Directions: Answer the Questions with Complete Sentences

Name: Period:

Due Date:

Julius Caesar: Act 2 Study Guide Packet

PART I: Vocabulary

IN YOUR NOTEBOOKS, YOU WILL DO THE FOLLOWING FOR EACH VOCABULARY WORD:
1.  Write the dictionary definition
2.  Generate synonyms
3.  Write the sentence the word is found in (context from the play) – Act, Scene, Line Number
4.  Visual representation (if it’s helpful)
1.  Ascend
2.  Disclose
3.  Valiant
4.  Emulate / 5.  Comment
6.  Disperse
7.  Virture

PART 2: Study Guide

Directions: Answer the questions with complete sentences.

Act 2.1: Rome, Brutus’ garden

1.  Throughout this scene, Brutus resents the sneaky way the others are going about things. Remember, he wants to kill Caesar for the good of Rome, and he believes that this noble cause shouldn’t be smeared by “criminal-like” behavior. Give an example when Brutus spoke out against the behavior of the others.

2.  Why does Cassius plot to kill Mark Antony as well as Caesar? (Give line number and evidence)

3.  How does Brutus persuade Cassius not to kill Mark Antony (identify the rhetorical device he uses)? This was a tactical error, and Cassius knew it, but why was he willing to make it? (Give line number and evidence)

4.  What does Portia want to know? What is Brutus’ answer?

Act II, Sc. 2: Rome, Caesar’s house

1.  Caesar does not fear death because

a.  he thinks he is immortal.

b.  it must come to all men.

c.  the fortune tellers say all is well.

2.  Why does Calphurnia object to Caesar’s going to the Capitol?

3.  Using two or three sentences, describe Calphurnia’s dream.

4.  Why is Caesar more ready to believe Decius’s interpretation of the dream than Calphurnia’s interpretation?

5.  Read the following quote stated by Julius Caesar. Summarize (what is the quote saying) and analyze (what does the quote mean---think about thematic topics) the quote. Finally, explain what this quote says about Caesar as a character (characteristics, beliefs)?

Caesar:Cowards die many times before their deaths; / The valiant never taste of death but once. / Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, / It seems to me most strange that men should fear, / Seeing that death, a necessary end, / Will come when it will come. (II, ii, 33-38).

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Act 2.3-4: A street in Rome and at the house of Brutus

1.  In Scene 3, what seems to be the one remaining hope that Caesar may yet be saved?

2.  According to Artemidorus, what is it that allows others to plot assassinations?

a.  trust

b.  overconfidence

c.  jealousy

3.  What evidence is there that Portia is starting to lose control?

4.  Brutus shows himself to be a poor judge of character. How? He also makes several key mistakes. What are they?