Julius Caesar Lesson 4

In the 4th lesson of Julius Caesar, we mainly discussed the views of Caesar and Anthony about Cassius. The main question was, "Was Caesar right about his views of Cassius?" Caesar knew that Cassius was dangerous and that he should be wary of him, yet he was overly confident and didn't take any action against Cassius. This complacent and arrogant attitude of Caesar's was one of the main causes of his death.

"But, look you, Cassius,
The angry spot doth glow on Caesar's brow,
And all the rest look like a chidden train:
Calpurnia's cheek is pale; and Cicero
Looks with such ferret and such fiery eyes
As we have seen him in the Capitol,
Being cross'd in conference by some senators."
- General mood is sombre
- Something has happened which wasn't happy

"Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous"
- Caesar is implying that Cassius is hungry for power and envies those who are of a higher position and power than him

"Fear him not, Caesar; he's not dangerous;
He is a noble Roman and well given."
- Anthony believes that Cassius is a nobleman and will do no harm to Caesar

"He is a great observer, and he looks
Quite through the deeds of men: he loves no plays,"
- Caesar is implying that Cassius is a man of good judgement and is able to judge people well

"he hears no music"
- Caesar is saying that Cassius is uncivilised

Feedback (not a verb): she feedback to me/she fedback to me
Disinterested vs uninterested - no preference vs not interested

5 words:
Malcontent - not satisfied or content with currently prevailing conditions or circumstances
Pidgin language - any simplified or broken form of a language, especially when used for communication between speakers of different languages
Sardonic - characterized by bitter or scornful derision; mocking; cynical; sneering
Renaissance man - a cultured man of the Renaissance who was knowledgeable, educated, or proficient in a wide range of fields.
Epitome - a person or thing that is typical of or possesses to a high degree the features of a whole class

Julius Caesar Lesson 3

I'm currently feeling rather brain-dead now, especially doing 2 reflections in a row. I have to admit, trying to recall everything in the lesson is quite exhausting. Despite that, I think it's quite fun toughly back on what we've done and recapped on the things we learnt in the last lesson.

Well, we did a lot of tagging in this lesson (and I mean a lot!). So firstly, we analyzed the text once again and we discussed more about the conversation between Brutus and Cassius. We managed to get a deeper understanding of how Cassius phrases his words to try to convince Brutus in joining his conspiracy. Once again, we looked through what Cassius said to Brutus and picked up on certain details. Caesar said, "Your hidden worthiness into your eye" to Brutus, which proves to us again that Cassius is attempting to use praise to get into Brutus' good books. Caesar also exclaimed, "immortal Caesar!", which shows that he sincerely dislikes Caesar and this comment was said with a sarcastic tone.

Cassius was also trying very hard to be on the same page as Brutus so it is easier to convince him. For example, when Brutus mentioned that he wanted the best for the people and honor is more important than death itself, Cassius immediately focused his main point of discussion on the fact that getting rid of Caesar is an honorable thing to do and is the best decision for the people. We also discussed that Cassius is manipulative and convincing, he tilts his story towards the views of Brutus in order to convince him to join the conspiracy. Another characteristic of Cassius is that he is very scheming and cunning (sharp, an opportunist, able to think on his feet) as he picks up on the little details that Brutus says, so as to formulate how to convince Brutus to join the conspiracy.

Cassius continues on with insulting Caesar and calling him a coward. He says things such as, "His coward lips did from their color fly" to insinuate that Caesar is actually a coward on the inside and does not even have the physical ability to withstand a simple fever.

"As a sick girl.—Ye gods, it doth amaze me,
A man of such a feeble temper"

Cassius Sadie the above paragraph to once again reemphasize his point about Caesar being a coward. Cassius then moves on by comparing Caesar and Brutus, and attempts to create discord between the two:

""Brutus" and "Caesar": what should be in that "Caesar"?
Why should that name be sounded more than yours?"

I also learned the 3 steps to analyze a text or a scene:
1. What is going on in the text/scene?
2. What are the themes, characters and relationships?
3. Identify the craft and symbols used in the text/scene

That's all I can actually remember from the third lesson! Oh, and here are my 5 words for this lesson!

1. Ides of March - 15th of March in Roman calendar, referring to the full moon
2. Opulent - wealthy, rich, or affluent
3. Postulate - to ask, demand, or claim; to assume without proof, or as self-evident; take for granted
4. Hubris - excessive pride or self-confidence; arrogance
5. Obsequious - characterized by or showing servile complaisance or deference; fawning
6. Servile - being in slavery; oppressed
7. Physical infirmity - a physical weakness or ailment; weak, lack of strength

Woah! That's 7 words :) Yay!!! That's all for this post!

Julius Caesar Lesson 2

We started off the lesson with the theme of chaos again and recapped a little about our first Julius Caesar lesson. We rediscussed the purpose of Act 1 Scene 1 again and Mrs Seah raised quite a funny issue. There was a girl in 310 which misspelled the "the ides of March" as "the eyes of March", which was actually quite funny, especially after I knew the meaning of "the ides of March" (check below for the meaning).

After which, we discussed some lines in the book, where Cassius attempts to convince Brutus that Caesar was unworthy to be King. A few of the main lines we discussed were:

These growing feathers pluck'd from Caesar's wing
Will make him fly an ordinary pitch,
Who else would soar above the view of men,
And keep us all in servile fearfulness.

We picked out the symbols are the main underlying reason for Cassius to say this to Brutus. Based on my notes (which I doubt are 100% accurate), the symbols picked out are wings, fly and soar, which is actually interlinked. Cassius is implying that Caesar is like a bird, and that he is a very arrogant and proud man who puts himself above all others (status-wise).

We also discussed the soothsayer in the play, which in the movie, was performed by a blind man. Mrs Seah pointed out that the book did not state that the soothsayer was blind and the director of the movie merely made an assumption according to typical stereotype thinking. This shows us the viewpoint of the director of the movie, that soothsayers are typically old and blind. Apparently, because soothsayers can SEE into the future, therefore having eyes doesn't really matter to them because they are able to SEE deeper meanings, instead of just the surface.

After that, we discussed on the methods Cassius used and the way he phrases his words to convince Brutus to join his conspiracy. Three main methods were raised:
- praising and flattering Brutus to please him
- accusing Caesar of being a coward and that he is unworthy to be King
- pointing out to Brutus that getting rid of Caesar would be for the best interests of the people

Okay, here were the words we learnt for this lesson:

1. Go into the light - Going into the after world after one has passed away (there's no definite meaning for this on the Internet so this is just my interpretation)
2. Out of body experience - an experience that typically involves a sensation of floating outside of one's body and, in some cases, perceiving one's physical body from a place outside one's body
3. Tudor - a member of the royal family that ruled in England from 1485 to 1603
4. Realm - a royal domain; kingdom
5. Preaching to the converted- to try to persuade people to believe things they already believe

That's it for now. I'll probably post Lesson 3 and 4 by tomorrow. I am seriously lagging behind on these reflections.

Julius Caesar Lesson 1

Today's L.A. Lesson started with a simple discussion on the first scene of Julius Caesar.

I'm not very strong in Literature, so it took me a while to fully understand the story of Julius Caesar and to keep up with the discussion today. We discussed on why Shakespeare chose a chaotic scene for the beginning of this book. Various reasons were raised by my classmates and I felt that this helped me better understand the story and the first scene.

The beginning scene starts with a chaotic marketplace, with the people rejoicing the overthrow of their King. This gives us a sense of disorder and chaos and it keeps us wondering why are the people rejoicing for the overthrow of their King. Scene 1 also provides us with better understanding of the characteristics of the common people (plebeians) and the higher ranking officials (tribunes), through a conversation between them. The hook, which is the beginning of the book, is rather interesting and is able to keep readers curious about the rest of the story.

After that, we watched an interpretation of the play of Julius Caeser, which was in black and white. However, Mrs Seah pointed out that the sets and costumes were unrealistic as at that period where the incident took place, there was not enough resources and the standard of costumes and sets weren't that high yet.

We also discussed the actor who was Julius Caeser in the play. Honestly, I never expected Julius Caeser to look like a almost bald, plump man. I always imagined him as a strong warrior with an aura of leadership. In fact, after looking at the Julius Caeser in the play, my impression of him plummeted. Perhaps the actor protesting Julius Caeser was just not appropriate for my interpretation of how Julius Caeser looks, but literature is subjective, so maybe others just interprate his image differently. Despite not looking like Julius Caeser (the one in my mind), the actor was pretty good at showing the arrogant side of Julius Caeser.
~

Mrs Seah decided we should try to learn 5 new words every lesson, so here are my 5 new words for today!

1. Asterisk (the figure of a star)
2. Pentameters (unrhymed verse of five iambic feet; heroic verse)
3. Cacophony (a discordant and meaningless mixture of sounds)
4. Gravitas (seriousness or sobriety, as of conduct or speech)
5. Virile (pertaining to, characteristic of, or befitting a man; masculine; manly)

That's all for today's lesson! :D