Blogger #9 Timothy Deng Period 2 11/29/21

 Blogger #9 Timothy Deng Period 2 11/29/21

Aim: How do the characters’ reactions to Caesar’s return (in Act I, scene ii) reveal the nature of politics and power in Rome?

Do Now: Describe a time when you’ve gone to great lengths to convince someone to follow you (your actions and/or beliefs).

Were you Successful? Why/Why Not?

Today’s lesson started with this question to get us thinking and focused for the class. The start of the discussion started with Sasha saying that she would always try to convince her sister to watch anime with her. Her sister would always say she would be too busy but Sasha knew that during Thanksgiving she wouldn’t be busy and convinced her after 2 hours. After she shared, Aaron added on saying that when he went to Boston he was trying to convince his family to go to ChinaTown via his way. His family didn’t listen and ended up being lost for 15 minutes because they didn’t listen to him. Lastly, Mrs. Peterson shared that his grandson wouldn’t stop convincing her foster daughter, (her grandson’s mother,) to buy him a playstation. Personally, I think my answer is most similar to Mrs. Peterson’s grandson. During the holidays, for example, Christmas, I always try to convince my dad to buy me things, such as video games. I know he will be more lenient and probably let me and I always try to convince him and convince him and eventually he lets me.

Julius Caesar, Act I, scene ii [3 pgs]

Next, we read and listened to an audio recording of the passage above (click on the hyperlink). 

Here is a brief summary I made of the story to hopefully make you better understand the story.

Summary: Julius Caesar, Act I, Scene II, covers the characters Caesar, Brutus and Cassius. At first it is shown that Julius Caesar has a lot of power and royalty, he is the king, and Brutus respects him. The soothsayer is telling Caesar to beware the ides of march, basically saying watch out for death. Brutus expresses that he is worried for the king. After this, it is developed that Cassius doesn’t like Caesar because he will never glorify a man that is just like him. He explains to Brutus that Caesar had to use Cassius. Caesar and Cassius went for a swim and Caesar used Cassius to save him and Cassius gets nothing for it. Cassius is mad because Caesar needs help from someone like him but still, Caesar gets all the glory in the future and Cassius gets none, despite saving him. Furthermore, Cassius keeps trying to convince Brutus that Caesar is a bad person and tries to make him hate Caesar.

After reading and listening to the story, we answered some comprehension questions to help us better understand the important parts of the passage.

1.) Caesar wants Antony to touch Calpurnia to break the sterile curse to make them more fertile and have children. 

1A.) Antony’s response is acceptance and whatever Caesar does he will do.

2.) The soothsayer tells Caesar, beware of the ides of march. Caesar reacts to the soothsayer saying that he is a dreamer, basically saying he is crazy. 

3.) My first impression of Caesar is that he is egotistical and powerful. 

3A.) He is treated with an abundance of loyalty and respect from the other characters at the opening of the scene. 

3B.) He regards himself highly and acknowledges that he is important and very powerful.

4.) Brutus has been feeling badly about himself and almost sick. He knows that he isn’t showing any compassion to his friends because of how stressed he is internally.

5.) Cassius is trying to use Brutus’ loyalty and respect for Caesar to convince him to be better.

5A.) The response that Brutus gives is basically him asking how he should find something in himself that is not already there.

6.) He loves honor more than his own life.

7.) I think Cassius tells Brutus the story about Caesar almost drowning to try and make Brutus lose some respect for him and realize that any man could become as powerful as Caesar.

7A.) His intent is to hopefully make Brutus not like Caesar because of how Caesar only has fame, glory, and power from using other people like how Caesar used Cassius.

Reflection: In today’s class we read and learned about the story Julius Caesar Act I Scene II. We learned this to better our understanding of the conflicting viewpoints politically about Julius Caesar. It also helps us practice reading and comprehending general passages that are not in modern English, rather, old English. It was very challenging but also interesting once you get it and after reading this passage I think I got better at understanding old English. We also answered some questions and after the questions I have a better understanding of the text. The text is generally showing the main viewpoints of Julius Caesar. You either, like Brutus, have a lot of loyalty to Caesar and respect him, or like Cassius, hate him and don’t have any respect for him. This refers back to the aim because it expresses two main viewpoints and the political nature of Julius Caesar. You love him and support him, or, you hate him and have zero respect for him. We could use what we learned about Julius Caesar later on and what we learned about old English later on to help us understand other passages we will read. We read old English to help us practice it and understand it. We could use what we learned about Julius Caesar to understand the conflicting viewpoints of him and hopefully understand if people like him or don’t like him.