Wednesday, February 23, 2011

William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.


The tragedy of Julius Caesar opens with Caesar returning from battle and the Romans are ecstatic because of the victory. The crowd is so pleased with Caesar, they try to crown him king three times. Caesar though, does not take the crown. That night, storms and supernatural events happen all over Rome, and Caesar's closest friends and guards meet up to plan a murder because they are afraid Caesar will become too powerful. They decide that they would kill Caesar the next day at Senate.
The next morning, Caesar's wife, Calphurnia, tries to convince him to stay home because she had night terrors that had to do with Caesar's fate. Dispite his wife's wishes, Caesar still travels to the city. On his way there, he is approched by a witch type person who warns him to "beware the ides of March". Caesar basically blows her off, saying that she is just foolish. After Caesar's speech at the senate, the men who planned to kill Caesar ask to speak with him. They all begin to bow down to Caesar, then one by one begin stabbing him. When Caesar see's his best friend, Brutus, he gives up his struggle to survive and dies. (Spoiler Alert?)
The murdurs soak their hands in Caesar's blood, but Brutus weeps for him, guilty of his actions. Antony approches the men and ask's why Caesar had to be killed and they reply it was necessary for the good of Rome. When the men leave, Antony swears that Caesar's death will be avenged.
From this point on to the end of the play, the murdurs must deal with their guilt of killing Caesar and learn to deal with their own internal conflicts. Some of the men fail when confronting their internal conflicts, leading to their downfall.
Questions:
1.) In the story, Calphurnia, Caesar's wife, tries to get him to stay home because of bad dreams she had dealing with Caesar's fate. If you had a dream that your significant other was going to be harmed, would you try to convince them to take caution or would you just let it go?
2.) Brutus, being a loyal Roman, knew that he had no choice but to kill Caesar in order to be loyal to Rome. If you knew someone within the country was going to do harm, would you go to such drastic measures to uphold the well-being of the country?

21 comments:

Matt P. 13-14 said...

2. I feel that if I knew my country was in danger I would do something about it, but I don't know if it would be as drastic as killing someone. The situation and threat level to my country would have to dictate my actions. I feel that personally I would not go to such a drastic measure, but I would do anything that I could to alert someone of a threat.

allie s 11-12 said...

Well for question one, I'm not sure what i would do. I would tell the m=person I've been having dreams, but they are just dreams so i couldn't control the person. So i would just let them go, probably, but with caution.
IF my country was in harms way i would do anything to try to help it, just as if my family needed help But i don't think i would go to that measure, just like Matt said. I dont think i could kill someone.

Anonymous said...

1) If the dream seemed more of a warning or realistic, I would tell my significant other about the dream and let them decide whether or not it was important.

2) I would hope the government or military would take care of the situation so I would not have to.

Erika B 13-14 said...

1. I agree with Laura. If my dream seemed realistic, as if I was really there living whatever nightmare it is, I would definitely at least mention it to my loved one. They should at least know you had a dream of them being harmed, even if they think your crazy for thinking a dream foreshadows real life things. At least you can't be at fault for whatever happens, since you warned them.

Kara K. 5/6 said...

1. I definently would try and get them to be aware. I would never let my significant other go out and be harmed whether it was just a dream or I actually knew it was going to happen. The safer you are, the better you are off.
2. I would try my best to uphold the well-being of the country, but it would be very hard for just one person to do that on their own. I would try and get others to help me out.

Betsy C 1314 said...

To answer the first question, I would probably just let it go. I don't really believe in all of the supernatural premonition aspects of life. It all seems a little bit ridiculous, and I wouldn't likely think anything of it.

Hannah L 13-14 said...

1) I don't think I would necessarily try to convince them to be careful because dreams are just dreams the way I see it. I don't think I would ever take them seriously because I've had dreams where it seemed like someone close to me was going to be harmed but nothing ever happened afterwards so I don't think I would be very concerned about it.

Dana G. 13-14 said...

#1. I would probably try to get them to stay home. If I had a hunch about a bad futrie event, I would deffinatly warn them about it

LibbyS5/6 said...

If i had a dream that something may happen to my significant other i would for sure just let it go. I don't believe that dreams are meant to warn you, i think they're just things that we experience.

Brad S 11-12 said...

1. The early civilizations believed more in gods and tales because it was the only thing they had. It kept the people worshiping and brought others together, or separated them from the rest. Dreams are images of your subconscious firing random signals that can not all be remembered when waking. Importance of some may occur and cause you to remember, but telling the future is a different story.

Mike B 13-14 said...

2. I think it is important that there are people like Brutus that will act for the good of their countries. Brutus was a good friend of Ceaser but saw what he was doing to Rome and knew the only way to stop it was to kill Ceaser. If i had to act to save life in America i think i would be able knwing i was helping others.

Vanessa D. 13-14 said...

You all have very good points, so I am just going to answer the questions also instead to replying to everyone.

1.) I'm not sure why, but I always feel like dreams have some sort of meaning. To back that up, one could look into the works of Freud and see how dreams can be a door to the depths of the mind. I usually tell people about my dreams anyways, but in this day and age I think if I were to tell someone "Hey, don't go somewhere because I had a dream that you died." they would just laugh it off.

2.) I'm slightly torn on this question because I don't think I would be able to kill a person, let alone a good friend, like Brutus did, but I think if I was in an adrenaline pumping situation and it was necessary, I could.

David G. 13-14 said...

2. I think sticking up for the good of the nation is important but going to the extent that Brutus did is not the way to handle things. Trying to bring down a tyrannical ruler is obviously no easy task however I don't believe that handling it the way they did was the answer.

Cassie M 11-12 said...

2. That is a very diffcult question morally. Nothing is just black and white. When a ruler is not acting in a just way, it is the duty of the people to bring about a change, and if necessary, remove the ruler from power. Killing is not the right way to go about this, and I would never be able to go to such measures. Some people feel that one life is a necessary sacrifice for the good of many, but it takes a certain type of person to be able to actually murder to achieve this. I would try anything else before resorting to violence.

Cieran B. 5-6 said...

1. If I had a hunch or dream that something bad was going to happen to my significant other then I would do whatever I could to prevent them from going because sometimes its not good to take the chance that they will be fine.

JessieW 11-12 said...

1) Honestly it depends how realistic the dream was. If I dreamt that my significant other was going to die in some bizarre way, I probably would just let it go. But if I dreamt they died in some way that could actually happen, then I would tell them about my dream and tell them to be careful. However, even if I warned them, the final decision is theirs. The real question is, would you listen if someone had a dream about your own death?

Richard B. said...

To answer question two, it really comes down to my affiliation with that said person. If it were a close family member or friend, then no, if it were so random person on the street who I knew was going to commit the act, I'd do everything in my own power to stop them (excluding killing). I feel as though nothing justifies murder, under any circumstance.

Jacci L. 11-12 said...

1. If i had a dream about something like that, usually, I tell people my dreams and how weird it is but if it was a one time thing i wouldn't pay much attention to it besides a bad dream but if it reoccured over and over again i wouldn't think of the dream as just a "dream" so it would depend on how often i had the dream. if i did have it often and it led me to believe they were in harms way definitaly try anything i could to make sure they were safe

2. if i knew someone in our country was going to do harm, i wouldn't personally try to kill him. If anything i would tell the police or a trusted adult.

Ashley A. 11-12 said...

1) If I had a dream like that, and it was something that could concievably, realistically happen, I would definately tell my signifcant other about the dream and ask him to be careful, as ridiculous as I may sound, because it would make me feel better.

MaryL11-12 said...

First question: If I had a bad dream about my husband, I'd probably tell him about it but I don't think I would think anything of it. Of course I would tell him to be careful but I wouldn't get in his way or anything. If the dream was reoccurring I probably would but if it was just a one time thing I don't think I would so anything.

Corinne Sackett said...

Even if i had a scary dream I would not stop my significant other from doing something they needed to do because dreams are usually just a manifestation of worries, so therefore I would already be worried about his fate but if we deemed it safe then the dream would not change my mind.

I would not kill ceasar to be loyal to rome because I believe you owe more to the people around you, especially someone who considers you a friend, than you do to your country. Countries should follow the people, not kill them.