Study Guide!
I. Making Connections to What We Know (Activating Background Knowledge):
Have you ever been betrayed by a close friend? What happened and how did it make you feel? My best friend stole my boyfriend from me two years ago and it made me very sad. I felt like I could never trust anyone again. It hurt me most because she chose him over me and I lost two people, instead of just my boyfriend.
II. Overview of Content:
Caution: Power can corrupt! Being an effective speaker can persuade almost anybody, but getting too caught up can force you to do things you wouldn’t normally do. Being passionate about things can cause you to have to choose between things you love. For our purposes in this unit, the love for country and the love of friends can create conflict. Julius Caesar was extremely persuasive and could get anyone to follow him.
III. Key Vocabulary:
1. Covert: secret, disguised
2. Demeanor: conduct, behavior
3. Prodigious: extraordinary in size, amount, extent, degree or force
4. Perilous: dangerous
5. Knave: an unprincipled, untrustworthy, or dishonest person
IV. Sketch and Label Key Ideas:
Sketch:
Reformer!
· Treated his enemies with kindness.
· Ended corruption in the government.
· Restored cities that were destroyed in Civil War.
· Improved public works.
· Won support of soldiers through leadership and speeches.
· Strengthened and expanded Rome.
· Split up land for those who needed it.
· Made overseas colonies.
Label: Is Julius Caesar a dictator or reformer?
Sketch:
· Using your words to influence people and demonstrate power.
· Words are used in this play to create actions and to move hearts.
· Language differs from actions.
· Powerful speakers in this play know when to appeal to the audiences’ love of liberty, justice or vengeance.
· Julius is killed by pure persuasion.
Label: Rhetoric and Power
V. Summary Statement:
Make sense of all the information you have learned in the play. What are the over-arching themes that you discovered? Sum up the unit in a couple sentences.
Julius Caesar has many convincing and persuasive characters involved in the play and they manipulate other characters through their words to do certain things. Another big theme throughout the play is the battle between public and private. Characters struggle with the choice between the good of the community and the values of their friends.
VI. Questions about the Text:
How does fate come into play? Characters in the play are forced to choose between free will and fate; this choice separates them into two categories. Julius, in particular, believes more in fate and letting things happen, but in turn means he doesn’t believe in free will.
Would the play have changed if characters were less stubborn? Yes, they would have been more apt to come to compromises and would not have been led into such disagreements on rulings. Their solutions therefore turn out very differently.
Have you ever been betrayed by a close friend? What happened and how did it make you feel? My best friend stole my boyfriend from me two years ago and it made me very sad. I felt like I could never trust anyone again. It hurt me most because she chose him over me and I lost two people, instead of just my boyfriend.
II. Overview of Content:
Caution: Power can corrupt! Being an effective speaker can persuade almost anybody, but getting too caught up can force you to do things you wouldn’t normally do. Being passionate about things can cause you to have to choose between things you love. For our purposes in this unit, the love for country and the love of friends can create conflict. Julius Caesar was extremely persuasive and could get anyone to follow him.
III. Key Vocabulary:
1. Covert: secret, disguised
2. Demeanor: conduct, behavior
3. Prodigious: extraordinary in size, amount, extent, degree or force
4. Perilous: dangerous
5. Knave: an unprincipled, untrustworthy, or dishonest person
IV. Sketch and Label Key Ideas:
Sketch:
Reformer!
· Treated his enemies with kindness.
· Ended corruption in the government.
· Restored cities that were destroyed in Civil War.
· Improved public works.
· Won support of soldiers through leadership and speeches.
· Strengthened and expanded Rome.
· Split up land for those who needed it.
· Made overseas colonies.
Label: Is Julius Caesar a dictator or reformer?
Sketch:
· Using your words to influence people and demonstrate power.
· Words are used in this play to create actions and to move hearts.
· Language differs from actions.
· Powerful speakers in this play know when to appeal to the audiences’ love of liberty, justice or vengeance.
· Julius is killed by pure persuasion.
Label: Rhetoric and Power
V. Summary Statement:
Make sense of all the information you have learned in the play. What are the over-arching themes that you discovered? Sum up the unit in a couple sentences.
Julius Caesar has many convincing and persuasive characters involved in the play and they manipulate other characters through their words to do certain things. Another big theme throughout the play is the battle between public and private. Characters struggle with the choice between the good of the community and the values of their friends.
VI. Questions about the Text:
How does fate come into play? Characters in the play are forced to choose between free will and fate; this choice separates them into two categories. Julius, in particular, believes more in fate and letting things happen, but in turn means he doesn’t believe in free will.
Would the play have changed if characters were less stubborn? Yes, they would have been more apt to come to compromises and would not have been led into such disagreements on rulings. Their solutions therefore turn out very differently.