"Beware the Ides of March" or
Fun with Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Julius Caesar
Having read Romeo and Juliet, you understand that Shakespeare enjoyed a good tragedy
as did his Elizabethan English audience. In adapting the tale of Julius Caesar's
assassination, Shakespeare had not only a compelling tragedy of Caesar's bloody death
to tell, but also the tragedy of a good, noble man -- the intelligent and appealing Brutus.
As we study democratic principles, we will look at portions of Shakespeare's play to
understand Brutus's motives, but also, with the election season upon us, to look at the
power of rhetoric. The ability to sway the masses – to command the crowd – through the strengths of one's orating
skills factors strongly in the play.
Background - A little background is in order. For this, you need to read pp. 8-10, look at the character list on pp.
17-18, and read carefully the synopsis on the flip side of this paper.
Reading Schedule - Shakespeare is challenging reading and this play is not quite as accessible as Romeo and Juliet.
We will ask you to read some sections at home, but then we will read and review these sections in class. You will
also need to do some intensive analysis of several of the speeches in the play.
For Monday, 8/15 - read Act 1.2, pp. 22-35
For Wednesday, 8/17 - read Act 2.1, pp. 43-57
For Thursday, 8/18 - read Act 3.2, pp. 79-89; complete the response journal we will assign in class
For Friday, 8/19 - read Act 5, pp. 111-116
Aristotle’s Rhetorical Triangle – We will be looking at the art of persuasion in speeches by Cassius, Brutus, and
Antony. It is helpful for you to understand the modes of rhetoric as defined by Aristotle. These modes are ethos,
pathos, and logos, Greek terms that we will define and discuss in class.
Assessment – After we work through several of the speeches in the play, we will ask you to do a formal, in-class
writing assessment where you apply the rhetorical triangle as you discuss the effectiveness of a speech. We will
provide you with a scoring guide ahead of time so that you may see how you will be evaluated.