ICSE-IX JULIUS CAESAR: ACT-1, SCENE-3

 

ACT-1 SCENE-3

CONTEXTUAL QUESTIONS

Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follows:

1.       Casca:

Are not you moved, when all the sway of earth

Shakes like a thing unfirm? O cicero,

I have ------------------------------winds

Have ---------------------------------seen

The ambitious --------------------------foam,

To be ------------------------------------clouds:

But ----------------------------------------till now,

Did I go through a tempest dropping fire?

i)Where is Casca at this time? In what state has he come there? to whom is he speaking?

Ans: casca is in a street in Rome. He has come there in a state of anxiety. He is breathless and staring. He is speaking to Cicero, a great Roman politician and orator.

ii)Give the meaning of the following;

a)       All the sway of earth/ shakes like a thing unfirm? – it means that the entire earth is shaking as if it is not stable and not reliable.

b)      The ambitious ocean swells and rage and foam, to be exalted with the threatening clouds – it means that the ocean is in rage filled with foam and is rising up to match the fury of the stormy clouds.

iii)What are the ‘scolding winds’? what did they do?

Ans: the strong and harsh winds that blow during the storm are called the scolding winds. They rise up the sea up to the clouds and torn apart large trees.

iv)What did Casca see which he had never seen in his life earlier? What does he conclude immediately after the extract about the calamities?

Ans: Casca saw a slave’s hand was on fire but remained unburnt. By seeing this unnatural events he concludes immediately that the calamities would come; Means he prophecies a calamity.

v)What is the next day supposed to be? Why will it be a fatal day? who had warned about the day?

Ans: The next day is supposed to be the day of crowning Caesar as a king. It will be a fatal day because Caesar will become a tyrant and destroy Rome according to the conspirators. So it will be the day of Caesar’s assassination day – ides of March 15^th. Soothsayer had warned Caesar about this day.

2.       Cicero: Why, saw you anything more wonderful?

Casca:

A common slave – you know him well by sight-

Held up his left hand, which did flame and burn

Like twenty torches joined, and yet his hand,

Not sensible of fire, remained unscorched.

i)Narrate in your own words the ‘wonderful’ sight seen by Casca as given in the extract.

Ans: the wonderful sight seen by Casca was that a slave holding up the fire in his left hand which burned as brightly as twenty torches but his hand was unburnt.

ii)Besides the sight referred to in i) above, describe three unnatural sights that Casca narrates after this extract.

Ans: Besides the sight referred to in (1) above, other three unnatural sights are narrated by Casca is –

1.       A lion arrogantly walked past Casca without injuring him.

2.       Terrible looking women huddled in fear swearing they saw men in fire walking the streets.

3.       The owl hooted at the market place at noon.

iii)What does Casca believe about the unnatural events? How is his belief used by Cassius to make him join the conspirators?

Ans: casca believes that they are prophetic of impending doom. For Casca, the storm is a sign from the gods. He is breathless and staring, frightened by what he has seen. Cassius interprets the storm in a strange way. He says that Caesar has grown fearful like the storm. Hence he makes him to join the conspirators.

iv)In what way is Casca’s belief a contrast to the one expressed by Cicero about these events?

Ans; for Casca, the storm is a sign from the gods. He is breathless and staring, frightened by what he has seen. Cicero is less clear whether or not the storm is any more than bad weather. He remains uncommitted over this issue, just as he is to remain uncommitted over the conspiracy to kill Caesar.

v)What impact do these strange things have on Caesar, as well as on the audience?

Ans: these strange things do not have any impact on Caesar. Only, his sleep is disturbed. But for the audience it has the great impact. They think that something terrible will happen. So they are worried and anxious about such strange events.