1. Not Shakespeare! I hate Shakespeare!

3. Language
Iambic pentameter

4. Sonnets
A sonnet is a fourteen-line lyric poem, traditionally written in iambic pentameter—that is, in lines ten syllables long, with accents falling on every second syllable,

5. Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

7. It's hard 😎

9. History Julius Caesar takes place in ancient Rome in 44 B.C.
Rome suffered from constant infighting between ambitious military leaders and the far weaker senators.
Those citizens who favoured more democratic rule feared that Caesar’s power would lead to the enslavement of Roman citizens by one of their own. Therefore, a group of conspirators came together and assassinated Caesar.
The assassination, however, failed to put an end to the power struggles dividing the empire, and civil war erupted shortly thereafter.
History

10. Plot
The plot of Shakespeare’s play includes the events leading up to the assassination of Caesar as well as much of the subsequent war, in which the deaths of the leading conspirators constituted a sort of revenge for the assassination

11. Hidden meanings
In 1599, when the play was first performed, Queen Elizabeth I had sat on the throne for nearly forty years, enlarging her power at the expense of the aristocracy and the House of Commons.
Many feared that her death would plunge England into chaos.
In an age when censorship would have limited direct commentary on these worries, Shakespeare could nevertheless use the story of Caesar to comment on the political situation of his day.

12. Each Scene
Write a brief summary what is happening in each scene. Who are the main players? What themes are you made aware of?

13. Pair Task
Rich Elizabethans hotly debated where to educate boys. Should they keep them at home or send them away to the new public schools, rather than the local grammar school?
In the play old style Republicans educated their sons at home. Intellectuals like Cicero sent their sons to Athens. They knew the Greeks were culturally superior to the proud but uncultivated citizens of Rome.
Task:
1: Hot seat: one person should take on the role of Brutus while the other questions about his thoughts while he is speaking to Cassius. Then swap with the other person asking questions of Cassius while he speaks to Brutus- motivations of the characters etc.
2: Talk together about whether you believe it is best ‘That noble minds keep ever with their likes’. Does mixing with other people corrupt or benefit those born with ‘high status’ – think about the Royal family, Prince George for example.

14. Fate and Omens
Write a definition in your own words of the word fate and the word omen.
Why are these important to the play?
Can you list any example when one or the other was used/mentioned.
Fate and Omen

15. Homework: Select two activities to complete from the selection.
Research a leader from any time in history, and create a leaflet about their time as leader- battles, are they democratic? Etc.
Research a wife of an important man or leader from anytime in history, and create a display about their role. This can include projects after their husband’s death: Coretta Scott King, Beyonce or Zelda Fitzgerald for example
Write a newspaper article/front page openly criticising Caesar or about his murder
Rewrite a scene (in standard English) using modern characters- The Kardashian sisters moaning about Kris; The assassination of Donald Trump
Do something creative- Caesar’s death scene through interpretive dance; a Globe cake; a lego Globe theatre!
Write a review of the play- what were the good bits? What were the bad bits?