Julius Caesar- Solo Acting

The scene I chose to act out is when Cassius flatters Brutus so that he is seduced to join the conspirators. This takes place when Caesar and his train is off to run through Anthony’s race but Brutus decides not to join with them and Cassius takes notice and quickly takes his chance to persuade noble Brutus. This passage is a monologue of Cassius’s thoughts about Caesar. From his experiences with Caesar, he supports that Caesar is unworthy and weak to rule the vast Rome by himself. He also complains to Brutus on how Caesar is disrespectful towards the people who have helped him by emphasizing how badly Caesar is mistreating him as a person who must bow if Caesar condescends to nod to him.

The passage is in Act 1, scene 2, lines 89~130(pg’s 32~34)

Cassius-
I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus,
As well as I do know your outward favor.
Well, honour is the subject of my story.
I cannot tell what you and other men
Think of this life; but for my single self,
I had as lief not be as live to be
In awe of such a thing as I myself.
I was born free as Caesar; so were you;
We both have fed as well, and we can both
Endure the winter’s cold as well as he:
For once, upon a raw and gusty day,
The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores,
Caesar said to me, ‘Dar’st thou, Cassius, now
Leap in with me into this angry flood,
And swim to yonder point?’ Upon the word,
Accountred as I was, I plunged in
And bade him follow; so indeed he did.
The torrent roar’d, and we did buffet it
With lusty sinews, throwing it aside
And stemming it with hearts of controversy.
But ere we could arrive the point propos’d,
Caesar cried, ‘Help me, Cassius, or I sink.’
I, as Aeneas, our great ancestor,
Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder
The old Anchises bear, so from the waves of Tiber
Did I the tired Caesar. And this man
Is now become a god, and Cassius is
A wretched creature, and must bend his body
If Caesar carelessly but nod on him.
He had a fever when he was in Spain,
And when the fit was on him, I did mark
How he did shake; ‘tis true, this god did shake;
How coward lips did from their colour fly,
And that same eye whose bend doth awe the world
Did lose his luster; I did hear him groan;
Ay, and that tongue of his, that bade the Romans
Mark him and write his speeches in their books,
Alas, it cried, ‘Give me some drink, Titinius,’
As a sick girl. Ye gods, it doth amaze me
A man of such a feeble temper should
So get the start of the majestic world,
And bear the palm alone.

Void in Literature

- How I felt as a reader

The title of this story is unknown however, if I had a chance to give a name to this story, I would call it ‘Stones’. In the beginning of the story, when the children piled the stones, I feel that the author used this to foreshadow the consequences of the lottery. And stones acted heavily in the story because it played with mood and irony. Because to me, the stones meant two different ideas, one was a significance of joy and happiness and the other meant violation and pain. This proves that the term ‘Stones’ goes well along with the tension in this story. While reading the story, I thought the lottery as a lucky draw to choose a person who would have to sacrifice everything for everybody else’s sake. The text provided clues that led me to think this. For example, before the lottery, the mood was frequently changing from joy, to sober and back and forth. This meant that the lottery meant something unfortunate to the villagers. Another clue was when a few people were hesitant to help Mr. Summer support the black box because it was the box where the lottery had to be drawn out from and it surely meant that the lottery meant something very bad that even many villagers protested to touch it.

I felt frustrated when the end of the story wasn’t provided. But when we were given the mystery paper, I felt excited and very eager to find out what information he paper held. When I first received the paper, I thought that the ending of the story was inside it and too eager to find out I did not follow the instructions and tore open the paper as soon as I stepped out of class. I think I was extremely anxious inside and was too excited to read the paper.

When the black box was first shown to me, I related it as a lucky draw box and was quite anxious because I wondered on what the lucky draw might be about and whether if I will get drawn for this. At the end, I drew a blank paper I first impression was that I and not chosen for this and I was a bit upset. However, when I started to relate the vote to the story and how everybody was relived not to be chosen from the draw I was calmed after considering that there is a higher chance that blank papers meant something good.

When I read the end of the story, I felt sorry for Tessie and was more comfortable than before but I am a little bit hung because I could still not fully comprehend the true purpose of the lottery even though the author provided the consequences of it. However my prediction of sacrifice was correct. Tessie Hutchinson had to sacrifice herself for the sake of the village.

My predictions were right I feel satisfied that I was right because it felt like as if I could communicate with the author even though he just left scraps of clues behind. In order to make better predictions, I could have annotated passages of the text so that I can comprehend more deeply into the text and determine whether my prediction is likely or not.

The author left voids in the story because he wanted the reader to stay engaged with his writing and keep them wonder on about what will happen next. He also left voids to create tension between the reader and the writing, which teases the reader by providing details but not allowing the reader to figure out the main point.

Through this experience the power void impacted on how I read the story. The unknown title, author information attracted me to read the story. As I read, I kept on asking questions whenever I came across text clues or foreshadowing techniques. However, the delayed ending frustrated me as I hurried and skimmed across the text for any clues on the ending. This created tension in me as the author toyed with my patience. At the end when the mystery paper was handed out, it kept me asking questions on it as I started to relate it to different situations or stories; this kept me curious and impatient.