Write “Quickwrites” at the top of the page. Draw a line halfway down by the hole, splitting your page in two. You have 5 minutes to write ½ a page. I’ll collect them when we’ve filled up a single sheet with 4 Quickwrites. Full credit will be earned for ½ a page of serious thoughts on the subject.

Fault in Our Stars (I.ii) Interred (III.ii) Thrice (I.ii) TABLE OF CONTENTS Security (II.iii) Commoners ( I.i) Emulation (II.iii) Ides of March (I.ii) Liberty (III.i) Mirror (I.ii) Love and Murder (III.i) Fault in Our Stars (I.ii) Interred (III.ii) Thrice (I.ii) Worthy (III.ii) Seduced (I.ii) Spirits (III.iii) Sign of the Gods (I.iii) Conspirators (IV.i) Secrets (II.i.) Different (IV.iii) Sick Men (II.i) Suicide (IV.iii) Fate (II.ii) Ghosts (IV.iii) Cowards (II.ii) Likes (II.ii)

The Fight (V.i) Cowardly Honor (V.v) Noblest (V.v) Ascension (V.v) CONTENTS continued… The Fight (V.i) Cowardly Honor (V.v) Noblest (V.v) Ascension (V.v)

COMMONERS ACT I, SCENE i, Rome. A street. Why do you think Shakespeare starts the play with the bunch of commoners joking around? Then why does he switch it to have them being yelled at? What is he trying to do with the characters? What is he trying to have happen in his audience's mind?

IDES OF MARCH ACT I, SCENE ii, A public place. What kind of mixed feelings do you think are going through Julius Caesar's heart after he hears the soothsayer say, "Beware the ides of March"?

MIRROR ACT I, SCENE ii, A public place. Why is Cassius trying to convince Brutus to let Cassius be the mirror into his heart? What does it seem like Cassius is trying to do? What are his motives?

FAULT IN OUR STARS ACT I, SCENE ii, A public place. Cassius tells Brutus, "The fault is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings." What do his words mean? What is the fault? Why doesn’t the fault lie in themselves?

THRICE ACT I, SCENE ii, A public place. Explain some reasons why the crowd might get so excited when Julius Caesar is offered the crown three times and refuses it each time. Why do you think Julius Caesar refuses the crown?

SEDUCED "Who is so firm he cannot be seduced?" ~Cassius ACT I, SCENE ii, A public place. "Who is so firm he cannot be seduced?" ~Cassius This question is meant to be rhetorical with the answer being "No One." What do you think about that idea, that everyone can be seduced no matter how firm she is in her beliefs?

SIGN OF THE GODS ACT I, SCENE iii, A street. It seems their culture believes that storms and weather are some kind of sign from the gods. How is that different from our culture? Why do you think they believe that the spiritual world has so much power? Do you believe the spiritual world is interacting with ours? Why or why not?

SECRETS ACT II, SCENE i, Rome. BRUTUS's orchard. Why do you think Portia wants to know Brutus's secret? Should a wife or husband pressure their spouse into telling them secrets? Discuss. Should spouses be allowed to keep secrets from each other? If so, what kind?

SICK MEN ACT II, SCENE i, Rome. BRUTUS's orchard. How do you think the assassination of Caesar could help "make sick men whole"? How might it also "make whole men sick"? What do you think they mean by "whole" or "sick"?

FATE ACT II, SCENE ii, CAESAR's house. Caesar says, "What can be avoided whose end is purposed by the mighty gods?" What do you think he means by that? How is he right? How might he be wrong?

COWARDS ACT II, SCENE ii, CAESAR's house. Caesar tells his wife Calpurnia, "Cowards die many times before their deaths." What do you think he means by that? How is he right? How might he be wrong?

LIKES "Every like is not the same, O Caesar." ~Brutus ACT II, SCENE ii, CAESAR's house. "Every like is not the same, O Caesar." ~Brutus What do you think he means by that? How do you think we could read that today as a commentary on our modern-day social media?

SECURITY "Security gives way to conspiracy." ~ Artemidorus ACT II, SCENE iii, A street near the Capitol. "Security gives way to conspiracy." ~ Artemidorus How might this be true? How can it be that the safer you get, the more you are susceptible to conspiracy? In what ways have you seen this true in our society?

EMULATION ACT II, SCENE iii, A street near the Capitol. "Virtue cannot live out of the teeth of emulation." ~Artemidorus "Emulation" is the act of copying someone/something else. So what does this quote mean? What does our society think about people who emulate other people or ideas? When do we view emulation as virtuous and when do we view it as dishonorable?

LIBERTY ACT III, SCENE i, Rome. Before the Capitol; the Senate sitting above. "Liberty! Freedom! Tyranny is dead! Run hence! Make haste! Declare it about the streets!" What do you think about the words they shout when Caesar is assassinated? Think about our government leaders. Are there people who would shout the same thing about our leader now? What about our past leaders of different political parties? What might it show us that people want to shout this kind of thing about their leader and maybe hope that she/he is dead?

LOVE AND MURDER ACT III, SCENE i, Rome. Before the Capitol; the Senate sitting above. Caesar's assassins are all saying that they love Caesar while at the same time they're killing Caesar. Try to explain how it is possible for them to murder their leader while at the same time loving their leader.

INTERRED ACT III, SCENE ii, The Forum. "The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones." ~Antony If "interred" means buried, how is Antony's idea true? How does evil live on and good get buried? Why do you think this happens? Write about an example of this from your society, school, family, etc.

WORTHY ACT III, SCENE ii, The Forum. Why do you think Antony starts his Caesar funeral speech by repeating over and over that Brutus and all his men are worthy of honor and respect? How does this strategy at the start help his persuasion at the end?

SPIRITS ACT III, SCENE iii, Brutus's tent. The exhausted Brutus is visited by a spirit. How does he react? What do his words and actions reveal what Brutus and others in his culture believe about spirits? How is this different from your culture?

CONSPIRATORS ACT IV, SCENE i, A house in Rome. Is it right for Antony, Octavius, and Lepidus to plan to murder the conspirators against Julius Caesar? Why or why not? Is it moral for them to kill someone who killed? Is it just?

DIFFERENT ACT IV, SCENE iii, Brutus's tent. How has Cassius changed to where Brutus doesn't even know who he is anymore? What has changed him? How are they different now? How are they so different that Brutus tells Cassius to get out of his sight?

SUICIDE ACT IV, SCENE iii, Brutus's tent. Why do you think Brutus isn't affected very much by his wife Portia's suicide? What does this tell us about Brutus's character? About his inner emotions? About his desire for power? About his greatness and legacy?

GHOSTS ACT IV, SCENE iii, Brutus's tent. Explain Brutus's reaction to seeing Caesar's ghost. Why does he act the way he does while the ghost is in his presence? Why does he decide what he decides about the war? Analyze his emotions about seeing the ghost of the man he assassinated.

THE FIGHT ACT V, SCENE i, The plains of Philippi. Explain who is going to fight against whom. Who's on what side of the battle? Why are they fighting? What will happen if either side wins?

COWARDLY HONOR ACT V, SCENE v, Another part of the field. Do you think Cassius's & Brutus's deaths are cowardly, honorable, or something else entirely? Explain your reasoning.

NOBLEST ACT V, SCENE v, Another part of the field. Why do you think Antony says that Brutus "was the noblest Roman of them all"? In what ways was Brutus better than Julius Caesar? In what ways was he worse?

ASCENSION ACT V, SCENE v, Another part of the field. What kind of a leader is Antony? Do you think he should be the new leader of Rome? Why or why not? Is his ascension to the throne fair or not?