Lesson video

Hello and welcome to the Oak National Academy for English.

My name is Mr. James, and I'm here to teach you another unit on William Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar." Today we're going to be looking at act three.

Now act three is the most important act of the play and it includes some real drama.

And today we're going to be looking at the most important moment of all, the assassination of Julius Caesar.

But before we begin, let's have a look at what we will learn in today's lesson.

Well first of all, we're going to learn about the climax of a tragedy and what climax means.

We're going to learn about the tragic hero.

Number three, we're going to read the text.

Number four, we're going to answer some questions on the text.

And number five, last but not least, you will complete a quiz at the end to see everything you have learned.

Well before we begin there are a few things you will need to complete today's lesson.

First of all, you're going to need a pen.

Secondly, you will need some paper.

And last but not least, in fact, most importantly, you will need your brain.

So if you're missing any of those things, pause the video now, go and get your equipment, and come back when you're done and unpause the video.

Off you go.

Okay, welcome back.

So the first thing I would like you to do now that you have your equipment is write down today's title.

It's on the screen now, so take your pen, write your title on your paper, and come back to me when you're done.

Off you go.

So let's get started, and we're going to begin by looking at this word, climax.

Now here's a sentence that uses the word climax.

It says, "Brutus and the other conspirators "assassinate Caesar at the climax of the play." But what does that sentence actually mean? Well the climax of a tragedy is the moment of greatest tension.

Now if you look to the right of the screen, you can see a diagram that explains this in a little bit more detail.

Now if you saw the unit on introduction to tragedy, you will have seen this triangle before, but if you haven't, don't worry about it too much.

Just look at how the triangle raises to a point in the middle, and that point is called the climax.

The climax is the moment that the plot has been building towards.

It's the moment the audience have been waiting for.

So in "Julius Caesar," the conspirators have been talking all the way through the beginning about that plot to assassinate Julius Caesar.

So this is the moment that the play is building towards.

And because this is the moment of greatest tension and the moment the play has been building towards, we call it the climax.

And it's the top of the pyramid in this diagram.

So as you can see at the bottom, it says, "In 'Julius Caesar,' the plot has been moving "towards Caesar's assassination." That is the climax.

So here's a question for you.

What is the moment of climax in a tragedy? Now there's two options below.

One says, "When someone is assassinated," and the other says, "The moment of greatest tension." I'm going to give you about five seconds to choose which answer you think is correct.

So make your choice now.

Okay, hopefully everyone's made their choice.

Which do you think is correct? Well, the correct answer is the moment of greatest tension.

Yes, that is the climax in a tragedy, it's the moment of greatest tension.

So the next question says, "What happens "at the climax in 'Julius Caesar'?" Now there isn't any options for this.

I just want you to think of the answer in your head.

What happens at the climax in "Julius Caesar"? You've got five seconds.

And the correct answer is Caesar is assassinated.

Well done, I'm sure you got that.

That's what happens at the climax of "Julius Caesar." So what I would like you to do now is pause the video and copy these sentences, completing them by filling in the gaps.

When you're done, unpause the video and come back to me.

Off you go.

Okay, welcome back.

So let's have a look at how you did.

Hopefully you got these answers.

The climax is the moment of greatest tension in a tragedy and the climax is the moment the plot has been moving toward.

Well done.

Now we've looked at climax, we're going to have a look at another term to do with tragedy, and this term is tragic hero.

Now before we go on to it, there is a few questions I'm just going to ask you first.

The first question says, "Is the character called Julius Caesar "the protagonist, that's the main character, in the play "Julius Caesar"? Yes or no, you've got five seconds to make your choice.

And the correct answer is no, he's not.

Julius Caesar is not the main character.

He's not the protagonist or the tragic hero in the play.

Well, that leads us to ask who is the protagonist or the main character in "Julius Caesar"? Now there's no options to choose from.

You just have to think of the answer in your head.

So who's the protagonist, the main character, in the play "Julius Caesar"? Five seconds.

And the correct answer is Brutus.

Yes, Brutus is the main character, the protagonist in "Julius Caesar," and we call him the tragic hero.

So what is a tragic hero? Well, in a tragedy, there is a character who is respected or admired, but who dies at the end.

Now let's have a look at Brutus for a moment.

Is there anything about Brutus that makes us respect him or admire him, or indeed makes the other characters respect or admire him? Can you think of anything? A word beginning with H perhaps? Yes, of course, it's the fact he's honourable.

That's why we respect and admire Brutus, but it says this character dies at the end, and that is why the story is tragic.

This is why we call it a tragedy.

And this character who is respected or admired and who dies is the character we call the tragic hero.

They're the hero because they're the main character in the story, and it's tragic because they're good and they die at the end.

Now an important thing to remember is that if a bad character dies, this is not tragic.

Generally, when a bad character dies in a story, at the end of the story or in the middle of a story, we're quite happy.

Now we're not celebrating the fact that someone's died, but in stories, we want the good people to succeed and the bad people to not succeed.

So when a bad character dies, we don't say it's tragic.

It's only when a good character dies at the end of a tragedy that we call them the tragic hero.

Now there's a couple more bits of information about the tragic hero of which you do need to be aware.

So the tragic hero does something he believes is good, but which turns out to be bad.

This action, the thing he believes is good but turns out to be bad, causes his downfall and ultimately his death at the end of the story.

Now when we think about Brutus, can we think about Brutus? Can we think he might be doing something that he thinks is good, but actually is probably bad.

Can we think of anything he might be doing? Perhaps assassinating his friend Caesar, perhaps? I mean, Brutus believes it's in the best interests of Rome.

So he believes it's a good thing to do.

But is killing someone or assassinating someone really a good thing to do? And after you've done that, after you've assassinated someone, perhaps that will lead onto other things that have bad consequences.

So we can see how Brutus fits this profile of tragic hero.

Now Brutus is a tragic hero because he believes he was doing the honourable thing by joining the conspiracy and assassinating Caesar.

However, it's not honourable to kill someone, is it? His action will cause a civil war, that is a war within one country, when a country fights with itself.

So his actions will cause a civil war that will ultimately lead to his death at the end of the play.

A and we can see he really fits tragic hero because he's a good person, but he makes a mistake and does something that he believes is good, which is actually bad.

This causes a civil war that will lead to his downfall and his death or the end of the play.

So here's some questions.

"Is it tragic when a baddie dies?" Yes or no? You've got five seconds to make your choice.

Okay, and the correct answer is no, it is not tragic when a bad character or a baddie dies.

So the next question says, "Is it tragic when a main character "who is respected or admired dies at the end of the story?" Yes or no, is that tragic? five seconds? And the correct answer is yes, it is.

It is tragic when the main character who is respected or admired dies at the end and we call them tragic hero.

And, "Does the tragic hero usually believe "what he is doing is right?" Yes or no, five seconds, make your choice.

And the correct answer is yes, the tragic hero does believe usually what he is doing to be right.

And, "What happens at the end of a tragedy?" Does a baddie die or does the tragic hero die? Make your choice, five seconds.

And at the end of a tragedy, the tragic hero dies.

Yes, that is what makes it tragic.

So what I would like you to now do is pause the video and copy and complete these sentences.

Now there's quite a lot of information here.

So if you struggle with one or two of them, don't worry because I am going to show you the answer in a minute, but do your best, pause the video, write the sentences, and come back to me when you are done.

Off you go.

Okay, welcome back.

So let's have a look at your answers.

And it says, "In a tragedy, there is a character "who is respected or admired "and who dies at the end.

"This character is called the tragic hero.

"The tragic hero does something he believes is good, "but which turns out to be bad.

"This action causes his downfall and death." Now if you got all of that, great work, that's really impressive because there's quite a lot of information in that.

If you didn't, you can pause the video now and make any corrections to your work that you need to.

Off you go, Okay, welcome back, so let's move on.

Okay, so we've learned about what the climax of a tragedy is, and we've learned about the tragic hero.

So it's now time to look at the play itself.

Now when we look at the play today, we're going to be going straight in to the Shakespearian version.

We're not going to look at a modern English version first, like we have with most of the other extracts.

So it's really important we know what is going on.

So let's have a look at what happens in the scene.

Firstly Caesar attends the Senate.

If you remember, Decius persuaded him to ignore Calpurnia and attend the Senate because that's part of the conspirators' plan to assassinate him.

They're going to do it in the Senate.

The conspirators beg Caesar to forgive someone called Publius Cimber.

Now that's a distraction to take away Caesar's attention from what is just about to happen.

Cesar refuses.

He says he won't forgive Publius Cimber.

Then the conspirators take this opportunity to stab Caesar while he's distracted in talking to them about something else.

And finally Caesar dies.

So what I would like you to do is pause the video and copying complete these sentences, filling in the gaps so you know exactly what's going to happen in the scene and we can talk about it in a minute.

Off you go.

Okay, welcome back.

So let's have a look at how you did.

Well these are the answers you should have got.

Number one, Caesar attends the Senate.

Number two, the conspirators beg Caesar to forgive Publius Cimber, and that's a destruction.

Number three, Caesar refuses.

He refuses to forgive Publius Cimber.

Number four, the conspirators stab Caesar.

And number five, Caesar dies.

If you got all of those, right, great work 'cause we've only just read them.

If not, don't worry, because we've gone to look at the scene in a minute.

So let's get started.

And we begin with the stage directions at the top in italics, it simply says, "The Senate," to let us know where we are.

So Caesar has arrived and he says, "Are we all ready? "What is now amiss that Caesar and his Senate must redress?" So he said, "Right, is everyone here? "Why have I been asked to attend the Senate? "Why am I here?" And then Brutus says, "I kiss thy hand, "but not in flattery, Caesar, "desiring thee that Publius Cimber "may have an immediate freedom of repeal." And Caesar says, "What, Brutus?" So Brutus is asking Caesar to reconsider his punishment, is banishment, sorry, of Publius Cimber because he's banished Publius Cimber from Rome and he's not allowed to be in Rome.

Now before Brutus has chance to reply, Cassius chirps up and he begins to kneel.

He says, "Pardon, Caesar! Caesar, pardon!" "As low as they foot doth Cassius fall "to bag enfranchisement for Publius Cimber." So he's at Caesar's feet, begging, kneeling him to readmit Publius Cimber into Rome.

And Caesar says, "I could well be moved, "if I were as you," now by moved, he means I could be moved to change my decision, persuaded to change.

"I could well be moved, if I were as you; "if I could pray to move, prayers would move me; "but I am constant as the northern star, "of whose true fixed and resting quality "there is no fellow in the firmament." Firmament means sky or heaven.

"That I was constant Cimber should be banished "and constant do remain to keep him so." So Cassius here is begging for Caesar to change his mind and Caesar is saying no.

And he describes himself using the simile "I am constant as the northern star," because the northern star is a very bright star, that is in the same position every night.

So he's saying just like the northern star never changes its position, I am not going to change my mind.

I am constant.

Then Cinna, another one of the conspirators, decides to kneel, and he says, "Caesar." He's about to make the same request to Caesar and Caesar gets irritated and he just interrupts him and says, "Hence! Wilt thou lift up Olympus?" Now what he means by this is, "Could you do the impossible?" And he means, "Look, it's impossible "to make me change my mind.

"I'm not going to, so don't even bother trying." Then Decius kneels, he gets on his knees and says, "Great Caesar." But again, Caesar interrupts him.

And then he says, "Doth not bootless Brutus kneel?" Because all the conspirators are kneeling around him to beg him and to cause a distraction.

And then he's looking at Brutus and saying, won't you kneel for me, Brutus? And this is kind of showing Caesar's arrogance here.

He thinks everyone should kneel for him and beg him to do things.

Now at this moment we get a real significant thing happen because Casca says, "Speak, hands, for me!" Now what he means here is my hands and my dagger will express what I feel.

Because we've seen many of the other conspirators kneeling around Caesar, causing the distraction, and Casca takes the opportunity to do what? Well let's have a look.

Here we are, we get a picture of what's happening.

We can see Caesar in the middle, in his red cloak, and we can see the conspirators in front of him begging him to allow Publius Caesar back in.

But if we look just above Caesar's head, just behind Caesar, there's Casca with his dagger raised, "Speak, hands, for me," he says.

And he's about to drive the dagger in to Julius Caesar.

And then we got a stage direction.

Look, it says, "Casca first, "then the other conspirators and Marcus Brutus stab Caesar." Now Marcus Brutus is just another name for Brutus.

So let's have a look at this.

And we can see a different piece of artwork from a different artist here.

We've got Casca again in the back in blue, and then we can see the other conspirators all crowded around Caesar, getting ready to stab him as well.

So we can see all the conspirators as one stabbing Caesar and carrying out the assassination.

And of course, all around in the Senate, we can see other senators who are shocked to see what is happening.

So the conspirators have stabbed Caesar.

And Caesar, he says, "Et tu, Brute? "Then fall, Caesar! Dies." And this bit of French we get here, "Et tu, Brute?" Means, "And you, Brutus?" And what Caesar is expressing really is more like, "Even you, Brutus?" Saying, "Brutus, my great friend, "you're involved in a conspiracy to assassinate me? "I can't believe it." And he says, "Then fall, Caesar." So he saying, "If even Brutus is involved in a conspiracy, "I guess I'm going to have to die.

"If even my best friend is involved "in an assassination attempt against me." And here we can see the moment after the assassination.

And we have Caesar's dead body lying on the floor of the Senate.

And you can see how these different artists have interpreted it all in slightly different ways.

So after that moment, Cinna, another one of the conspirators, begins to shout out.

He says, "Liberty! Freedom! "Tyranny is dead!" And then he says, "Run hence, proclaim, "cry about it in the streets." And here he's telling the other conspirators, and also the other senators who were in the Senate, to go and run out into the streets and tell people what they have done, which seems a little bit strange, doesn't it? They've just assassinated someone and they want to go and tell people about it.

They're not running to hide and trying to get away with it by being secretive.

They're going to actually go and tell people what they have done.

So Cassius says, "Some to the common pulpits "and cry out, 'Liberty, freedom, and enfranchisement!'" And a pulpit in Rome was a place where you might go and give a speech to the people.

And he's saying, "Let's go to the pulpits "and tell them what we've done." Brutus says, "People and senators, be not affrighted "fly not, and stand still; ambition's debt is paid." And Casca says, "Go to the pulpit, Brutus.

"Go and speak and tell them what we have done." And here you can see a picture of the conspirators leaving the scene of the crime, the scene of the assassination, leaving the Senate, and they're shouting about what they have done.

They're going to go out into Rome and tell everyone.

Now do you have any ideas about why they might want to tell people? Have a think? Well a large part of the reason is because they want to tell people why they've done what they have done.

They want to say, "We killed Caesar "because he was ambitious." They don't just all want other people running around saying, "They murdered Caesar." They want to say, "No, we assassinated him "for the good of Rome because he was ambitious." They want people to believe their reasons for doing it, or at least what they say their reasons are.

Remember Cassius and Brutus have different reasons.

So we've looked at the play.

We've looked at the extract.

Now let's answer some questions on it.

First off, we have three questions here.

It says, "Why did the conspirators kneel before Caesar?" The second one says, "Which conspirator stabs Caesar first?" And the third one says, "Which Senator "is Caesar surprised to discover is part of the conspiracy?" What I would like you to do is pause the video now, answer these questions, and unpause when you are done.

And I will go through the answers.

Off you go.

Okay, welcome back.

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

So for number one, you might have written something like, "The conspirators kneel before Caesar "so he doesn't suspect anything." That explains why they kneel before Caesar.

And if you wanted to improve it or make it better, or perhaps you already have, you might have added something on the end like, "They appear as though they have great respect for him." That is why they do it.

They want to give the impression they have respect in him and there's nothing wrong and they're not just about to assassinate him.

Question two says, "Which conspirator stabs Caesar first?" You could say, "Casca is the first conspirator "to stab Caesar." And again, if you wanted to improve it, or perhaps you already have, you might say, "He shouts, 'Speak, hands, for me!" And we've got that embedded quotation built into our sentence.

Number three, "Which senator "is Caesar surprised to discover is part of the conspiracy?" You might've written something like this.

"Caesar is surprised to see Brutus "is part of the conspiracy." and you can improve it by saying, "This is because Brutus is known for being honourable "so it is not the kind of thing he would be expected to do." And if you've got those kind of answers, great work, you've got some really good answers.

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

We've got a quotation from Cinna, and he says, "Liberty, freedom! Tyranny is dead! "Run hence, proclaim, cry it about the streets." And the question says, "Why do the conspirators "want everyone to know what they have done?" Now I did talk about this as we went through the extract.

So I want you to look at the quotation, think back to what I said, pause the video, and try to answer the question.

Off you go.

Okay, welcome back.

So let's have a look at how you did.

So this is the kind of thing you might have written for your answer.

"The conspirators want everyone to know what they have done "because they believe they have rid Rome of tyranny." If you've written that, you've got a good answer.

But you could also add to improve it, "They want to get their side of the story out "as soon as they can so people do not say "they murdered Caesar in cold blood." And if you've got both of those things, you've got a great answer.

But if you want a truly excellent answer, you might also have written something like this.

"They want to be seen as sacrifices, but not butchers "as Brutus said in act two, scene two." And if you've done that, I would be really, really, really impressed because you're thinking back and you're linking the answers we're writing now back to other things, other quotations we learned earlier in the play.

So anything like that would be absolutely fantastic.

Right, pause the video now in case there's anything you want to add to your answer.

If not, hold on for a minute and we'll move on to the next question in a moment.

Okay, then guys, let's move on.

And we have another two questions for you here.

The first one says, "Earlier in the play, "Brutus claimed he loved Caesar.

"Has he been a good friend to Caesar?" What do you think? That's question one.

Number two says, "Despite having betrayed his friend, "what are the honourable reasons "for Brutus murdering Caesar?" So two questions, shouldn't take you too long.

Pause the video, answer them now, and come back when you're done.

Off you go.

Okay, welcome back.

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

Now for number one, you're going to have something like, "No, Brutus has not been a good friend to Caesar "because he assassinated him.

"He could have tried to talk to Caesar "and make him a more reasonable leader." So even if you think Brutus has done the right thing by assassinating Caesar, you can't really argue that he's been a good friend to him because good friends don't kill each other.

That's kind of not part of being a friend, really.

So that's the kind of thing you've written for number one.

And for number two, what are the honourable reasons for murdering Caesar? You're going to have something like, "The honourable reasons for killing Caesar "are that he was becoming like a King, "he might become a tyrant, "he was ignoring the Senate, "and Brutus believed it was in the best interests of Rome." And these are things we've learned throughout the units on Julius Caesar.

I'm sure you did great on that.

But here is one more question.

Now it says, "Explain in a few sentences, "whether you think Brutus is an honourable man "or simply a murderer." Now this is all about your personal opinion, your personal thoughts about Brutus and about what he has done.

So, well I'm not going to give you any help with this one.

I'm just going to send you away.

Spend 5 or 10 minutes writing this answer and tell me whether you think Brutus is an honourable man or simply a murderer.

Off you go.

Okay, welcome back.

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

Well, here's one answer you could have come up with.

It says, "I think Brutus is honourable "because he did what was best for Rome.

"He knows he might get in trouble for killing Caesar, "but he did it because he believed it was right.

"The fact Caesar was ignoring the Senate "shows he probably would become a tyrant, "which would be very bad for Rome.

"And then he might murder many more people himself.

"Brutus isn't like Cassius, "who just wants power for himself.

"Instead, Brutus thought carefully about what was best.

"In the end, he tried to make the best of a bad situation." That is one kind of answer you could have had for this.

Now did you go for that? Did you think the Brutus is honourable and just had to do the best with a bad situation? Perhaps you did, or you might have come down on the other side, and then you might've said something more like this.

"I think Brutus is just a murderer.

"Although Caesar was ignoring the Senate, "he had not become a tyrant "and lots of people in Rome loved him "because he brought them lots of loot "from his military victories.

"It's not fair to kill someone "just because you think they might commit a crime "and we have not seen Caesar do anything wrong.

"If Brutus was Caesar's friend, "he should have talked to him, not killed him." So there's an opposing point of view.

And either of those answers would it be fine to answer this question.

The key thing to remember is in both answers, I'm not just giving random opinions.

I'm basing everything I say in the text, the things we know about Caesar, the things we know about Brutus, even some of the things we know about Cassius.

I'm thinking back to things I've learned and I'm using them to help form my opinion.

I'm using them in my answer.

So if there's anything you want to do to improve any of your answers, you can pause the video now and look at mine and use it to improve yours.

Off you go.

Okay, welcome back.

And that is the end of today's lesson.

The only thing for me to remind you to do is to take the end-of-lesson quiz.

As always, the button is down below.

And it will help you to remember and to be aware of everything you've learned in today's lesson.

So last thing for me is it's been a real pleasure teaching you in today's lesson and I look forward to seeing you next time on act three of Julius Caesar.

Well done, guys, you've done some great work today.