Lesson video

Hello and welcome to the Oak National Academy for English.

My name is Mr. James, and today we're continuing with our series of lessons on "Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare.

So let's begin today's lesson by having a look at what we're going to learn.

Well, first of all, we're going to be learning about something called symbolism.

Secondly, we're going to be learning about serpents.

Number three, we're going to learn what a soliloquy is.

And number four, we're going to read the text before number five, answering some questions about the text.

So before we begin, there's a few things you will need.

Number one, you're going to need a pen.

Number two, you're going to need some paper, and number three, you're going to need your brain.

Now, if you're missing any of those things, pause the video now and go and get them, and when you've got them, come back, unpause the video, and we will move on with the lesson.

Okay.

Welcome back, guys.

Now you've got your equipment, let's have a look at what we're going to do first.

Now the first thing I would like you to do is just to write the title of today's lesson, which is on the screen now.

So take your pen and write the title on your paper.

Pause the video.

Off you go.

Okay, guys, it's great to have you back.

And we're going to start today's lesson by looking at symbolism.

So, symbols and symbolism.

Now, as you can see on screen, it says a symbol is a sign or an image that is used to represent something else.

And then underneath it says symbolism is the use of symbols to represent ideas or themes in a story, play, or poem, in a piece of literature.

Now, this is a little bit complex, so just in case you didn't get it the first time, I'm just going to go through that again before we look at it in a little bit more detail.

So number one, a symbol is a sign or an image that is used to represent something else, something different from what the sign or image actually is.

Symbolism is the use of symbols to represent ideas or themes in a story, play, or poem, in a piece of literature.

So let's have a look at the kind of things that we can use as symbols or symbolism.

So here, we've got a picture of, what is it? What's the symbol here? It's a rose.

Yeah.

The symbol here is a rose.

Now a rose can be a symbol of, do you know what could a rose often be a symbol of? Love, as you can see on screen.

So we can say roses symbolise love, or sometimes roses symbolise love.

Let's have a look at another one.

Now this is a bird, and some of you might not know what kind of bird this is, but this bird is a dove.

Now, doves have a particular kind of symbolism or an idea associated with them.

Does anyone know what it is? You might not.

It's not the most common, but doves are often associated with the idea of peace.

So we could say doves symbolise peace.

So sometimes, doves are used to mean peace.

And last but not least, let's have a look at another one.

Now you won't get this one, what the symbol is, because this is a picture of a daffodil, and I'm using a daffodil to stand in for spring.

So that's the idea.

The symbol here is spring.

Now, spring is often associated with ideas of birth or new life, or sometimes even youth, just being young, because spring is the time of year when often new animals are born or new plants start growing.

So we associate spring with ideas of birth, new life, and youth.

So we can say spring in literature is sometimes used to symbolise birth, or we could say it's used to symbolise new life or youth.

Okay, so, here's some symbols with examples of some of the ideas they symbolise.

So what I would like you to do, guys, is pause the video now, and I want you to write out the two sentences that are on this slide, filling in the missing gaps on your paper.

Okay? Do that now.

Pause the video.

When you're done, come back to me.

Off you go.

Okay guys, welcome back.

I'm sure you did really well on that, but let's have a look at what the correct answers are.

So you should have written a symbol is a sign or image that is used to represent something else, and that word represent means stand in for something else.

And symbolism is the use of symbols to represent ideas or themes in a story, play or poem.

I'm sure you did really well with that.

Now, the next thing I would like you to do is write down the name of each of the symbols on the screen now, and then I want you to write down the idea or theme that they are often used to symbolise.

So what did we say roses are associated with? What do roses symbolise? Same for doves, same for spring.

So pause the video now, write down the name of the symbol and what the symbol symbolises.

Off you go.

Okay, welcome back.

Let's have a look at how you did for your first one.

You should have that a rose symbolises love, and the second one, you should have that a dove symbolises peace, and last but not least, spring is often used to symbolise birth, new life, or youth.

So, well done.

I'm sure you did really well on those.

Okay, now we've looked at symbolism.

We're going to have a look at serpents.

Now, we talked about serpents very briefly last lesson, but we're going to look at them in a little bit more detail now.

So the serpent, well, serpent is simply another word for snake, but often in literature, we call them serpents, okay? Now, serpents are associated with the idea of evil.

Serpents are associated with the idea of evil, which means we could say serpents are often used to symbolise evil.

Because they're associated with that idea, we can say that often use to symbolise evil.

And you can see here in this picture, a man tied to a rock and a kind of evil serpent looking like he's just about to attack him.

So you can see how they've been depicted or portrayed throughout both literature and art as evil.

And serpents are one of the most common symbols in literature, and by literature, I mean, stories, plays or poems, okay? Now, lots of this association between serpents and evil comes from the Bible, and one of the, well, the very earliest Bible story of Adam and Eve, because of course it was Eve who was tempted by a serpent to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, to eat one of the apples, which God had forbidden Adam and Eve from eating.

And it was a serpent who tricked Eve into eating from the Tree of Knowledge, and that is what caused humans to fall from Paradise and have to live on earth.

And because of this story, throughout time, serpents have been associated with the idea of evil.

Now, it's important to remember that serpents, even before the Bible, were associated with the idea of evil.

In African cultures, in South American cultures, and in Asian cultures, serpents and evil have been associated for a long time.

And in fact, serpents do have other ideas that are associated with them, but in the West and in the literature of the West, in particular, serpents are associated with the idea of evil, and much of that association comes from the Bible.

So what I would now like you to do is pause the video and complete these sentences, filling in the missing words.

Off you go.

Okay, welcome back.

So I'm sure he did really well on those questions, but let's have a look at the answers.

So sentence one, you should have written, serpent is another word for snake.

And for sentence two, you should have serpents are associated with the idea of evil.

For sentence three, you should have written serpents are one of the most common symbols in literature.

And for sentence four, you should have written, we associate serpents with evil mostly because of the servant, servant? Serpent who tempted Eve.

Okay.

I'm sure he did really well, so well done with that.

Now, next up, we're going to have a look at symbolism, symbolise and serpents.

So the word symbolism, the word symbolise, and serpents, and we're going to put together everything we've learned so far in the lesson.

So when we are writing about symbolism, we often use the word symbolise.

There is lots of symbolism in all of Shakespeare's plays.

That's one sentence we could use that uses the word symbolism.

But look below, there's two words that use the word symbolise.

Roses are often used to symbolise love or serpents symbolise evil.

Okay? So we have to be careful about which word we use.

So what I would like you to do is read these four sentences and choose which two are correct.

We've got, doves are symbolism of peace, doves symbolise peace, spring gives symbolism of birth and new life, and spring symbolises birth and new life.

What I would like you to do is read through these sentences again, choose the two that you think are correct, and hold those numbers in your head.

I'm just going to give you a few seconds, then I'll tell you the right answer.

Okay, let's have a look at what you got.

And the correct answers are.

It's two and four.

So both of these sentences should use the word symbolise.

Doves symbolise peace and spring symbolises birth and new life.

Okay, hopefully you got that question correct.

Now, we're going to look at another word now, and this is called soliloquy.

Now I'm going to say that a couple of times, because it is a kind of tricky word to say.

I'll say it nice and slowly.

Soliloquy.

Soliloquy.

Maybe say it yourself.

Say it now.

Soliloquy.

Soliloquy.

Shout it out, perhaps.

Soliloquy! Soliloquy! Maybe not too loud.

People might think you're a little bit strange, but it is a tricky word to say, so say it a few times, soliloquy, just to get used to it.

Now, a soliloquy is a long speech where a character speaks their thoughts aloud.

So a character is given a speech, but really what we're hearing is their thoughts, because of course, there's no way to get inside a character's head.

If you're reading a novel, sometimes the author, the narrator can explain what thoughts the character is having, but it's much more difficult to do that in a play.

And the way playwrights get around that is simply by having the character stand on stage and speak aloud their thoughts.

So a soliloquy is where a character, it's a long speech where a character speaks their thoughts aloud.

Now, these thoughts cannot be heard by the other characters.

And because of this, the character who's speaking the thoughts aloud, who's giving the soliloquy, is usually alone on stage.

Now, very occasionally, there might be another character on stage while a character's giving a soliloquy, but most of the time, when a soliloquy is happening, a character is alone on stage, so you don't get any confusion, really, about whether or not other characters can hear what they're saying.

Now, what I would like you to do is pause the video and finish these sentences, fill in the gaps about soliloquy.

Off you go.

Okay guys, welcome back.

I'm sure you did really well with the sentences about soliloquy.

Soliloquy.

But let's have a look at the correct answers.

So for sentence one, you should have a soliloquy is a long speech where a character speaks their thoughts aloud.

For sentence two, you should have the character is usually alone on stage.

And for sentence three, you should have, it cannot be heard by other characters.

So I'm sure you did really well on all those sentences.

Now, we've learned about soliloquy.

We've learned about symbolism.

We've learned about serpents.

So it's time to have a look at the play.

Now, just before we do, we're just going to do a quick recap of what happens in this scene.

Of course, we did study it last lesson, but firstly Brutus is at home alone.

Secondly, he decides to join the conspiracy.

Number three, the other conspirators arrive at his house.

Four, they discuss their plans for the plot, and number five, the conspirators leave Brutus alone at home.

So let's get on and read the play.

Now we're looking at it in Shakespeare's original language this time, and the first thing we get is a soliloquy from Brutus in which he speaks his thoughts aloud and explains so the audience can hear why he decides to join the conspiracy.

Now, remember, he's not speaking directly to the audience.

He's speaking his thoughts aloud, and the reason he's doing that is so the audience can understand.

That's the decision that Shakespeare made.

Shakespeare thought, "How am I going to explain to the audience? How am I going to make sure the audience know Brutus's reasons for joining the conspiracy? I know.

I'll use a soliloquy in which Brutus thinks about his reasons for joining the conspiracy, and therefore the audience will hear his reasons." So let's begin by reading his soliloquy.

Brutus begins by saying, "It must be by his death, and, for my part, I know no personal cause to spurn him, but for the general." Now, what he's saying here is, "I have no reason to hurt Caesar, but for the general good of Rome." So we know, we can hear his thoughts.

He's saying, "Look, I haven't got a personal reason to assassinate or to hurt Caesar, but it would be in the general good of Rome." So immediately, we're hearing his thoughts and we're starting to understand why he's going to join the conspiracy.

So Brutus continues.

"He would be crown'd," meaning he wants to be crowned, "How that might change his nature, there's the question." How would that change Caesar? "It is the bright day that brings forth the adder." Now, an adder is a poisonous snake.

"And that craves wary walking." So you must be careful walking when poisonous snakes were around, in the same way that in Rome, they would have to be careful when Caesar is around, if he gets crowned, because he might become a tyrant.

"Crown him that, and then, I grant, we will put a sting in him that at his will he may do danger with." So, he might sting Rome, metaphorically.

It's a metaphor, like an adder, a poisonous snake can sting people.

And Brutus finises by saying, "And therefore think him as a serpent's egg which hatch'd would as his kind grow mischievous, and kill him in the shell." So this is a really interesting quote.

So we'll have a look at it in more detail later, but we'll just have a quick look now.

So he's saying, "Think him as a serpent's egg," so like a baby serpent that's just getting ready to hatch, And which, when hatched, "would as his kind grow mischievous," that would become dangerous, that would become evil, as all serpents do.

So you can see how Brutus here is drawing on that symbolism of serpent.

And then he says, "And kill him in the shell." So he's saying, "We must kill him while he's still a baby serpent in the shell, before we allow him to grow into a full-grown serpent and become evil." Kill him in the shell before he's hatched.

Okay, so then we get this stage direction at the top in italics.

It says, "Enter Lucius," and remember, Lucius is Brutus's butler, and Lucius says, "Sir, 'tis your brother Cassius at the door, who doth desire to see you." And doth means does, who wants to see you.

Brutus says to Lucius, "Is he alone?" And Lucius says, "No, sir, there are more with him." Brutus.

"Do you know them?" Lucius replies, "No, sir, their hats are pluck'd about their ears, and half their faces buried in their cloaks, that by no means I may discover them." So because they've got their hats pulled low over their ears and their faces hidden behind their cloaks, their clothing, I can't work out who they are.

That's what Lucius is saying.

And why do you think the conspirators are dressed this way? Because that's who's coming round with Cassius.

Why do you think the other conspirators are dressed in this way? Do you have any ideas? Well, it's because a conspiracy is something illegal, isn't it? If you're conspiring to do something, you're going to do something that's secret and illegal, and of course, they're going to assassinate Caesar.

They don't want to be seen together as a group.

They want to be as secretive as they can be.

They're trying to be as discreet as they can be.

Okay? So Brutus says, "Let 'em enter." And then we get another stage direction.

It says, "Exit Lucius," because he's walked off stage to go and open the door and let the conspirators in.

And then we get a stage direction that says, "Enter the conspirators, Cassius, Casca, Decius, Cinna, Metellus, Cimber, and Trebonius." Cassius says, "Let us swear our resolution." And here he means let us swear an oath, make a promise to one another, that we are going to go through with the assassination, with the conspiracy.

But Brutus, he doesn't agree with Cassius.

He says, "No, not an oath.

If not the face of men, the sufferance of souls, the time's abuse.

If these be motives weak, break off betimes, and every man hence to his idle bed." So he's saying, "If the motive to make Rome better isn't good enough, you shouldn't be involved in this plot or this conspiracy.

You shouldn't need to promise to each other, because we should be honourable, and we're doing this in the best interests of Rome, and if that's not what you're doing, you should go off and go to bed and not be part of this conspiracy, and we don't need to make a promise, we don't need to swear an oath, because we're honourable and doing this in the best interests of Rome." And it continues, "So let high-sighted tyranny range on till each man drops by lottery." Okay? He's saying, "Caesar's tyranny would rule over Rome until everyone is dead, if we don't act," and he's saying, "That's why we must act.

Not because we've made a promise to each other, but because Caesar would be a tyrant and he would kill everyone as if by lottery, just randomly." Lottery here means randomly, really.

And then he continues.

"But if these, as I am sure they do, bear fire enough to kindle cowards then, countrymen, what need we any spur but our own cause to prick us to redress?" So here he's saying, "The good of Rome would be enough to motivate a coward to join the conspiracy and assassinate Caesar.

And if it's enough for a coward to do the action, it should be enough for us brave, noble, honourable men." He's saying, "We don't need to swear a promise because we're brave, noble, honourable, and acting in the best interests of Rome." Then Decius pipes up and he says, "Shall no else, or no man else, be touch'd but only Caesar?" So should we kill anyone else? That's what he's saying.

And Cassius says, "Decius, well urged." And basically when he says, "Well urged," he's saying, "Oh yes, good idea, Decius." Cassius continues.

"I think it is not meet Mark Antony, so well beloved of Caesar, should outlive Caesar.

We shall find of him a shrewd contriver." So Cassius is saying, "Yes, I think we should kill Mark Antony as well, because he's a great friend of Caesar, and if we don't kill him, he might not be very happy about what we've done, and he'll plot revenge, and he's good at plotting." So Cassius wants to get Antony out the way as well.

But Brutus, he disagrees with Cassius.

Again, he says, "No." He says, "Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius, to cut the had off and then hack the limbs like wrath in death and envy afterwards; for Antony is but a limb of Caesar." So basically he's saying here, "Without Cesar, Antony has nothing.

He's just like a limb that's been cut off a body.

He's nothing without Caesar." And then he says, "Let us be sacrificers, but not butchers, Cassius." And we talked about that quotation last lesson.

And he continues, "But, alas, Caesar must bleed for it! And, gentle friends, let's kill him boldly, but not wrathfully." So he's saying, "We know what we're doing is right, so we'll do it confidently, but we should not do it out of anger." He says, "Let's carve him as a dish fit for the gods." And how does this idea relate to the idea of sacrifice that we talked about last lesson? "Carve him as a dish fit for the gods," as if they're offering a wonderful meal to the gods, rather than, "Hew him as a carcass fit for hounds." That's the next line.

And then he finishes by saying, "And for Mark Antony, think not of him, for he can do no more than Caesar's arm when Caesar's head is off." Again, returning to his point that without Caesar, Brutus believes Antony is useless.

Okay, guys.

So we've now read today's extract and we're going to have a look at a couple of questions and quotations.

So the first quotation we want to look at is this one from Brutus.

"Think him as a serpent's egg which hatch'd would as his kind grow mischievous and kill him in the shell." So the question is this.

Why does Brutus describe Caesar as a serpent's egg? Try to use the words soliloquy and symbolise or symbolism in your answer.

Now, before you have a go at this question, I am going to go through the quotation with you, just to make it a little bit easier for you, and to show you some of the things you might want to talk about.

So here's the quotation, and in bold, we've got serpent's egg.

Now, the first thing to say about serpent's egg is that a serpent symbolises evil, but we've also got this other word, egg.

Now, an egg can symbolise potential or growth.

Think of spring.

An egg is similar, because an egg is something that a baby is born into and hatches out of.

So it's something that grows, and it also has the potential to turn into something bigger and more powerful than it is.

So we've got two ideas going on here in this phrase, serpent's egg.

But as we read through the quotation, there's some more things that are interesting, that are related to this idea of serpent's egg.

He says, "Which hatch'd would grow, which would as his kind of grow mischievous." Okay, so this here, "As his kind of grow," relates to this idea of growth, obviously, okay? And then we've also got this word, mischievous.

Now, mischievous, if you're mischievous, it means you do things that are a little bit bad.

So this seems to relate to this idea of evil.

So you can see how Shakespeare is using Brutus's language to build up this idea of Caesar as something that has potential to grow into something evil.

We've got serpent's egg, and which hatched would as his kind of grow mischievous, become evil.

And then at the end, we have this phrase, "and kill him in the shell." Okay? So by kill him in the shell, Brutus means Caesar must be killed before he has the chance to become evil.

He's saying, "If we leave him, he's going to be like a serpent who can grow from a baby serpent into an evil and dangerous serpent.

So we must kill him while he's still in the shell, while he's still in the baby, before he has time to become evil, before he has time to grow into a serpent." Okay, so all that information I've just talked through is now on screen.

What I would like you to do is answer the question, why does Brutus describe Caesar as a serpent's egg? And try to use the words soliloquy and either symbolise or symbolism in your answer.

Pause the video, have a go, and when you're done, come back and I'll go through the kind of thing you might have written.

Off you go.

Okay, welcome back.

So let's have a look at the kind of things you might have written.

Well, if you've got a good answer, you might've written something like this.

In his soliloquy, you can see there's that language, in his soliloquy, Brutus describes Caesar as a, quote, serpent's egg, because serpents symbolise evil, there's that word, symbolise.

Brutus is worried that if Caesar continues to rule Rome, he will grow into an evil tyrant.

And if you've got anything like that, that's a really good answer.

But if you want a great answer, you might have something more like this.

In his soliloquy, Brutus described Caesar as a serpent's egg because serpents symbolise evil, and the egg symbolises growth.

Brutus suggests that if Caesar is left to rule Rome, he will hatch, and over time, grow into a leader who is more and more tyrannical.

Therefore, Brutus decides he should join the conspirators and kill Caesar while he is still in the shell.

And you can see the second answer just has a lot more information and detail in it, doesn't it? And also, there's lots of small quotations built in to the answer, and we call these embedded quotations.

So if you look in the first line, we've got serpent's egg, just becomes part of the sentence in quotation marks.

And then we've also got the word egg itself as part of that first sentence on the second line.

We've also got the word hatch on the third line.

Brutus suggests that if Caesar is left to rule Rome, he will, quote, hatch, and over time grow into a leader.

Again, we're building quotations from the text into our answers and they just form part of the sentences.

And that is the really the way you should try to use quotations.

Okay, so if there's anything you've seen in either of those answers that you want to use to improve your answer, pause the video now, improve your answer, and come back when you are done.

Okay, welcome back.

So let's have a look at the next question.

This question says, how does Shakespeare present the difference between Brutus and Cassius in this scene? And then it says, try to use the words honour and ambition in your answer, because of course, we know Brutus is honourable, and Cassius is ambitious.

Now, we've got two quotes at the top.

One from Cassius that says, "I think it not meet Mark Antony should outlive Caesar." Now, meet just means right, okay? I think it not right that Mark Antony should outlive Caesar.

And Brutus, his quote is, "Let's just be sacrificers, but not butchers." So I want you to use these quotations, if you can, to help you answer the question, how does Shakespeare present the difference between Brutus and Cassius in this scene, using the words honour and ambition in your answer.

Off you go.

Pause the video.

Come back when you're done.

Okay, welcome back.

Let's have a look at the kind of thing you might have written.

In this scene, Shakespeare presents Cassius as ambitious because he is desperate to kill Antony as well as Caesar, so it is easier to take power for himself, but Brutus is more honourable because he only wants to sacrifice Caesar for the good of Rome.

And hopefully you got something similar in your answer.

Now, the final thing I would like to mention to you before we finish today's lesson, is the word but.

Now, but is a short word, only three letters long, dead straightforward, but really useful.

And you can see how in this sentence using the word but allows me to talk about the difference between Brutus and Cassius in one sentence.

So in one sentence, I'm talking about both Brutus and Cassius and how they're different, by using the word but, because but is a word that allows you to show difference between things.

If I wanted to show similarity, I might use the word and, but the use of the word but here allows me to talk about two things simultaneously.

That means at the same time.

Okay, guys.

Well done.

We're at the end of today's lesson.

You've done really well once again, and I've really enjoyed teaching you about "Julius Caesar," about serpents, about symbolism, and about Brutus and his soliloquy.

So you've done really well today.

Now there's just one thing I need to remind you of, and that is about the quiz.

So yes, don't forget to take the end of the lesson quiz and you will find the button for it somewhere below.

Once again, it's been great teaching you today, and I'm really looking forward to seeing you for next lesson on the Oak Academy's unit for "Julius Caesar." Well done.

See you soon.