So to start off today’s English class, we first answered some of yesterday’s questions that we didn’t have time to discuss. These questions are based on Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar Act I, scene iii.
The first question is “In what ways do the elements of nature reflect the conspirators' work?” These elements of nature were explained by Casca, and they include a hundred women who swore they saw men on fire walking up and down the streets, a lion who saw Casca but didn’t attack him, and an owl that shrieked at noon in the marketplace. Our class had discussed that these are looked upon as bad omens, and signal disorder in the world. In my opinion, the conspirators would use these omens against Caesar, since they happened when he’s in charge, and since these Senators have always hated Caesar for the power and status he held.
The next question is “How does Cassius win Casca to his side; of opposing Caesar?” To persuade Casca to join in on his plan, he directed all the bad omens to Caesar. Here are his original quotes “Now could I, Casca, name to thee a man most like this dreadful night, that thunders, lightens, opens graves, and roars as doth the lion in the Capitol, a man no mightier than thyself or me In personal action, yet prodigious grown and fearful, as these strange eruptions are.” Upon hearing his words, Casca realized who he was referring to, and agreed to stop Caesar from being established as king.
The question after that one was, “To what is Caesar compared in the scene and what is the significance of the comparisons?” In this scene, Caesar is compared to ferocious beasts such as lions and wolves, but that’s only because he’s surrounded by sheeps. Basically, the only reason that made him look big and strong is that he’s in the center of a bunch of weak, submissive people who behave much like a defenseless sheep. Think, if you were to be surrounded by short dwarfs, you’d automatically stand out as being extremely tall.
The last questions were “How would you paraphrase Casca’s last comments about Brutus? Why is Brutus considered so important to the conspirator?”Casca's last comments of Brutus were as follows... “O, he sits high in all the people's hearts: And that which would appear offence in us, his countenance, like richest alchemy, will change to virtue and to worthiness. I’d paraphrase this as “he has a good reputation in everyone’s mind, and so getting him on our side would make our rebellion less risky.” As the class discussion goes, this interpretation has been quite accurate. Indeed, when someone as trustworthy and honorable as Brutus rebels against Caesar, people would likely think there’s something wrong with this dictator. His good reputation was what made him valuable in Cassius’ eyes, and what made him willing to go to great lengths to gain Brutus’ support. Evidence of the “great lengths” include sending three different mails of flattery that all aim for his pride and ego. He was foolish to listen to these things and sacrifice his honor and life for treason, though.
After an interesting debate, Ms. Peterson suggested that we put a certain theme into our notes. At once, the room fell silent and only typing noises could be heard.
The theme (in original quotes) is:
In Shakespeare, bad omens (themes of nature) will be used to help show a disorder in the world; nature is rebelling; the people think the omens are reflected upon Caesar’s actions.
After the discussion of yesterday’s questions, we proceeded into today’s lessons.
But, before we do that, Ms. Peterson went around the room showing two people her computer screen with their profile pic. Why? Because
12/3/21 They turned 14 today! Hooray!
Today’s Aim: How does Brutus’ decision to join the conspiracy against Caesar elucidate his inner conflict?
Do Now: On average, how much do people value the importance of loyalty from their friends? Why?
My answer: People do value the importance of loyalty a lot; once you build trust with someone, you automatically hold expectations for them - you expect a certain image of them, and you’d be surprised when you realize your perception of the person isn’t accurate
Classmate answers:
- Loyalty of friends are valued a lot because friends are supposedly trustworthy, reliable, and supportive people (if they aren’t, then they’re probably 2-faced)
- When you think of a friend, you trust them a lot because you share common interests and have similar thought processes
- The best response, in my opinion, came from Ms. Peterson, who said “a confidant is someone who you feel comfortable to confide in because we trust they’ll keep what we tell them confidentially” Confidant, confide, confidentially. Can you name the literary device used here? Would it be repetition? Alliteration?
After hearing the discussions, I added onto my original answer, and brainstormed a new idea: Betrayal hits hard when someone you trust suddenly proved that you weren’t smart enough to detect bad intentions and trusted the wrong person (which is why you shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket).
Reflection part 1: Class discussions are really helpful because they provide different opinions and perspectives from others. When you listen to ideas and concepts on deeper levels or just from a different standing point, you can take this diversity of interpretation and think deeper for yourself. This also decreases the chance of bias and a narrow view of certain topics.
Next, we went over a list of how to interpret a character’s internal and external behavior by looking at their words, actions, and reputations. A character could reveal their personality and intentions through their words, and often soliloquies. Soliloquies are parts of the story when the character is thinking / talking to themselves, and other characters can’t hear this conversation. It can be cut off and disturbed, just as a normal thinking process can.
To understand a passage / text, we need to know what the context is about. To do that, we’d need to combine all the words together, and that requires finding out the meaning of unknown words. A key vocabulary that appears in this scene is phantasma (a noun). It means a nightmare.
Finally, we listened to the Act II, scene i audio whilst looking at a script.
Julius Caesar-Act II, scene i Audio [4:34]
In my opinion, this is a very rational decision, as we can practice maximum concentration when we’re only hearing lines and not watching a video with the characters live on display.
After the audio session, we examined questions about this scene with our teams.
Reread Brutus’s soliloquy near the beginning of the scene. How would you summarize his thoughts? What images recur? Does the scene cause you to admire him?
He’s thinking about what Cassius told him. I’d summarize his thoughts as he thinks Caesar would start thinking himself superior to others (his subjects) and disregard or even kill off his peers. The first one corresponds to the ladder metaphor, when Brutus describes Caesar as one who climbs a ladder, looks upon the clouds, and scorns the level where he came from (loses his humbleness and starts generating disgust towards those lower in status than him). On the other hand, the second metaphor corresponds to the serpent’s egg reference. When a baby serpent hatches, it would kill off its brothers and sisters (the eggs that didn’t hatch yet). Brutus thinks Caesar would act a similar way: destroy his peers once he becomes free of restraint.
Brutus thinks that when Caesar’s crowned, he would abuse his power and become a problem for the Roman empire. He quotes,” I know no personal cause to spurn at him, But for the general.” A heroic image occurs, but I don’t admire him because he didn’t “seek to understand then to be understood” (one of the habits in “The 7 Habits of Happy Kids” by Sean Covey). He didn’t check on Caesar and see what he’s really been up to, but decides upon his death after receiving flattery. This shows that his jealousy of Caesar’s power had been in his system, and was ignited (as though on fire) when he got the opportunity to fulfill his wish.
2. Where is Brutus when the scene begins? What does this coupled with the first five lines reveal about his mental state?
Brutus is in his own home when the scene begins. This coupled with the first five lines show that he’s unable to sleep, and thus didn’t even know what time of the day it is. This shows he’s been internally conflicted and stressed.
What is revealed in line 10?
In line 10, Brutus reveals his decision to join Cassius’ side and kill Caesar.
3. How do the following lines describe Brutus's state of mind at the beginning of Act II?
Between the acting of a dreadful thing
And the first motion, all the interim is
Like a phantasma or a hideous dream.
These following lines describe Brutus’ state of mind as
He’s saying that there’s gonna be chaos caused by the assassination. The chaos would be like a nightmare, it’s just the nature of a rebellion.
In today’s lesson, we learned more about the characterization of characters and how to find more about their identity (ex. personality). This info would be useful because we can use our analyzing skills to interpret the ones around us, so we don’t get “stabbed in the back” by someone like Brutus, who seemed loyal but instead hides their jealousy. I will use this info to better understand the ones around me, so I can determine which ones would be trustworthy and also to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of others to use as reference for myself.
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