1. The Real Man The Play The Characters

2.  A historic figure who lived from 100 to 44 BC  Military Leader and Ruler of Rome  Statues currently exist in museums today  Caesar’s biography was written in Plutarch’s Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans  Caesar was assassinated by his fellow senators in 44 BC  Multitude of cultural references exist for Caesar

3.  Shakespeare retained many facts from Plutarch’s biography of Caesar, Antony and Brutus  But he added, deleted and altered to suit his dramatic purposes  Took 3 years and telescoped it into 6 days of action  Speeches in the Forum (famous lines in the play by Brutus and Antony) – no historical precedent

4.  The emotional and fickle mob – Shakespeare’s creation to add drama  Characters of Casca, Octavius, Portia and Calpurnia – greatly expanded by Shakespeare  The raw material of the real historic figure of Julius Caesar is true in the play  BUT the finished product is entirely Shakespeare’s creation

5.  Characteristics of Shakespearean Tragedy  Tragedy: a drama in which a series of actions leads to the downfall of the main character  Tragic Hero: usually the title character – but in Julius Caesar not so  The tragic hero is a person of high rank, whose fate has an impact on society  Hero has a Tragic Flaw – a fatal error in judgment, a weakness in character that contributes to his/her downfall

6.  Soliloquies (asides) – speeches given by an actor alone on state that express thoughts that are hidden from the other characters  “Beware the Ides of March” – famous line, but a real reference to a date on the calendar – March 15 th

8. Julius Caesar and his wife Calpurnia

9. Marcus Brutus Cassius

10.  Portia, wife of Brutus

11.  Marcus Antonius (Marc Antony) Antony giving his famous speech to the people of Rome in Act 3 Scene 2 Act 1 Runner in the Lupercal Games touch Calpurnia for good luck

12. In Act 3 Scene 1 – the conspirators assassinate Caesar The conspirators: Brutus, Cassius, Casca, Trebonius, Caius Ligarius, Decius Brutus, Metellus Cimber, Cinna (not the poet)

13. In Act 1 Scene 2 – a Soothsayer (fortune teller) warns Caesar to beware of the 15 th of March – known as “the Ides of March”

14.  “I could be well moved if I were as you. If I could pray to move, prayers would move me. But I am constant as the Northern Star…” “Et tu Brute”

15.  “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones; So let it be with Caesar.”