Study Guide for The Tragedy of Julius Caesar
Your test will take two days. The test will consist of Multiple Choice Questions (32), two short answer
responses and an Essay. The Multiple choice questions and short answer responses will be given on
the first day and the Essay will be given on the second day.
The Test is based off of the End of Course Test Format required by the State of Georgia. Students in
10th grade MAY have an EOCT by the end of this year, or they may not. However, in an effort to get
students ready for the EOCT (11th Grade American Literature is formatted the same way), the tests
this year will all follow this format.
This guide is designed to help the student study for this test.
1. Reread all your summaries. This will help you remember what happened in each Act/scene.
2. Review important parts of the text: (specific lines are below as well)
 Act I: scene i
 Act II: scene i (Brutus soliloquy)
 Act III: Antony’s speech
 Act IV: scene i(Antony and Octavius and Lepidus together) and scene iii (Brutus and
Cassius arguing and making up) along with your figurative language worksheet
 Act V: scenes iv and v (the ending of the play)
3. Review parts of text using text aids or glosses to help determine meaning in the play (you will
have to apply using text aids to an unfamiliar part of a play)
4. Reread all notes on characters, themes, symbols, etc.
5. Review Tragedy and Tragic Hero worksheet
6. Review Theme worksheet—and evidence to support one or two themes (for short answer
response)
Specific parts to look at in play:
Act I: scene ii pg 901 Cassius’ monologue “Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world/Like a Colossus,
and we petty men/ Walk under his huge legs and peep about/ To find ourselves dishonorable graves.” (
Specifically, what does this mean? What is the significance of Cassius comparing Caesar to a “colossus”?
Look at text aids on this page to help you.
Act I: scene ii pg 903: Caesar says that Cassius has a “lean and hungry look” about him. What feeling is
Caesar expressing about Cassius in this statement?
Act II: scene i pg 917: Brutus’ soliloquy speaks about Caesar as a “serpent”: “And therefore think him as
a serpent’s egg/ Which hatched, would as his kind grow mischievous,/ And kill him in the shell.” For what
action is Brutus providing reasons?
Act II: scene i pg 919: Brutus says to conspirators “Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough/ To mask
thy monstrous visage? Seek none, conspiracy;/ Hide it in smiles and affability:”. What does Brutus
emphasize by saying this?
Act II: scene i pg 920: Brutus says “What watchful cares do interpose themselves/ Betwixt your eyes and
night?” paraphrase those two lines—look at glosses or text aids to help you figure out what it means.
Act II, scene ii: pg 929: Caesar says “Cowards die many times before their deaths:/ The valiant never
taste of death but once.” Give a good interpretation of these lines. What does Caesar mean?
Act III: scene i pg 944: Caesar speaks to ‘friends’ (conspirators) and says: “But I am as constant as the
Northern Star,/ Of whose true-fixed and resting quality/ There is no fellow in the firmament. “ To what
quality in himself is he referring to?
Act III, scene i: pg 946: Brutus says “So are we Caesar’s friends, that have abridged/ His time of fearing
death.” What is the purpose Brutus says these lines?
Act III, scene ii: pg 950: Antony speaking over Caesar’s body, says “Over thy wounds now do I prophesy/
(Which like dumb mouths do ope their ruby lips/ To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue), / A curse
shall light upon the limbs of men;” What is the best analysis of the imagery in these lines? (what are the
lines, the imagery, telling Antony to do?)
Pg 915: review blank verse; which characters use blank verse most of the time? Which characters use
prose most of the time?
Other questions to think about that are on the test:
1. Judging from his actions in Act I, what might Caesar’s tragic flaw be?
2. In Acts I and II, there are reports of strange occurrences in Rome. What are they? What mood is
created by using such occurrences?
3. Why does Antony, at first, refuse to read Caesar’s will to the crowd?
4. How are Cassius and Caesar similar?
5. What internal conflict does Brutus fake in Act I?
6. Why does Cassius believe that Brutus should be a part of the plot against Caesar?
7. What motivation do Cassius and Brutus share?
8. What is a good argument against Cassius being described as a tragic hero? (think about
characteristics of tragic hero)
9. What reasons may be used to argue that Brutus is the tragic hero of the play? (see lists of
characteristics for tragic hero)
10. What form of writing does Shakespeare use for the noble people, or the high born, in his plays?
The commoners?
11. What is a soliloquy? How do you know it is a soliloquy?
12. What is the purpose of the text found to the right of the selection (in a play)? What is this text
called?
13. What is imagery?
14. According to Antony, why is Brutus a better man than Cassius?
15. What does the conflict between Brutus and Cassius suggest about their ability to face the
challenges that lie ahead of them?
**Make sure you have your Reading Log together. This information will help when we discuss the
short answer responses and the Essay question that you will also have on the test.
For application of reading a tragedy, you need to understand the following:
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Blank verse
Prose
Identification of tragic hero (characteristics of a tragic hero)
The purpose of text aids/ glosses
Imagery (what is it)
Paraphrasing parts of the play
Soliloquy
Aside
Monologue
Internal/external conflict
You will be given parts of three different plays and asked a series of questions about each part—some
based on comprehension and others on being able to identify and apply the information above.