Author: jnorth

Love and hate are presented in Julius Caesar by the characters: Calpurnia, Cassius, Brutus and Antony. I also believe the theme of love in Julius Caesar is honourable love and that In Julius Caesar ‘there is a thin line between love and hate’. There are similarities between love and hate as I feel Cassius’s jealousy for Caesar led him to hate him, Brutus’s love towards Caesar led him to hate him and Antony’s love for Caesar led him to hate the conspirators. There is also a theme of hamartia i.e. Cassius was a megalomaniacal, Caesar had too much humorous and so did Brutus. In Julius Caesar I believe there is a ‘wheel of fortune’ in play as throughout the play we see characters in various different stages of their career i.e. the highest and lowest point. At the beginning we see Caesar at the highest point of the wheel but by his death he’s at the lowest point, I feel Brutus then takes his place at highest point of the wheel but also by his death he’s at the lowest point of the wheel and finally Octavius Caesar takes his place at highest point of the wheel and in some way replace Julius Caesar.

Here dramatic monologue is shown as Cassius feels Caesar is portrayed as a god and he and the others are slaves to his will “And this man has now become a god, and Cassius is a wretched creature and must bend his back If Caesar carelessly but nod on him”. He doesn’t believe Caesar should be as powerful as he is or that Caesar name shouldn’t be  more loved, respected or talked about than his or Brutus’ “Why should that name be more sounded more than yours”. These quotations show Cassius jealousy towards Caesar which leads him to hate Caesar as Cassius is envious and resentful of Caesar position in Rome to his “Like a colossus, and we petty men walk under his huge legs and peep about to find ourselves dishonorable graves”.

These quotations show Brutus’s love towards Caesar which led him to hate him that he killed him “not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more”. These quotations also show Brutus’s motive for killing Caesar as he feels he was ambitious “As Caesar loved me, I weep for him; as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was valiant, I honour him; but, as he was ambitious, I slew him” and if allowed to be crowned king he would become too powerful, evil and go mad with power “think him as a serpent’s egg (which, hatch’d, would as his kind grow mischievous) and kill him in his shell”.

Brutus’s humorous is shown when he lets Antony live as he feels Antony won’t be a threat to him or conspirator and that will be weak without Caesar “for Antony is but a limb of Caesar” and “and for Mark Antony, think not of him, for he can do no more than Caesar’s arm when Caesar’s head is off”. However the literary device Irony is shown as it’s no coincidence that Antony is the one who stirs up the citizens to start the rebellion which leads to the civil war “we’ll mutiny”, “we’ll burn the house of Brutus and “now let it work. Mischief, thou art afoot, take thou what course thou wilt!”

These quotations show Antony’s love towards Caesar which led him to hate the conspirators “my heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, and I must pause till it come back to me” and Caesar’s spirit, ranging for revenge. Antony also feels the conspirators didn’t kill Caesar for a noble cause but believes they did it out of jealousy that Caesar could become king and were in fear of his power “cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war, that his foul deed shall smell above the earth with carrion” and “That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!”.

Love is also shown in act two scene two of Julius Caesar when Calpurnia; Caesar wife is begging/persuading her husband not to go to the senate as she has been having dreams of late and feels something bad is going to happen to him. These quotations show Calpurnia not wanting Caesar to leave the house, her dreams/fears for Caesar and her trying beg/persuade him to stay at home “You shall not stir out of your house today”, “besides the things that we have heard and seen, recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch. A lioness hath whelped in the streets, and graves have yawn’d and yielded up their dead; fierce fiery warriors fight upon the clouds in ranks and squadrons and right form of war, which drizzl’d blood upon the capitol; the noise of battle hurtled in the air, horses did neigh and ding men did groan, O Caesar, these things are beyond all use, and I do fear them”, “when beggars die there are no comets seen, the heavens blaze forth the death of princes” and “your wisdom is consum’d in confidence. Do not go forth today. Call it my fear that keeps you in the house, and not your own”.

Calpurnia was successful at first to make Caesar to stay at home however Caesar allowed himself to be manipulated by Decius and was blinded by his arrogance to see the danger ahead, his humorous was his hamartia. These quotations show Caesar’s humorous “Caesar shall forth. The things that threaten’d me Ne’er look but on my back; when they shall see the face of Caesar they are vanished”, “cowards die many times before their deaths, the valiant never taste of death but once” and “but I am constant as the northern star, of whose true- fix’d and resting quality there is no fellow in the firmament”.

Shakespeare uses literary techniques when Antony is at Caesar funeral where he is using repetition, irony and sarcasm to show his hate for the conspirators and also to turn the crowd against the conspirators to start a rebellion. Antony doesn’t believe in the conspirator’s reason to kill Caesar as they claim he was ambitious but from Antony’s speech he clearly contradicts this and uses all three of those literary devices i.e. repetition and sarcasm is shown when Antony keeps referring to the conspirators as “honourable”. He doesn’t believe they’re honourable as he feels there reason to kill Caesar wasn’t a noble one and it was done out of jealousy not because he was ambitious.

Irony and sarcasm are used when Antony is telling us stories about Caesar which clearly shows he wasn’t ambitious and contradicts the conspirators “He hath brought many captives home to Rome, whose ransoms did the general coffers fill”, “when that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept: ambition should be made of sterner stuff”, you did all see that on Lupercal I thrice presented him a kingly crown, which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition? Yet Brutus says he was ambitious and sure he is an honourable man”.

honour and honourable love are shown in act 1, scene 2 in Julius Cesar by Brutus when speaking to Cassius “Set honour in one eye and death I’th’ other and I will look on both indifferently for let the gods so speed me as I love the name of honour more than I fear death” and “Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods”.

Honourable love is also shown in act 5, scene 3 when Brutus has found Cassius dead and says a few words over his body “are yet two Romans living such as thee? The last of all the Romans, fare thee well! It is impossible that ever Rome should breed thy fellow. Friends, I owe mo tears to this dead man than you shall see me pay. I shall find time, Cassius, I shall find time”.

How the authors’ ideas and characters respond to forces in the world about which they have no control other in Julius Caesar is shown in act 1, scene 3. Casca is speaking to Cicero overwhelmed with the sudden changes to Rome there is thunder, lighting, clouds, thunderbolts and lions in the capitol “threatening clouds”, “tempest dropping fire” and “against the capitol I met a lion”.

The laboratory and Porphyria’s lover both portray more of a darker side to love and I feel they both have similar themes of love within them which is toxic love.The laboratory is about a woman whose wants revenge on her lover as he left her. However she still loves him, but her love for her ex-partner has turned her evil, so evil that she wants to kill her lover’s lover and have her lover witness it to cause him enormous emotional pain “he is sure to remember her dying face!”

In the laboratory there is a sibilance in the poem; a repetition of s sounds which I feel fastens the tempo of the poem and helps show anxiety from the character and shows the reader that the character is doing her task quicker “grind away, moisten and mush up thy paste, pound at thy powder, — I am not in haste! Better sit thus, and observe thy strange things, than go where men wait me and dance at the King’s”.There is also a theme of violent verbs in the laboratory such as “poison”, “grind”, “mash” and “pound”

In the laboratory I feel there are themes of hate, jealousy, paranoia, revengeful love and toxic love. This quotation show jealousy and also paranoia “he is with her, and they know that I know where they are, what they do: they believe my tears flow while they laugh, laugh at me, at me fled to the drear empty church, to pray god in, for them! — I am here”.

Hate and toxic love are shown by these quotations “and Pauline should have just thirty minutes to live! But to light a pastille, and Elise with her head and her breast and her arms and her hands, should drop dead!” and “not that I bid you spare her the pain: let death be felt and the proof remain: brand, burn up, bite into its grace— he is sure to remember her dying face!”

Harper Lee presents courage in Ch11 from the characters Atticus, Jem, Scout and Mrs Dubose. Mrs Dubose is a very old sick woman who we later find out is dying. She repeatedly antagonises the children Jem and scouts ‘‘don’t you say hey to me you ugly girl! You say good afternoon, Mrs Dubose!” She also insults their father Atticus about him ‘lawing for niggers’ and on his parenting style. However Atticus shows great courage by being very nice when he sees her, exchanging pleasantries and he always make sure either Jem or Scout is around to show them how to treat her, be courageous and to hold your head up high, Scout even says ‘‘It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived’’.

Jem and scout are also been presented in a courageous way as they have to visit her and read to her for a whole month even though they don’t have to and have to put up with her insulting them and their father. Scout also is presented as courageous as she doesn’t even have to go and visit Miss Dubose it was Jem’s punishment for destroying her flowers but yet she goes with Jem until it’s over.

Atticus is also presented in a very brave and courageous way as his ‘lawing for niggers’ comes up in the book and he says ‘‘This case, Tom Robinson’s case, is something that goes to the essence of a man’s conscience—Scout, I couldn’t go to church and worship God if I didn’t try to help that man.” Despite the fact that he knows the abuse he will be receiving and his family and that he knows that it would be considered morally wrong from the Maycomb society point of view.

Calpurnia’s identity is shown in Ch12 as something that is confused and lost. We learn basic information about her which would seem normal to know of anybody else, Calpurnia life seemed to be alive with the finches we didn’t know how she was outside the finches. We learn that she’s older than Atticus Finch , she doesn’t know her own birthday so she chooses to celebrate it on Christmas. “I’m older than Mr. Finch, even.” “I just have it on Christmas, it’s easier to remember that way—I don’t have a real birthday.” She’s from Finches landing and has been with Finches or the Buford’s all her life, ‘‘were you from the Landing?” Jem asked. “I certainly am’’, ‘‘I’ve spent all my days workin’ for the Finches or the Buford’s’’. Zeebo was her son and the eldest.

She acts in a different way when around the ‘Negros’ and talks ‘nigger talk’ , “What you want, Lula?” she asked, in tones I had never heard her use. She spoke quietly, contemptuously. Again I thought her voice strange: she was talking like the rest of them. Calpurnia says ‘‘you can do but keep your mouth shut or talk their language.” She says ‘‘their language’’ not ‘ours’ or ‘my’ which I thought was great example of how she’s missing her identity and is confused. When Jem asks her why she talks ‘nigger talk’ when you know it’s wrong “That doesn’t mean you hafta talk that way when you know better,” said Jem. Calpurnia Says “Well, in the first place I’m black”

Calpurnia tilted her hat and scratched her head, then pressed her hat down carefully over her ears. “It’s right hard to say,” she said. “Suppose you and Scout talked colored-folks’ talk at home it’d be out of place, wouldn’t it? Now what if I talked white-folks’ talk at church, and with my neighbors? They’d think I was puttin‘on airs to beat Moses.”

Tension is created in chapter 15 when Atticus is at the county jail with the ‘negro’ who he will be defending in court, Tom Robinson. He is there to look after him and keep him safe just in case anybody arrives looking for trouble. Jem, Scout and Dill follow Atticus to find out what he’s up too as they are very suspicious in why he’s leaving the house so late. They arrive at the county jail but hide in the shadows, suddenly cars start to pull up at the jail and men start to come out and head towards the jail and towards Atticus, who was sitting in front of Tom Robinson’s cell. Tension is then created as Scout tells us that Atticus “seemed to be expecting them”. We also get told the conversation between the men Atticus and the men which helps creates tension “you know what we want”, Get aside from the door, Mr Finch” Atticus also tells the men that Heck Tate; the sheriff of Maycomb is around in hope to get them to leave but one of the men reply by saying that “Heck’s bunch’s so deep in the woods they won’t get out till morning”. It would appear that these men have called Mr Tate off a ‘snipe’s hunt’ in order to get him away from the scene so he couldn’t help and interfere with the mission. After hearing this Atticus says “that changes things doesn’t it ?” , Scout tell us “this was the second time I heard Atticus ask that question in two days , and it meant somebody’s man would get jumped”.

Tension is both created and relived when Scout notices Walter Cunningham’s father and tries to chat to him in hope to get him to leave “Mr Cunningham displayed no interest in his son, so I tackled his entailment once more in a last-ditch effort to make him feel at home”. Tension is finally relived when Mr Cunningham orders his to leave “Let’s clear out”, “Let’s get going, boys”

Harper lee has prepared us for the trial by giving us a hint of what the atmosphere, the jury/audience and judge will be like.

Miss Maudie compares the trial to a ‘Roman carnival’ which give us an insight into how the atmosphere will be like and also how the jury and audience will be like, the trial will have a barbaric/savage atmosphere to it as people attending the trial are only going to try to hurt Tom Robinson physically and shout abusive language at him, they are also going to see Tom Robinson convicted of rape as he is black a ‘negro’ so the odds are definitely stacked against him of him proving to be innocent in raping a white woman; if found guilty he would mostly likely be sentenced to death which everybody is hoping for.

Miss Maudie In response to why she isn’t going to the trial she says “I am not, ’t’s morbid, watching a poor devil on trial for his life”. Miss Maudie refers to the trial as ‘morbid’ and Tom Robinson as a “poor devil”, from the use of the word ‘morbid’ which we usually associate with death tells us of the outcome of the case no matter what as he is a black man a ‘negro’. Miss Maudie describes Tom Robinson as a “poor devil” which shows how she feels about his fate which she believes is doomed and that’s why she doesn’t intend on going to the trial to see someone basically die.

In the chapter Jem talks about the racism and discrimination in Maycomb county “ but around here once you have a drop of negro blood, that makes you all black” . This tells us of the racism and discrimination black people face in Macomb and how that no matter what you do or who you are you are always looked down upon because you are black, this is an important factor to take in as Tom Robinson is a black man being persecuted over charges of raping a white woman, that sentence alone is enough to convict him and sentence him death as Maycomb is a hugely racist society who looks down upon black people.

We also giving info on the judge taking this case whose name is John Taylor. Scout describes him as “amiable” and a “sleepy old shark”, she also says “he was a man who ran his court with an alarming informality”.

The word ‘amiable’ is associated with friendly and the sentence “sleepy old shark” tells us that even he’s considered friendly, quite informal and sleepy he’s still able to viscous, scary and take his job very seriously.

Harper Lee has shown the change in the children’s character after witnessing the trial the children have witnessed racial discrimination first hand towards Tom Robinson a black man on trial now convicted for raping Mayella Ewell a white woman, even though Tom Robinson couldn’t have done it and it was in fact the father who had beaten up Mayella Ewell  after seeing her kiss a black man. The case was as clear as day but however this case was simply a matter of white vs black, and white racist won.

The children; Jem, Dill and scout realise the injustice and unfairness of the trial and start to judge Maycombe society and the folks who live there “I always thought Maycomb folks were the best folks in the world, least that’s what they seemed like.” This quotation Said by Jem  I believe shows all the children’s change in character, view and perception of Maycomb county and the people in it. Another significant event to outline in support of my piece is the fact that Dill wasn’t able to stay in the court room due to treatment of Tom Robinson at the hands of the lawyer he said it made him sick.