1. Julius Caesar Act I
Test Review

2. Critical reading questions: 2 points each
In Act I, Scene I, why do Flavius and Marullus try to disrupt the festivities?
Shakespeare distinguishes commoners from noblemen in his play by having commoners speak in: prose OR verse. Which is it?
Which of the following facts or events is revealed in Act I, Scene I, and serves as part of the exposition?
Lupercal footrace occurs
Cassius and Brutus express disapproval of Caesar
Caesar refuses to be crowned as king
Flavius and Marullus scold the commoners for celebrating Caesar’s triumph

3. Critical reading questions: 2 points each
Why is it helpful to know (through the text aid)when Lupercal takes place?
Are all of the characters in Act I celebrating Caesar’s triumph?
Combined with the actions of Cassius, the soothsayer’s warning suggests what?
In Act I, Scene ii, Cassius characterizes Caesar as which?:
Kind and gentle
Fierce and warlike
Weak and gentle
Sincere and proud

4. Critical reading questions: 2 points each
Casca’s description of Caesar’s behavior when he is offered the crown in Act I, Scene ii, suggests that Caesar owes his success to what?
How do the noblemen react to the people’s acclamation of Caesar?
What is the signifcance of Cassius’ comparison of Caesar to Colossus? (line 135, text aid 46)
What does the following passage mean?
“Men at some time are masters of their fates: / The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, / But in ourselves, that we are underlings.”

5. Critical reading questions: 2 points each
Caesar is suspicious of and distrusts Cassius because of what?
What are the troubling events that Casca and Cicero discuss at the beginning of Scene iii?
What is the Roman attitude toward suicide expressed by Cassius and Casca in Act I, Scene iii?
What is the effect of the image of alchemy in this speech by Casca?
“…that which would appear offense in us, / [Brutus’s] coutnenance, like richest alchemy, / Will change to virtue and to worthiness.”

6. Vocabulary and grammar questions: 1 point each
Rewrite this sentence in the subjunctive mood:
The crowd cheered for Caesar as if he was a king.
Caesar wanted to blame anything he had done wrong on his infirmity, or ?
Casca believes that the strange happenings are portentous, meaning that they are ?
The subjunctive mood is used to express which?
A direct command or an order
A strong opinion
The thoughts of one character about another
A suggestion or a contrary-to-fact statement

7. Open Ended Response: 15 points
Choose one:
In this play, Shakespeare uses the superstitions of ancient Romans to foreshadow what is going to happen. In an essay, describe some of these events or omens. Discuss how they affect the play, how they are related to the situation in Rome in Act I, and how Shakespeare uses them to create drama.
A play’s exposition serves to introduce characters, setting, the situation, and any other details vital to the play’s action. What does Act I, Scene I, tell you? How does Shakespeare reveal information? How is this information significant to what happens in other scenes in Act I?
Some of Caesar’s supporters want to make him king. What is the supporters of a popular American president began a movement to make that president a king? Considering American government system, non-supporters, and difference between “kingship” and “presidency,” relate your answers to the situation in Shakespeare’s Rome.