Bellwork How do Brutus and Cassius’s responses to the possibility of Caesar’s gaining the crown develop their characters? In simpler terms, what do we learn about each of these characters based on their reactions to Caesar’s growing power? Grab a book if you need one!

Julius Caesar Lesson 3

Objective Students will determine how Shakespeare uses rhetoric to advance central idea. Students will identify how central idea is advanced through the conflicts and interactions between characters.

Actors Caesar Antony Casca Brutus Cassius

Let’s Read As we read, focus on our objectives—thinking specifically about how rhetoric is used and what we learn as the conflicts develop and more characters are introduced and interact with one another. Even if you do not have a reading part, be prepared to answer questions as we stop and discuss the reading throughout the course of the text.

Review What do you think the central idea of the text is at this point? Why? How does Shakespeare use rhetoric to develop the central idea? How does Caesar describe Cassius in lines 204-217? What is Casca’s attitude regarding Caesar’s rejection of the crown? How do Brutus and Cassius react to the account of Caesar’s collapse? What do these reactions suggest about their attitudes toward Caesar? How does Caesar’s offer to the people develop his character? How does Cassius’s description of Brutus in the soliloquy at the end of Act I scene ii develop his view of Brutus? What plan does Cassius outline in the soliloquy at the end of Act I scene ii?

CCC Time How has Shakespeare used rhetoric to advance the plot of Julius Caesar? Which of the characters would you say is most static based on evidence from the text? Which of the characters would you say is most dynamic based on evidence from the text? Thinking about the STEAL method of indirect characterization, how do we learn most of what we know about Caesar?