“Julius Caesar” ( ) Act III, Scene II William Shakespeare

First Plebeian Methinks there is much reason in his sayings. Second Plebeian If thou consider rightly of the matter, Caesar has had great wrong. Third Plebeian Has he, masters? 40 I fear there will a worse come in his place. Fourth Plebeian Marked ye his words? He would not take the crown; Therefore 'tis certain he was not ambitious. First Plebeian If it be found so, some will dear abide it. 45 Second Plebeian Poor soul! his eyes are red as fire with weeping. Third Plebian There's not a nobler man in Rome than Antony Fourth Plebeian Now mark him, he begins again to speak Antony O masters, if I were disposed to stir Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage, 50 I should do Brutus wrong, and Cassius wrong, Who, you all know, are honourable men: I will not do them wrong; I rather choose To wrong the dead, to wrong myself and you, Than I will wrong such honourable men.

55 But here's a parchment with the seal of Caesar; I found it in his closet, 'tis his will: Let but the commons hear this testament Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read And they would go and kiss dead Caesar's wounds, 60 And dip their napkins in his sacred blood, Yea, beg a hair of him for memory, […] All The will, the will! we will hear Caesar's will. ANTONY Have patience, gentle friends, I must not read it; It is not meet you know how Caesar loved you. 65 You are not wood, you are not stones, but men; And, being men, bearing the will of Caesar, It will inflame you, it will make you mad: 'Tis good you know not that you are his heirs; For, if you should, O, what would come of it? 70 Fourth Plebeian Read the will; we'll hear it, Antony; You shall read us the will, Caesar's will. Antony Will you be patient? will you stay awhile? I have o'ershot myself to tell you of it: I fear I wrong the honourable men 75 Whose daggers have stabbed Caesar; I do fear it.

Fourth Plebeian They were traitors: honourable men! All The will! The testament! Second Plebeian They were villains, murderers! The will! Read the will!..

SPEAKING “Julius Caesar is a historical figure: go back to that period of Roman history and with the help of your teacher and your classmates refresh your memory; then read the passage. Open answer LANGUAGE THROUGH LITERATURE 1.Focus on the first part of Antony’s speech(ll. 1-35). Find in the text the opposite of these adjectives 1.mean noble 2.humbleambitious 3.rejoicinggrievous 4.dishonourablehonourable 5.distrustfulfaithful 6.wrongfuljust 7.sternerkinder 8.politebrutish

LANGUAGE THROUGH LITERATURE 2.Consider the expression “under leave of Brutus” (l.9). – Can you find any other way to express the same concept? – “with the permission of Brutus” 3.Now consider: “And men have lost their reason” (l.33). – What else can you lose? Use your monolingual dictionary to find more examples. – weight, money, a game, a close relative, blood, sight, contact, face, your head, track, etc. 4.Focus on two important verbs: “to do” and “to make”. a.Both of them correspond to the Italian verb “fare”. b.Find in the text two expressions with these verbs: – “the evil that men do” (l.3) – “ambition should be made” (l.20). 5.Now use your monolingual dictionary to find more examples. a.What can you “do”? ̶your homework, your best, good, harm, business, a favour, the housework, the shopping, the cleaning, the washing, the washing up etc.

LANGUAGE THROUGH LITERATURE anaphora : “The/The (ll. 3-4); “And / And” (ll8, 15, 22, 27, 33); “Yet /Yet” (ll. 21, 26); “But / But” (ll. 14, 29). GUIDED ANALYSIS 1.Consider the first part of Antony’s speech (ll. 1-35) Mark Antony is a great orator, not only because of what he says but also because of “how” he says it. a.To defend Caesar, Antony begins by giving Brutus’ opinion of Caesar. Read lines 5-6 an quote. “The noble Brutus / Hath told you Caesar was ambitious” b.Does Antony agree with what Brutus says? No, he will in fact prove it to be false. c.Underline the phrases in which Antony makes his positive opinion of Caesar be followed by Brutus’s negative opinion of Caesar. “He was my friend, faithful and just to me; / But Brutus says he was ambitious. / And Brutus is an honourable man” (ll ); “When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept; / Ambition should be made of sterner staff. / Yet Brutus says he was ambitious. / And Brutus is an honourable man” (ll );

GUIDED ANALYSIS 1.Consider the first part of Antony’s speech (ll. 1-35) c. “I thrice presented him a kingly crown, / Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition? / Yet Brutus says he was ambitious. / And sure he is an honourable man (ll ). d.What is the effect of this rhetorical strategy? What does Antony want to prove? Antony attacks Brutus indirectly and by doing so he makes the crowd hate Brutus. He wants to prove that Brutus’ speech is a false one. e.Would you say the expression “Brutus is an honourable man” is used by Antony in a literal or in an ironic way? He is being ironic. He means that Brutus has told the people of Rome a lie, and is not at all an honourable man. 2.Focus on the crowd (lines / 70-79) a.Why can we speak of the crowd as a collective entity in this passage? Because its words and actions are in fact expression of a collective response to Antony’s speech. b.What was the attitude of the crowd before Antony began to speak? Against Caesar and in favour of Brutus and of the other conspirators.