Lesson video

Hello and welcome to the Oak National Academy for English.

My name is Mr. James.

And today we're going to do our final lesson on our series of lessons on William Shakespeare's, Julius Caesar.

But before we begin this lesson, let's have a look at what we're going to learn.

Well, first of all, we're going to look at the question you will answer.

Secondly, we're going to ask if Brutus is honourable? Third, we're going to look at some quotations that argue he is and some that argue he isn't.

And lastly you're going to write your answer to the question of whether or not Brutus is honourable.

So the focus of today's lesson will be writing an answer to the question, is Brutus honourable? Now, before we begin, we do need to make sure we have all our equipment.

So if you don't have a pen, a paper or your brain, please pause the video now, go and collect them and then come back when you are done.

Okay, welcome back.

Now you have your equipment.

I'd like you to write today's title on your paper.

It's on the screen now.

So pause the video, write the title and come back when you are ready.

So, let's begin the lesson by looking at the question we're going to answer today.

And it's dead straightforward.

Today's question simply says, is Brutus an honourable man? And we are going to look at a few ways we will be able to approach this question.

Now, the first thing we're going to do is we're going to look at four quotations.

And we're going to look at two quotations that argue he is, or we can use to argue he is honourable.

And two quotations we could use to argue, he isn't honourable.

And this first one here is "Think him as a serpent's egg." This is when he is talking about Julius Caesar, before he has assassinated him.

Now this is a quotation we could use to argue that Brutus is honourable.

Now, the first thing I would like you to do, is pause the video and on your paper draw this table cause we're going to fill it in, in a minute.

And make sure you have enough space in the ideas box at the bottom, to write a few ideas about the quotation in there.

So pause the video now, draw this table and we'll fill it in together in a minute.

Okay, welcome back.

Now hopefully you have the quote, the table drawn on your paper.

And we're going to look at this quotation, "Think him as a serpent's egg which hatch'd would as his kind of grow mischievous and kill him in the shell." Now the first thing we need to do is begin filling in this table.

So we're going to write the quotation, "Think him as a serpent egg and kill him in the shell," into the row that says quotation.

Now notice how we haven't written the full quotation in there.

We're just writing the bit of the quotation that is going to be most useful for us.

After you've done that, we're going to say which part of the novel this quotation comes from.

And it comes from Act II, Scene i, during Brutus' soliloquy.

After we've done that, we're going to say, the kind of thing we might use for a topic sentence about this quotation.

Now our topic sentence is the first sentence you write in a paragraph, and it explains what the paragraph is going to be about.

So we could say something like, Brutus is concerned that Caesar is becoming a tyrant.

Because that's the main idea that we would write about when we're writing about this quotation.

So pause the video now, fill in those first three boxes in your table.

Off you go.

Okay, welcome back.

So hopefully you've now got your table filled in.

And we're now going to look up the quotation.

And as we look at it, what I would like you to do, is fill in the ideas box in your table.

Now, I will, after we finish talking about it, show you another example of this table, that's got the ideas box filled in.

But I'm only going to do that for the first quotation.

So it'd be good practise for you to fill in the box yourself and then you can compare what you've written to the ideas that I have at the end.

So let's have a look at the quotation, "Think him as a serpent's egg and kill him in the shell." Well, the first thing to say about this, is the serpent symbolises evil.

And we did talk about this earlier in our series of lessons on Julius Caesar.

Serpent is an idea or an image we associate with evil.

An egg symbolises potential or growth, think of spring.

So this idea of a serpent's egg, suggest something that could grow into something evil.

So when Brutus says, "Think him, Caesar as a serpent egg," he means think of him as something that could grow into something that's evil.

Or think of him as something that has a potential to become a tyrant.

So we also need to think about the second part of the quotation, "Kill him in the shell." Now, when Brutus talks about killing him, killing Caesar in the shell.

What he means is Caesar must be killed before he has the chance to grow into that evil thing.

He must be killed while he's still in the shell before he grows into a serpent or becomes a tyrant.

So in this case, the serpent isn't simply a symbol of evil, but it's also a reference to how Caesar could become a tyrant.

So kill him in the shell before the snake has time to grow.

Now, we need to remember that Brutus believes he is acting in the best interests of Rome.

He thinks that assassinating Caesar would be good for Rome.

That is why we use this quote to show Brutus is being honourable.

Because although he's talking about killing someone, about assassinating Caesar, he believes he's doing it in the best interest of Rome.

So that's why we can say this quote is about him being honourable.

Now, what I would like you to do is pause the video and write down any ideas you have for this quotation into the ideas box at the bottom of your table.

So what ideas might you write about if you're writing a paragraph about this quote? write those ideas into your table.

Off you go.

Okay, welcome back.

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

And you can see at the bottom of my table here, there's a few ideas.

We could say Caesar compares, Brutus sorry, compares to Caesar to a serpent to show how he is evil.

The egg symbolises Caesar's potential to grow more evil.

Brutus decides Caesar must be killed before he can grow more evil.

That relates to those words, "in the shell".

Brutus thinks if Caesars lives he might become a tyrant.

This is honourable because Brutus is thinking about what is in the best interests of Rome.

And remember, our question is about, is Brutus honourable? So we need to relate our ideas back to whether or not Brutus is honourable? So if your ideas are quite different to mine, perhaps you want to pause the video now and update the ideas in your box, so they're more similar to mine.

Come back when you're done.

Okay, welcome back.

So we're now going to look at the next quotation that we'll use to show Brutus is honourable or that you could use to show Brutus is honourable.

And it's this one, "Let us be sacrificers not butchers." So the first thing I'd like you to do, is to draw another table, just like the one you drew before on your work.

So pause the video now, draw this table on your paper and come back to me when you are done.

Okay, welcome back.

So we're going to begin filling in those top three rows.

And the first thing we're going to do, is write the quotation into the quotation box.

And we're just going to say, "Let us be sacrificers not butchers." Then we're going to say, which part of the novel it comes from.

And it comes from Act II, Scene ii, when the conspirators visit Brutus.

And the topic sentence we could attach to this quotation is something like, Brutus does not want any unnecessary violence, because that's the main idea that the quotation shows.

So we could use that as our topic sentence.

Remember, the topic sentence is the first sentence in a paragraph, and it explains what the paragraph is going to be about.

So pause the video now and fill in your table with this information.

And come back to me when you are done.

Off you go.

Okay, welcome back.

So in a minute, we're going to have a look at this quotation, "Let us be sacrificers not butchers." I'm going to go through the quotation and explain what it means.

You're going to have the chance to write some ideas into the ideas box as we go or after I've explained it.

But this time, I'm not going to show you a completed ideas box, because I want you, to fill that in yourself.

So, make sure you're really paying attention so you get some great ideas in your ideas box.

Now the first thing we need to remember is these ideas of sacrifice.

Remember, if you sacrifice something, you give it up to get something better in the future.

Or a sacrifice can mean an animal or a person that is killed as an offering or a ceremony for a god.

And it's that second meaning that we're most interested in.

When Brutus says, "Let us be sacrificers not butchers," he's suggesting that they're going to offer Caesar as a gift to the gods.

They're not going to be butchers, people who brutally cut up meat.

So if you look at the two pictures, you've got butchers on the left, you've got sacrificers on the right.

Brutus is saying, we want to be more like people who are offering Caesar to the gods than people who are committing lots of violence, like butchers on the left.

So let's investigate the quotation itself then.

And remember, at this point in the play, Cassius is trying to persuade Brutus to kill Antony as well as Caesar, but Brutus is refusing.

He said, no, let's not kill anyone, but unnecessarily let's only kill Caesar.

Now the first thing to note is that he makes a comparison between sacrifices and butchers.

He compares sacrificers and butchers, like we've just looked at.

Killing Caesar, Brutus is suggesting, would make them sacrificers.

Killing in the best interests of Rome, sacrificing Caesar in the best interests of Rome.

Whereas killing Antony as well would turn them into butchers, people who kill needlessly and excessively.

And he is comparing those two things and saying, "No, let's not be butchers let's be sacrificers." So Brutus won't kill Antony, even though Anthony may turn against him.

Cause Brutus of course knows Anthony is very loyal to Caesar, and may turn against the conspirators after the assassination.

But even in spite of that, he chooses not to kill Antony.

So remember, you must explain why this shows Brutus is honourable.

So what I would like you to do now, is use the information on the screen to fill in that final box in your table, that's called ideas.

Now remember, I'm not going to show you an example of it completed after this, because I want it to be your own work.

So make sure you do your best to fill that ideas box with as much good information as you can.

Pause the video, complete it now and come back to me when you are done.

Okay, welcome back.

I'm sure you've got some great ideas into that ideas box.

So now we've looked at two quotations that we could use to argue that Brutus is honourable.

And now we're going to have a look at two quotations that we could use to suggest he's not honourable.

And the first one is this, "Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel." Now this is a quotation that's spoken by Antony when he's talking to the citizens of Rome.

But before we get on with that, we need to think about our table and what we're going to put in the first three rows.

So in that first row that says quotation, we're going to write the quotation, "Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel." Where it says part of the novel, we're going to say, well, it's in Act III, Scene ii during Antony's speech.

And the topic sentence would be , Brutus killed his best friend.

So what I would like you to do, is draw yourselves this table and fill in the first three rows with this information.

Pause the video, when you've completed it come back to me and we'll have a look at the quotation in more detail.

Off you go.

Okay, welcome back.

So let's have a look at the quotation in more detail.

Well, "Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel." This is Anthony talking, don't forget.

Now Caesar's angel is a metaphor.

But what's it a metaphor for? Well it's also emotive language.

He's comparing Brutus.

Antony is comparing Brutus to an angel, to show that he betrayed Caesar, to show he betrayed Caesar.

As if he was Caesar's favourite.

And for Brutus to kill Caesar, was an act of betrayal.

So it's a metaphor and it's very emotive, isn't it? Antony is using emotive language to make us understand what a betrayal he feels it was.

It suggests that Brutus murdered his friend in cold blood.

And that is not an honourable thing to do, is it? To murder your friend? Certainly not in cold blood.

So Brutus is, sorry, Antony is disputing Brutus' claim that he did it in the best interest of Rome.

Says no, no one would kill their best friend, that can't be in the best interests of anything.

So and remember, in a minute you're going to fill in the bottom box, the ideas box in your table.

You can use any information on screen and also remember to explain why this shows Brutus as a dishonourable rather than honourable.

So pause the video now, fill in the ideas box and come back to me when you are done.

Okay, welcome back.

I'm sure you've got some great ideas in that box.

And we're now going to look at the final quotation that again shows, Brutus being dishonourable.

And this one is, "You yourself are much condemn'd to have an itching Palm." Now this is when he's talking to Cassius and accusing Cassius of corruption.

So again we're just going to take the most interesting, the bits we need of the quotation.

We're going to say, "You yourself a much condemn'd to have an itching palm, to sell and mart your officers for gold to undeservers." Now the part of the novel this comes from, is Act IV, Scene ii, when Brutus and Cassius argue.

And a topic sentence we could use for this is, Brutus sides with Cassius, even though he knows Cassius is corrupt.

And remember the topic sentence needs to show Brutus being dishonourable, because that is what we would use this quotation to show.

So pause the video now, draw your table, fill in the rows with the information and come back to me when you are done.

Okay, welcome back.

So let's have a look at the quotation in more detail.

Well, "You yourself are much condemn'd to have an itching Palm, to sell and mart your officers for gold to undeservers." So this phrase, itching Palm is a metaphor.

And it's suggesting that Cassius is greedy.

He's saying Cassius is greedy.

But how does this show that Brutus is dishonourable? Well, Brutus also accuses Cassius, of selling the offices for gold to undeservers.

He's saying you're corrupt, you're using your power, your position of power and influence to get money for yourself, by selling these positions of power to other people, rather than giving them to the person who's most qualified.

So, he's saying Cassius you're corrupt, but in the end, Brutus still decides to be on the same side as Cassius, against Antony.

So Brutus overlooks what Cassius is doing.

He overlooked Cassius' corruption.

Because he believes, what he himself is doing is right.

But is it honourable to overlook someone else's corruption? And say, Well, it's convenient for me to be on the same side as you.

So I'll overlook your corruption.

Is that honourable? So what I would like you to do, is fill in the ideas box at the bottom of your table.

And remember to explain why this show's, Brutus is dishonourable.

Why does this quote paint Brutus as a dishonourable man.

Okay, welcome back.

And yet again, I'm sure you filled in that box with some great ideas.

So, we've looked at four quotations and we've explained how we could use them to show Brutus is either honourable or dishonourable.

But before we begin, there's a couple of things I would like you to think about before you answer the question.

The first thing is, which approach are you going to take? Because the question says, is Brutus honourable? Now you could take the approach that, one, yes he is honourable, two, no he is not honourable, or three, you could say Brutus is somewhat honourable.

Now, if you want to take the approach that yes, Brutus is honourable.

You'll write an introduction first.

And then you'll simply use the two quotations that show he's honourable.

You'll use the quotation, "Think him as a serpent's egg," and "Let us be sacrificers not butchers." If you think he's dishonourable, if you are going to argue no, Brutus is not honourable.

Again, you're going to write an introduction, but this time you'll use the quotations, the two quotations that show he's dishonourable or not honourable.

So the one from Antony that says, "Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel." And when he's talking, when Brutus is talking to Cassius and says, "You are much condemned to have an itching Palm." Now, if you take the third approach and say, Brutus is somewhat honourable.

You're going to write your introduction, and then you can use all four quotations.

Now, option three saying he's somewhat honourable is the hardest of the three.

Because you have to be able to balance two different things.

You have to say on the one hand, he's honourable in these ways, but on the other hand he's dishonourable in these ways, and that is harder.

But I would encourage you to do, approach three, if you can.

Now, as I mentioned on the previous slide, the first thing we need to do is write an introduction.

Now I have an example of the kind of thing you might use for an introduction on screen now.

And there is some words missing.

And all the missing words are written at the bottom.

Now if you want to use my example for your introduction, you can.

Equally, if you want to write your own introduction, that's perfectly fine as well.

Another thing you could do, is you could write your own introduction, but you could use my one here to give you some ideas.

The choice for what you do is up to you.

But either way, pause the video now, write your introduction and come back to me when you are done.

Off you go.

Okay, welcome back.

Now you've got your introduction written, we need to write the rest of your essay.

And remember we're answering the question, is Brutus an honourable man? So on screen now , is some advice or the structure you could use to write your essay.

Now remember, if you've chosen yes, you just follow the structure on the left, using those two quotations.

"Think him as a serpent egg." and "Let us be sacrificers not butchers." If you said, no, he's not honourable.

You can use, "Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel," and "You are much condemn'd to have an itching Palm." That's the column in the middle.

If you're going to say he's somewhat honourable, you can use the column on the right and follow that structure.

So it uses all four quotations.

Now, remember to follow the structure on the screen for your chosen option and also use the information in the tables that we wrote earlier in the lesson to help you write about these quotations.

So pause the video now, answer the question and come back to me when you are done.

Okay, welcome back.

Well how did you do? I'm sure you wrote some great answers.

Now what I'm going to do, is I'm going to show you short examples of the kinds of things you might have written for your answer.

Now of course, I haven't got space on screen to include a full answer.

And there's also various different ways you could have answered this question.

So there's no way I can cover everything that's possible for you to have written.

However, I'll just cover, some of the kinds of things you might have wrote.

So, if you said, yes, Brutus is honourable, you might have written something like this.

Brutus' decision to join the conspiracy and assassinate Caesar is honourable, because he is concerned that Caesar is becoming a tyrant.

In his soliloquy.

Brutus described Caesar as a "serpent egg" because serpent symbolise evil and the egg symbolises growth.

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

Therefore, Brutus decides he should join the conspirators and kill Caesar while Caesar is still in the shell, before Caesar has a chance to become a tyrant.

Ultimately, Brutus thinks it is too much of a risk to allow Caesar to live.

This is honourable, because even though his decision could be wrong, Brutus is making the decision based on what he thinks is in the best interests of Rome.

He is the opposite of Cassius, who is part of the conspiracy simply because he is ambitious and wants to take power for himself and wants to get rich.

Now for the paragraph about, "I think him as a serpent egg," if you got anything like that, that's a great answer.

And look at how, when I was writing, I talked about the quotation, I explained what it means and then also I ended the paragraph by explaining why this show's Brutus is honourable.

I said, this is honourable because even though his decision could be wrong, Brutus is making the decision based on what he thinks is in the best interest of Rome.

So hopefully you got something like that.

Now, if you said he's not honourable or you said he's somewhat honourable, you would have something like this.

And perhaps also something like this.

So this is about Brutus being dishonourable.

You might have something like, on the other hand, Brutus also behaves in a way that is dishonourable, for example, he sides with Cassius, even though he knows Cassius is corrupt.

In Act IV, Scene ii, when Brutus and Cassius argue, Brutus actually accuses Cassius of being corrupt.

Brutus says Cassius has an "itching, Palm," meaning he is desperate to get money for himself.

Brutus goes on to say, that he knows Cassius, "sells his offices for gold to undeservers." Brutus is criticising Cassius because Cassius is using his power and influence as a senator for his own personal gain.

In the end, however, Brutus decides to overlook Cassius' corruption and they fight beside one another.

This is not honourable, because Brutus is choosing to allow his friend to behave in ways that he knows are wrong and are definitely not in the best interests of Rome.

This contrasts with how he treats Caesar.

He chooses to assassinate Caesar simply because he thought Caesar might do something wrong in the future, but when he has knowledge that Cassius is doing something wrong, he does nothing.

Brutus is a hypocrite.

So, if you wrote that Caesar wasn't honourable or was dishonourable, or you fell on both sides.

You said perhaps Caesar is honourable and dishonourable.

You might also have a paragraph that reads something like this.

And yet again, notice how as the paragraph continues toward the end, I explain why this isn't honourable, why this is dishonourable.

Well guys, that's the end of our lessons, our series of lessons on Julius Caesar.

Has been a real privilege for me to be able to teach it to you.

The only thing left for me to remind you to do, is the quiz.

Now don't forget to take the final quiz so you can look at everything you've learned in today's lesson.

Now if you do want to share your work with Oak National, please ask your parent or carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, tagging in @OakNational or #LearnwithOak.

Because I'm sure you've done some great work and it'd be wonderful to see it.

Well the only thing left for me to say is goodbye.

It's been a real pleasure.

I'm privileged to teach you.

And I hope you do really well at school in the rest of the year.

Thank you once again and good luck.