This question has two parts. First, answer Part 1. Then, answer Part 2. Part 1 Read the excerpt from “Julius Caesar, Act 2, Scene 3.” Portia: I must go in. Ay me! How weak a thing The heart of woman is! O Brutus, The heavens speed thee in thine enterprise!—Sure, the boy heard me. Brutus hath a suit That Caesar will not grant. O, I grow faint! Run, Lucius, and commend me to my lord. Say I am merry. Come to me again, And bring me word what he doth say to thee. What conclusion does this excerpt best support?
Read the excerpt from Julius Caesar , act 2, scene 1. PORTIA: If this were true, then should I know this secret. I grant I am a woman, but withal A woman that Lord Brutus took to wife. (300) I grant I am a woman, but withal A woman well reputed, Cato’s daughter. Think you I am no stronger than my sex, Being so fathered and so husbanded? Tell me your counsels; I will not disclose 'em. (305) I have made strong proof of my constancy, Giving myself a voluntary wound Here in the thigh. Can I bear that with patience, And not my husband’s secrets? BRUTUS: O ye gods, (310) Render me worthy of this noble wife! [Knocking within] Hark, hark, one knocks. Portia, go in a while, And by and by thy bosom shall partake The secrets of my heart. (315) All my engagements I will construe to thee, All the charactery of my sad brows. Leave me with haste. Which line from the text best supports the conclusion that Brutus intends to tell Portia about his plans?
Read the excerpt from Julius Caesar , act 2, scene 2. CALPURNIA: Caesar, I never stood on ceremonies, Yet now they fright me. There is one within, Besides the things that we have heard and seen, (15) Recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch. A lioness hath whelpèd in the streets, And graves have yawned, and yielded up their dead. Fierce fiery warriors fight upon the clouds, In ranks and squadrons and right form of war, (20) Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol. The noise of battle hurtled in the air, Horses did neigh, and dying men did groan, And ghosts did shriek and squeal about the streets. O Caesar, these things are beyond all use, (25) And I do fear them. Which quotations from this excerpt are examples of imagery? Choose three correct answers.
Read the excerpt from Julius Caesar , act 2, scene 2. CAESAR: What can be avoided Whose end is purposed by the mighty gods? Yet Caesar shall go forth, for these predictions Are to the world in general as to Caesar. (30) CALPURNIA: When beggars die there are no comets seen; The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes. CAESAR: Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once. Which examples from the passage pair a symbol with its reference in the passage? Choose two correct answers.
Read the excerpt from Julius Caesar , act 2, scene 1. PORTIA: If this were true, then should I know this secret. I grant I am a woman, but withal A woman that Lord Brutus took to wife. (300) I grant I am a woman, but withal A woman well reputed, Cato’s daughter. Think you I am no stronger than my sex, Being so fathered and so husbanded? Tell me your counsels; I will not disclose 'em. (305) I have made strong proof of my constancy, Giving myself a voluntary wound Here in the thigh. Can I bear that with patience, And not my husband’s secrets? BRUTUS: O ye gods, (310) Render me worthy of this noble wife! [Knocking within] Hark, hark, one knocks. Portia, go in a while, And by and by thy bosom shall partake The secrets of my heart. (315) All my engagements I will construe to thee, All the charactery of my sad brows. Leave me with haste. Which line from the text best supports the conclusion that Brutus intends to tell Portia about his plans?
Read the excerpt from Julius Caesar , act 2, scene 1. BRUTUS: Give me your hands all over, one by one. CASSIUS: And let us swear our resolution. BRUTUS: No, not an oath. If not the face of men, The sufferance of our souls, the time’s abuse— (120) If these be motives weak, break off betimes, And every man hence to his idle bed. So let high-sighted tyranny range on Till each man drop by lottery. But if these— As I am sure they do—bear fire enough (125) To kindle cowards and to steel with valor The melting spirits of women, then, countrymen, What need we any spur but our own cause To prick us to redress? What other bond Than secret Romans that have spoke the word (130) And will not palter? And what other oath Than honesty to honesty engaged, That this shall be, or we will fall for it? Swear priests and cowards and men cautelous, Old feeble carrions and such suffering souls (135) That welcome wrongs. Unto bad causes swear Such creatures as men doubt. But do not stain The even virtue of our enterprise, Nor th' insuppressive mettle of our spirits, To think that or our cause or our performance (140) Did need an oath, when every drop of blood That every Roman bears—and nobly bears— Is guilty of a several bastardy If he do break the smallest particle Of any promise that hath passed from him. (145) How does this scene contribute to the plot?
Read the excerpt from Julius Caesar , act 2, scene 1. DECIUS: Shall no man else be touched, but only Caesar? CASSIUS: Decius, well urged. I think it is not meet Mark Antony, so well beloved of Caesar, Should outlive Caesar. We shall find of him A shrewd contriver. And you know his means, (165) If he improve them, may well stretch so far As to annoy us all; which to prevent, Let Antony and Caesar fall together. BRUTUS: Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius, To cut the head off and then hack the limbs, (170) Like wrath in death and envy afterwards— For Antony is but a limb of Caesar. Let us be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius. We all stand up against the spirit of Caesar, And in the spirit of men there is no blood. (175) O, that we then could come by Caesar’s spirit, And not dismember Caesar! But, alas, Caesar must bleed for it. And, gentle friends, Let’s kill him boldly, but not wrathfully. Let’s carve him as a dish fit for the gods, (180) Not hew him as a carcass fit for hounds. And let our hearts, as subtle masters do, Stir up their servants to an act of rage, And after seem to chide 'em. This shall make Our purpose necessary, and not envious, (185) Which so appearing to the common eyes, We shall be called purgers, not murderers. And for Mark Antony, think not of him, For he can do no more than Caesar’s arm When Caesar’s head is off. (190) Which conclusion does Brutus’ excerpt best support?
Read the excerpt from Julius Caesar , act 1, scene 2. BRUTUS: Ay, Casca. Tell us what hath chanced today, That Caesar looks so sad. (225) CASCA: Why, you were with him, were you not? BRUTUS: I should not then ask Casca what had chanced. CASCA: Why, there was a crown offered him: and being offered him, he put it by with the back of his hand, thus; and then the people fell a-shouting. (230) What does the symbol of a crown represent in this excerpt?
Read the excerpt from Julius Caesar , act 1, scene 2. CASCA: I can as well be hanged as tell the manner of it. It was mere foolery, I did not mark it. I saw Mark Antony offer him a crown—yet 'twas not a crown neither, 'twas one of these coronets—and, as I told (245) you he put it by once; but, for all that, to my thinking he would fain have had it. Then he offered it to him again; then he put it by again— but to my thinking he was very loath to lay his fingers off it. And then he offered it the third (250) time; he put it the third time by. And still as he refused it, the rabblement hooted, and clapped their chapped hands, and threw up their sweaty nightcaps and uttered such a deal of stinking breath because Caesar refused the crown that it had almost choked (260) Caesar; for he swooned and fell down at it. And for mine own part, I durst not laugh for fear of opening my lips and receiving the bad air. Which senses does this excerpt appeal to? Choose three correct answers.
Read the excerpt from Julius Caesar , act 2, scene 1. CASSIUS: But it is doubtful yet, Whether Caesar will come forth today or no; For he is superstitious grown of late, (205) Quite from the main opinion he held once Of fantasy, of dreams and ceremonies: It may be these apparent prodigies, The unaccustomed terror of this night, And the persuasion of his augurers, (210) May hold him from the Capitol today. DECIUS: Never fear that. If he be so resolved I can o'ersway him; for he loves to hear That unicorns may be betrayed with trees, And bears with glasses, elephants with holes, (215) Lions with toils, and men with flatterers; But when I tell him he hates flatterers; He says he does, being then most flattered. Let me work; For I can give his humour the true bent, And I will bring him to the Capitol. (220) Which conclusion does this excerpt best support?
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