CXC ENGLISH

Hello there, students! We continue looking at Julius Caesar with our English B students. For those of you preparing for English A, we take a look at punctuation and persuasive writing. Read on now, and enjoy your CXC English page.

English B—Julius Caesar In Act 1 and Act 2, we saw the build-up of opposition to Caesar. The conspiracy gained strength, and the plan to assassinate Caesar at the Capitol on the Ides of March has been formulated. In Act 3, the assassination takes place. But notice that there are still two more Acts to follow. Why? Because it’s one thing to remove a ruler, but there are consequences! Brutus, Cassius, and many other brave Romans will die in the civil war that breaks out. And the new rulers that emerge at the end of the play are perhaps less desirable than Caesar was.

Act 3 Scene 1 Caesar seems dismissive of the soothsayer’s prophecies about the Ides of March. He brushes aside Artemidorus (who tries to give him information about the conspirators). He treats with arrogance the senators who humbly beg for Caesar to pardon men he has banished. We get the impression of a dictatorial style.

As Caesar refuses to show mercy, the conspirators gather around and stab him to death. Their victorious cry is “Liberty”; the tyrant is dead. Brutus invites them to plunge their arms into Caesar’s blood before they go to the market-place to explain their action to the populace.

We get the impression that the assassination was well planned—but that no one had really planned what would be done afterwards! (You might be tempted to draw a parallel with the removal of Saddam Hussein and the ongoing trouble that we see in Iraq and beyond.) No one had formed a plan for how to deal with Mark Antony or how to deal with the crowd.

Observe Mark Antony carefully in this scene. He disappears after the stabbing, but quickly sends a messenger to tell Brutus that he will gladly join him and the others if they can show him good reason why Caesar had to die. Then he turns up, says he would be proud to die alongside Caesar, but then shakes hands with the conspirators. He makes no secret of his love for Caesar, but also speaks highly of Brutus. The scene ends with a messenger bringing news to Mark Antony that Octavius is approaching Rome—a bit of news that will be important later.

Scene 2 We move to a public area, where Brutus addresses the crowd, explaining why they had to kill Caesar. His speech is short, factual and rational rather than emotional. He appears to have satisfied the crowd, and so he hands over to Mark Antony, and leaves.

Mark Antony’s speech is quite the opposite: he is emotional, dramatic, sarcastic. Unlike Brutus, who is rather distant in manner, Mark Antony comes close to the people and connects with them. He convinces them that Caesar loved them and had their welfare at heart. He displays the torn garments, and laments openly the gashes made by the traitors. (The two spectacles—first, the assassination on the steps of the Capitol, and now, the spectacle of Mark Antony spreading Caesar’s cape so that the crowd can see the gashes and the blood—are very, very effective in driving home to the audience the horror of what the conspirators have done.)

In a very short time, Mark Antony has won over the crowd, and they vow to cremate the body and then take the burning brands to burn down the homes of the assassins.

Mark Antony is secretly delighted: “Mischief, thou art afoot. Take thou what course thou wilt.” A messenger tells him that Octavius has arrived, and he asks for a meeting.

Scene 3 The crowd has become an unruly mob, burning down buildings and attacking citizens. Poor Cinna, the poet, is set upon because he bears the same name as one of the conspirators! This short scene of disorder is important because it foreshadows even more turmoil.

For You To Do Ask yourself these questions: Was Brutus naïve to welcome Mark Antony into their company? What is Mark Antony’s motive for appearing to join the assassins? Can you find evidence that Cassius does not trust Mark Antony? What advice does Cassius give to Brutus when Mark Antony asks to speak at Caesar’s funeral? Why does Shakespeare mention the arrival of Octavius at this point in the play?

Compare the speeches of Brutus and of Mark Antony. What evidence do we have for saying that Mark Antony understands the crowd far better than Brutus does? What evidence do we have that Mark Antony is a cunning actor—and somewhat devious? What are Brutus’s blind spots?

POINTS OF PUNCTUATION

Restrictive and non-restrictive clauses. One rule of punctuation is that you need to put commas around material that “interrupts” the main sentence: We travelled, as usual, through Miami and Atlanta. (The words “as usual” are an “interruption”, and are enclosed between commas. Notice that the sentence makes perfect sense even if we remove that “interruption”.

Today we look at cases where it is INCORRECT to use commas.

Look at these two sentences: A) President Granger, whose party formed a coalition with the AFC, recently addressed the United Nations on the question of Venezuela’s aggressive moves. B) My favourite aunt, who took chemistry lessons from Ms. Jennings, recently gained her doctorate in pharmacology. If you check them, you will discover that the section between the commas gives us a little more information about the subject, but could be removed from the sentence without changing the meaning. These are called non-restrictive clauses, and commas are required. Now look at these two sentences: C) The man over there* who is wearing a red cap and dark shades *looks like a criminal. (The clause in italics cannot be removed from the sentence because it is needed to identify which man we are speaking about. There may be many men, but we are RESTRICTING our comment to the one who is wearing a red cap and dark shades.)

D) People *who handed guns over to the police during the period of amnesty *will not be charged. (The clause in italics cannot be removed from the sentence because it is needed to identify the kind of people who will not be charged. There are many people in Guyana, but we are RESTRICTING our comment to those who handed guns over during the period of amnesty.) It would actually be wrong to put commas in the spots where we have put asterisks.

RULE

Commas must be placed around a NON-RESTRICTIVE clause such as you find in A and B. Commas must NOT be placed around a RESTRICTIVE clause, such as you find in C and D.

PERSUASIVE WRITING

In your exam, you will be asked to write a speech or a letter to the editor of a newspaper, giving your opinion on a topic. The MOST important aspect of this assignment is for you to come up with STRONG ARGUMENTS.

No doubt you have seen on TV on the news how thousands of refugees are risking their lives to leave Syria and other war-ravaged countries in the Middle East and Africa, and are seeking asylum in Europe.

Do you think we should invite, say, 30,000 of the refugees to come and live in Guyana? * Find THREE strong arguments in favour of doing so. * Find THREE strong arguments against doing so.

Next week we will show you how to organize your letter, using these points.

VOCABULARY BUILDING

Here are some adjectives. Give the corresponding NOUN. necessary, keen, alert, difficult, suspicious, persistent, negligent, resentful, speculative, anxious, hot, fat, cruel, new, red, vacant, proud, lenient, foolish, free.

Have you heard this one? Why did the spy pull the sheet over his head? How many months have 28 days? When the dog lover put his finger into the dog’s mouth to see how many teeth it had, what did the dog do?

BEING YOUR OWN EDITOR

See if you can spot the mistakes in these sentences: 1) Its worrying to us that the dog is forever chasing it’s own tail. 2) The police car past us a few miles back and it was then that the passenger reported the lost of her gold chain. 3) The elderly man told us their were stories of ghosts haunting the premisses. 4) I saw him standing up and leave the room so I asked his sister when will he come back? 5) Despite he had no money to buy gas for the car he still managed to keep it’s engine in good condition. 6) A sound knowledge of maths and computers are necessary if you want to persue a career in buisness. 7) Like Martin Carter, poems by Dennis Scott deal with the Caribbean experience. 8) Following his sister’s example, becoming a doctor seemed the obvious choice for the young man.

ANSWERS

Being Your Own Editor

1) It’s worrying … chasing its own tail. 2) The police car passed us … reported the haunting the premises. 4) I saw him stand up and leave … so I asked … when he would come back. 5) Although he had no money to buy gas for the car he still managed to keep its engine in good condition. 6) A sound knowledge … is necessary if you want to pursue a career in business. 7) Like Martin Carter, Dennis Scott writes poems that deal with the Caribbean experience. 8) Following his sister’s example, the young man the obvious choice. loss of ….… told us there were … considered becoming a doctor

Vocabulary Building Necessity, keenness, alertness, difficulty, suspicion, persistence, negligence, resentment, speculation, anxiety, heat, fat, cruelty, newness, redness, vacancy, pride, lenience, folly/fool, freedom

Have You Heard This One? Because he was an undercover agent! All of them! The dog closed its mouth to find out how many fingers the dog lover had!