Friday, March 25, 2011

Cassius whispers
Changing Brutus’s outlook
On his friend Caesar


Wheedle with words now
change Brutus to your way soon
the ides is upon us


Cassius is cruel
bring down Julius Caesar
is now his top goal


by Max Lucero
Julius Caesar
by Albert Stroud
I sometimes tire of daily news as dry exchanges
I peruse; I long to quit this sordid grind and seek a
tonic for the mind___to single out some classic, old,
wherein a wondrous tale is told of knights and wars
and mountain steeps and castles with their donjon
keeps.
Last night while ruminating round, upon the
mantelpiece ! found some mental fodder, cut and
dried, which told how Julius Caesar died.
This Caesar was a Roman bold, who from his
wars brought slaves and gold. Now certain knockers
in the land united in a secret band and plotted how
to take his life, but fair Calphurnia, Caesar's wife, in
some way seemed to get a nudge that someone
owes her man a grudge, that Brutus, Cassius, and the rest
would stab him through his fancy vest. And Caesar,
musing on the way, thus to Marc Antony did say:
"Now, mark you, Marc, yon Cassius, mien; he is
too long and lank and lean. Give me big men who
sleep o' night, whose waistbands are extremely tight."
Thus portliness he did defend and proved himself the Fat Man's friend.
The wary crew soon laid their plan and waited
long to get their man. "He is ambitious," Brutus
said; though thrice had Caesar shook his head, and
thrice the crown he did refuse. They murmured:
"Don't it beat the deuce? Did'st ever hear of such a
thing? He does not want the job of King. Perhaps
he seeks a higher place and thinks ere long to be the
Ace."
And so they shouted Caesar's name and ran their
daggers through his frame, till at their feet he fell
and died and they at last, were satisfied.
Marc Antony was Caesar's friend and got sweet
vengeance in the end and all of those who wrought
his doom, ere long had scooted up the flume.






Interpretation

It is a simplified version of Julius Caesar by Shakespeare in which the play is reduced to most basic and important key elements of the play. It relates to rhetoric in Julius Caesar because in the lines 19-23
“"Now, mark you, Marc, yon Cassius, mien; he is too long and lank and lean. Give me big men who sleep o' night, whose waistbands are extremely tight." Thus portliness he did defend and proved
himself the Fat Man's friend.” the author adds to Shakespeare's writing convincing the audience of the exact meaning of those lines instead of leaving them open for interpretation by the audience. A good example of power in this poem that relates to the play is lines 24-32
“The wary crew soon laid their plan and waited long to get their man. "He is ambitious," Brutus said; though thrice had Caesar shook his head, and thrice the crown he did refuse. They murmured: "Don't it beat the deuce? Did'st ever hear of such a thing? He does not want the job of King. Perhaps he seeks a higher place and thinks ere long to be the
Ace."” This shows what a fear for power can do to corrupt just as badly as absolute power. The fear of power is just as strong as the corruption of absolute power. This leads me to believe the only right path is a balance between absolute power and the no power. As usual a balance like that is nearly impossible and no doubt we have been trying reach such a position for thousands of years(kings and democracy). We so far we have only come close and never hit the mark(United States).

Recipe for Back Stab Stew

Recipe for Back Stab Stew

Ingredients:

-One Conquering Ruler

-A cup of angry Cassius

-Roman Empire Bowl

-8 Daggers

-1 Conspirator Ready Made mix

-1 Distilled Brutus

-1 bottle of Public support

-Crushed Pompey

First mix the conquering ruler with a bottle of public support in the Roman Empire Bowl then add a pinch of angry Cassius mix in some crushed Pompey allow to sit for a little then in a small bowl mix the rest of the angry Cassius with distilled Brutus to dilute the Purity of the distilled Brutus. Then mix the ready made Conspirator Mix into that mixture stir till the Conspirator mix fully dilutes the distilled Brutus. Carefully mix this into the Rome Empire Bowl. Place on Stove and cook on high for 15 minutes. Then stab the Daggers liberally into the stew serve perforated and hot.


by Max lucero

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Blog #1 - Acrostic

R- Realistic problems and characters.
H- Hectic is the state of Rome.
E- Even though Cassius doesn't like Caesar there are many who do.
T- ’tis true, this god did shake.'-Cassius Act I Sceen 2
O- "O, you and I have heard our fathers say, There was a Brutus once that would have brooked..."
R- "Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods!"
I- Ides of March warned Caesar about his death.
C- Cassius was a person of interest.

P- People where shouting and hoping for Caesar to be king.
O- Only certain people would speak out against Caesar.
W- When Caesar was getting glorified people had forgotten about Pompey.
E- Excited the people were when Caesar came home from battle.
R- Rome was a powerful city with internal conflicts.

------Jazzymine

Blog #1- Quotation

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.

This quote basically is when Cassius is speaking of the times he has done things for Caesar. He mades him out to be a "sick girl." He says that Caesar is a human being and should not be treated and some all mighty god. He questions why Caesar should be a ruler when he has faults like all other people. He goal was to get Brutus to see that he too can be just as great as Caesar.
This shows that Cassius is smart with his words and knows what to say to manipulate things to his advantage. This shows us insight on his plans to get Brutus, who Caesar trusts, on his side. Cassius clearly had some thought for what he wanted to happen to Caesar. When he brings Caesar down with his words you can see that he clearly has no respect for Caesar. Cassius is a person that we need to watch.----Jazzymine