Julius Caesar Project—140 points possible
RESPONSE TO LITERATURE: COMPARE AND CONTRAST ESSAY—100 POINTS
*****REQUIRED*****
Choose ONE of the following topics for your essay. Your essay should be AT
LEAST FIVE (5) PARAGRAPHS. That means you need an introductory paragraph,
at least three body paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph. Your essay should
be typed, double-spaced, and in 12pt Times New Roman font with one-inch
margins. Be sure to give your essay a creative title that will let me know what
you are writing about/which topic you’ve chosen. If you have a different topic that
you would like to write about, you may propose your idea to me and I will decide if it
is suitable or not.
TOPIC ONE:
Write an essay that compares and contrasts the views and/or usage of
superstition in Julius Caesar with how superstition is used and/or viewed in
today’s society. Reference specific quotes from the play to support your ideas.
Remember to list the act, scene, and line(s) you are referring to when using quotes!
You may want to reference examples of things that characters found to be
superstitious in the play, and compare that with the different types of things that we
consider to be superstitious today. Also, you could think of what value was given to
superstition then, and compare it with the value we hold with superstition today.
TOPIC TWO:
Brutus is the tragic hero in Julius Caesar. Decide who you would consider to be
a modern-day tragic hero. Your modern-day tragic hero can be a real person or
leader, or it may be a fictional character from a movie, television show, or book.
Explain who that person/fictional character is and why you think he or she is a
tragic hero. Also, compare and contrast your tragic hero to Brutus as a tragic
hero. Reference specific quotes from the play to support your ideas. Remember
to list the act, scene, and line(s) you are referring to when using quotes! Also, refer to
the notes we took about the characteristics of a tragic hero when defining your
modern-day tragic hero.
TOPIC THREE:
Consider how women are represented in Julius Caesar. Think in terms of how
often they are referenced in the play, how often they speak in the play, and
how the men seem to react to what they say. Also, consider how you think the
men might treat them. Compare and contrast how women are viewed in
Shakespeare’s time with how women are viewed today. Reference specific
quotes from the play to support your ideas. Remember to list the act, scene, and
line(s) you are referring to when using quotes! Also, it may be useful to remember
who played the women’s roles in Shakespeare’s plays, if it supports your idea.
IN ADDITION TO YOUR ESSAY, choose ONE of the following creative
project options.
1. JOURNAL ENTRIES—40 POINTS
Write at least THREE journal entries (Minimum of TWO paragraphs each) from
the point of view of one of the main characters. You may choose to write from
the perspective of Caesar, Brutus, Cassius, or Antony. All journal entries should
be from the SAME character. The journal entries can span from a few different scenes
or can all come from one scene, whichever you would prefer. Be sure to list the act(s)
and scene(s) which the journal entry is referring to—you may want to use that as the
date for the journal entry. A partial example is below:
Dear Diary,
Act I, scene 1
I was so excited to hear the news of great Caesar’s return to Rome today. Some
of the other commoners and I decided not to wear our work clothes and celebrated in
the streets while we waited for Caesar to return. One of the officials scolded us, but we
had some fun with it and made a joke of him. He wasn’t too happy about it, but…
(journal entry continues)....
—Cobbler
2. NEWS STORY—40 POINTS
Imagine that you are a reporter on the scene of Julius Caesar’s murder. You
just witnessed everything that happened to Caesar. Write an article for the local
newspaper and report to the public what has happened to their leader.
Remember to give your news article a creative TITLE that will make it stand
out! Report everything that you saw, including the crime itself, how it
happened, where it happened, when it happened, who was involved in the
crime, perhaps how some of those people knew Caesar, and what happened
directly afterwards.
Note—News articles should NOT include reporter opinion. Paragraphs are shorter,
and should follow inverted pyramid style writing. Inverted pyramid means that the
most important information (the murder itself) comes first, followed by less and less
important information, with background information coming last. To help, use an
article from the local newspaper as your guide.
3. ARTISTIC INTERPRETATION—40 POINTS
You may choose to do an artistic interpretation of something from the play.
Draw a picture, make a collage, or make a diorama that represents a major
character, event, or scene from the play. Then, write at least TWO paragraphs
describing what you created and why it is significant/how it relates to the play.
Explain what it means and reference specific quote(s) from the play. Remember
to list the act, scene, and line(s) you are referring to when using quotes! You may
even choose to create something that represents a relationship between two or more
characters in the play if you’d like (ie. Brutus and Cassius, the conspirators and
Caesar, Antony and Brutus, etc.)
4. CHARACTER POEM—40 POINTS
Write a poem about one of the major characters from the story. You may choose
to write about the personality, downfall, relationships, problems, struggles, etc.
of Brutus, Cassius, Caesar, or Antony. The poem should have AT LEAST 30
LINES with TEN SYLLABLES in each line to follow the iambic pentameter
rhythm used by Shakespeare. Remember to give your poem a creative title! Do
not worry about stressed and unstressed syllables, but do make sure that each line
adds up to ten syllables.
5. CHARACTER HOROSCOPES—40 POINTS
Superstition is used often throughout Julius Caesar. Daily horoscopes are a
modern-day form of superstition, and they usually give a somewhat vague
prediction of something that may happen to you that day. Write one “daily
horoscope” for each of the major characters in the story (Brutus, Cassius,
Caesar, and Antony). You may choose any scene from the play to write that
day’s horoscope about. Be sure to reference the act, scene, and, if applicable,
the line(s) the horoscope is referencing/predicting for the character. You should
have a total of at least FOUR horoscopes, one for each character. Each
horoscope should be about one paragraph in length. Note—you do not need to
make every character’s horoscope from the same day/scene. They can come from
practically anywhere in the play. Look at your daily horoscope in the newspaper or
online to help give you an idea of what to write.