
ideal of either the benevolent autocrat or a tyrant. While the label of tyranny is justified based on
some of the evidence inherent in the text, one must not fail to note that Caesar possesses many
traits of the benevolent autocrat as well. His inclusion of the Roman people in his will shows a
genuine consideration for their cares and interests. In addition, his loyalty to them is certainly more
stable and reliable than vice versa. However, Miola’s has a point with his views, namely that Caesar’s
extensively pompous arrogance, is his tragic flaw and a catalyst for his own fall.
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Sample Paragraph:
This paragraph is a 3.5/5. It has great ideas but also contains areas that lack specificty and clarity.
Does it meet all the requirments of a Mod B response? Let’s deconstruct this together.

Question: Analyse and evaluate how Shakespeare’s characterisation of Brutus offers insight into
the complexity of human motivations and behaviours.

The prospect of power enhances humanity’s inherent self-interest, where one’s self-serving
ambition causes them to become ignorant of reality and develop a rigid idealism, ultimately resulting
in their tragic demise. Brutus’ soliloquy in Act 2 Scene 1 of Shakespeare’s tragedy Julius Caesar
(1599), offers insight into the internal conflicts that plagued the politically naïve Brutus and how his
partial commitment to the Stoicism philosophical paradigm, results in his fallacious resolution that
his friendship with Caesar cannot coexist with his duty to Rome. Shakespeare constructs an
antithesis between the “personal cause” and “general cause” of Brutus’s motivations for the murder
which characterises him as a man with ambition and hubris, as he deludes himself into justifying the
moral righteousness of the deed. In doing so, readers understand the extent of his cognitive
intelligence yet political naiveness as there is only artificial distinction between a personal and
general cause in political life. Brutus’ anxieties and ambivalence towards his actions are evident
through the fragmented syntax and caesural breaks throughout the soliloquy with the use of
hypophora in “. Crown him?--that;--” further reflecting his contemplative state. This heightens the
complexity of human motivation and behaviours, as the shifts between an assertive and tentative
tone reveals to the audience Brutus’ slow but definite construction of the delusion that he is starting
to believe as reality. Furthermore, Brutus unconsciously imbues philosophical wisdom within his
soliloquy metaphorically suggesting that “lowliness is young ambition's ladder” representing how
morally astute Brutus is which is so instructive to readers that it distracts us from his flawed
thoughts. However, Brutus’ fixed views about right and wrong and applications of his moral precepts
to his construction of the hypothetical tyrant, Caesar, is unfounded and make him a flawed stoic as
there is only evidence of Caesar being a benevolent dictator. Brutus’ fear which is inconsistent with
the stoic paradigm he subscribes to demonstrates the complexity of the human experience, allowing
readers to learn from the internal conflict that Brutus undergoes so that we do not delude ourselves
into constructing a false representation of the people around us. Therefore, the complexity of
human motivations arises from commitment to principle where inflexibility and lack of foresight will
ultimately cultivate one’s demise in a political world.

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Class Writing Task:
Analyse how Shakespeare represents the incongruence (disharmony) between human motivations
and behaviours in Julius Caesar.

E.g. Brutus
- Motivation: protect Rome from the threat of tyranny, uphold his noble and honourable duty
- Behaviours: compormise his morality

E.g. Cassius
- Motivation: political ambition
- Behaviours: employs Machiavellian tactics but also fails to recognise that Brutus who is naïve and
idealistic taking leadership is flawed

Topic sentence
- A conceptual sentence with a cause + effect argument that engages with the question

Textual grounding
- Introduce the name of the text, author, genre/form and year of publication
- Outline how the idea in the topic sentence is shown in the text through a character, scene,
setting or event.
- Outline a specific and relevant contextual influence

4 x analytical statements
- Where quote + technique + explanation is integrated into one sentence
- Do not simply translate what the quote means
- Analyse the effect of the macro and micro technique and the significance of the meaning
- Think about the deeper ideas and complexities that are explored + audience positioning

Reader reflection
- Explain what didactic lesson contemporary audiences have learnt from the text
- What is the significance of the text and how does it retain enduring relevance?

Link statement
- Summarise your argument and answer the question

Homework:
Redraft the response from last week's class writing using the feedback. As a reminder, the question
was: The timelessness of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar is due entirely to characterisation. Evaluate the
truth of this statement with reference to Brutus and/or Cassius.

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