JULIUS CAESAR BY
WILLIAM SHAKESPEAR

Question 1
In what way does the crowd function as a character?
In the play “Julius Caesar”, the crowd plays a crucial role in portraying the setting of their society. The crowds would usually portray characteristics of one character or individual. They acted like this in the way they went about doing things e.g.- they would always take the side of the person in power, they were easily persuaded because of their naïve state of mind.

Question 2
One thing Julius Caesar and Brutus have in common is their divided selves. Compare the two characters with special reference to their public and private selves.
Both Caesar and Brutus have two distinguished personalities, (divided selves). In reference to Brutus’ public personality, he is confident and hold himself in high esteem. He refuses to show even a spec of weakness. He takes great pride in his speeches. As opposed to his private self, who is very timid and gentle. This was portrayed in the play when he tries to conceal tis side of him from his wife.
In reference to Caesar’s public personality, he is fearless, arrogant and noble in public. Caesar was unable to separate his public self from his private self unlike Brutus. Caesar would discuss his private affairs publicly.

Question 3
Compare and contrast the scene between Portia and Brutus and the scene between Caesar and Calpurnia
Brutus and Portia share a more respectful relationship with an understanding that they are both equal in their positions in the relationship. This representation of their union shows a loving and standard example of how a marriage should be. In contrast, Caesar and Calpurnia’s relationship takes a more divided approach. Their union somewhat lacks the trust, love, respect and most crucially, the equality. Caesar portrays the role of most men in that era. He was the more dominant one in the relationship while Calpurnia is extremely subservient.

Question 4
Compare and contrast either Anthony and Brutus or Cassius and Brutus.
In the play, there is a profound difference that lies between Anthony and Brutus. Anthony was very persuasive in the way he went about doing things or the way he would carry his words over to the people while Brutus who was very honorable. At Caesar’s funeral, Brutus appealed to the truth and brought facts to support what he was saying, he was relying on the people’s logic. When Anthony spoke at Caesar’s funeral, he appealed to the emotions of the people. In the play, Anthony acts cunningly and uses his brain frequently to arrive at what he wanted, as opposed to Brutus who was very Naïve. Brutus was very honorable in the way he always spoke the truth while Anthony way manipulative and used what he wanted to get what he wanted out of people. Anthony’s intelligence was very discernable throughout the play while Brutus portrayed a profound degree of credulousness.

Question 5
Flattery is a tool used a number of times by characters in Julius Caesar, give examples.
The act of flattering is to praise or compliment insincerely and excessively. It is used to manipulate people in real life and in fiction. Some examples of the use of flattery in the play to manipulate characters were when Decius told Caesar a different interpretation of Calpurnia’s dream, making Caesar seem like the hero and Another example was portrayed when the conspirators bowed down to Caesar at the capital to draw his attention from Casca administering the first stab.

Question 6
Compare and contrast the funeral narration for Caesar given by Brutus and Anthony.
As mentioned in one of the answers above, Anthony is very smart and manipulative while Brutus was naïve and honorable. In Anthony’s funeral speech for Caesar, he appealed to the emotions of the people, while he was crying and his speech was very lengthy so as to encompass or show the crowd the magnitude of love and respect he had for Caesar and how sad he was about Caesar’s assassination. In the case of Brutus, his speech was very brief and he appealed to the logic of the people. He didn’t have much to say about Caesar’s death. He spoke in a detached way.

Question 7
Define dramatic irony and give examples from the play.
Dramatic irony is irony that is inherent in speeches or a situation of a drama and is understood by the audience but not grasped by the characters in the play. This is portrayed in the play when the audience recognizes that the ides of March is the day Caesar dies, but Caesar himself does not know this and ignores the warning, which results in his death. Another example is when Marc Anthony refers to Brutus as an honorable man, but the audience knows that Brutus is in fact dishonorable.

Question 8
Discuss Brutus as a Naïve idealist and Cassius as a brilliant strategist.
Brutus’ rigid idolism was his greatest virtue and his biggest flaw. He is an optimistic and positive individual but very unrealistic. He expects everything to go as planned and that everyone possesses the same magnitude of nobility as him. Cassius was an excellent strategist. He was extremely skilled in manipulating people. Additionally, unlike Brutus, he was realistic and had a good judgment when it came to ensuring success.

Question 9
What is the dominant theme of Julius Caesar? Support you answer with details.
The dominant them in the “Julius Caesar” play is tragedy and betrayal to some extent. This was because the main character of the play was assassinated by his close associates.