Julius CaesarBy William Shakespeare

Tragedy – 1st element

• Tragic Hero – great man of status, starts with everything, ends with nothing

Tragedy – 2nd element

• Tragic Flaw – obsession with power, greed, pride, etc.

• Caesar’s tragic flaw:

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Tragedy – 3rd element

• Tragic Story - death of tragic hero

Tragedy – 4th element

• Elements of supernatural, fate/fortune

Conflict

…the struggle between opposing forces

• Internal conflict examples:

• External conflict examples:

Blank Verse

• Writing with regular meter (rhythm) but no rhyme– Hence! home, you idle creatures get you home:

Is this a holiday? what! know you not,Being mechanical, you ought not walkUpon a laboring day without the signOf your profession? Speak, what trade art thou?

• Characters who speak in blank verse:

Prose

• Writing that follows regular speech patterns with no specific rhythm or structure– Truly, sir, in respect of a fine workman, I am

but, as you would say, a cobbler.

• Characters who speak in prose:

Iambic Pentameter

• Iamb = foot Pent = 5

• Ten syllable line with five “feet”

• One “foot” or “iamb” = (Stressed syllable + unstressed syllable)

Iambic Pentameter

• Wherefore rejoice? What conquest brings he home?

Soliloquy

• Long speech by a character who is typically alone

• Example: Act III, Scene 1, lines 254-275 (pg 829)

Aside

• Comment made by a character to audience or another character, typically not heard by others on stage

• Example: Act II, Scene 2, lines 124-end (pg. 815)

Dramatic Irony

• Readers know something characters do not

• Example: Caesar’s death – we know it but he doesn’t

Situational Irony

• Difference between what is expected and what actually happens; oddness or unfairness of a situation

• Example: Antony trying to figure out how to reduce Caesar’s generous will

Verbal Irony

• Difference between what is said and what is meant– Antony: “I come to bury Caesar, not to honor

him.”– Antony: “Brutus is an honorable man”

Climax

• Most exciting, emotional high point

• Point at which conflict begins to resolve

– What is the major conflict in the play?

Climax

• Most exciting, emotional high point

• Point at which conflict begins to resolve

– What is the major conflict in the play?

• Be able to argue why one or both is climax– Caesar’s assassination– Death of Brutus and Cassius

Foreshadowing

• Clues an author gives us for things that will happen later in the story

• Examples:

Resolution

• How the conflict is resolved

• Whose death is most noble?– Caesar?– Cassius?– Brutus?

Protagonist

• Central character

• Action revolves around him/her

• Undergoes main conflict

• Who is the protagonist?

Antagonist

• Character that opposes the protagonist

• Who is the antagonist?

Theme

• Lesson from story we can (realistically) apply to life

• Themes are more than just one word– justice is a topic– justice always prevails is a theme

• Possible themes?