Name: _______________________________________ Date: _______________________
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar
Introduction and Background Information
1. What do you already know about Julius Caesar? (or, what do you think you know?)
2. What do you think makes a tragedy?
3. During what Queen’s reign was Julius Caesar first performed?
4. What is one of the problems that this play presents to its reader?
5. Some scholars say that the play is misnamed and that it should actually be called The
Tragedy of ________________________.
6. Others argue that the real hero of the story is _______________ itself. The tragedy in this case
revolves around:
7. Elizabethan audiences would have seen Caesar as Rome’s legitimate ________________
and his murder as a violation of the “____________________ __________________.”
8. Explain how American Revolutionists tended to interpret the play:
9. With whom is Caesar often compared to in more modern history?
10. It’s said that one of the appealing qualities of the play is the reader’s interpretation as to
whether Caesar is a _____________ or a ___________________.
11. What is a soliloquy? What is its purpose?
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Historical Background…
12. Until the time of Caesar’s death, Rome was considered to be a _____________________
________________________.
13. For the Romans, the thought of being ruled by a _____________ was unthinkably unattractive.
14. Explain how Caesar gained his power:
15. Explain what the following statement tells us about Caesar: “His famous utterance ‘Veni, vidi, vici’ I
came, I saw, I conquered) is apt”:
16. What were some of the things that Caesar did to improve Rome?
17. What was Caesar’s plan?
18. In what publication did The Tragedy of Julius Caesar first appear?
19. We are unsure as to when the play was first written, but there is record of it being
performed in ______________.
20. The Tragedy of Julius Caesar was one of the first plays performed at the ________________
_________________________.
21. Shakespeare wrote using a poetic form known as _______________ ________________.
22. True or False: This style of speech was exactly like every day speech during the
Elizabethan era.
23. What is iambic pentameter?
24. Explain who spoke using prose during this play and who spoke in verse:
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25. What other types of scenes are spoken in prose?
26. Shakespeare used _________________ _____________________ very sparingly in his plays.
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