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Shakespeare had rhythm. The rhythm of Shakespeare’s language, including the patterns and sounds of his words, provide the readers with a lot of information.
Lines in Shakespeare's plays that are unrhymed and not grouped into stanzas are called blank verse. These lines often incorporate iambic pentameter. Iambic pentameter is one of the most common meters that Shakespeare used in his plays and poems. Most of Julius Caesar is written in blank verseunrhymed but uses a regular pattern of rhythm, or meter, so let's figure out what this really means.
An iamb is a metrical foot, or rhythmic unit; meaning, the iamb is simply an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. All words have unaccented an accented syllables, unstressed and stressed syllables. Think of which syllable is said with a little more force or emphasis than the other. Place your hand over your heart (it's on the left side). Think of iambic pentameter like a heartbeat. Listen to some of the heartbeats at SoundSnap. Da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM. The bold part is where the most emphasis occurs.
Look at the two words I am. Which word would you put more force, or emphasis, on in the sentence below?
I am going to the ballgame today.
The stronger syllable would be AM.
I am going to the ballgame today.
Pentameter means that the iamb, or foot, is repeated five times. Look at I am again.
I AM / I AM / I AM / I AM / I AM
This is an example of iambic pentameter because there is a line of five iambs. Each line in iambic pentameter has ten syllables. Then, the ten syllables are broken down into five groups of two syllables.
Let's look at the first line of the play.
"Hence! home, you idle creatures get you home!"
"Hence! home,/ you i/dle crea/tures get / you home!"
Meter is about sound rather than spelling, so some of your words will have different stresses. Shakespeare wanted to be heard. The audience could follow along better when the actors said their lines in the sing/song pattern of iambic pentameter. It was also easier for the actors to memorize their lines.
Open the 10.02 Plot Guide and complete this as you read The Tragedy of Julius Caesar Act I.
Hear Act 1, Scene 1 (Scroll down to the bottom to see the recordings; pause this recording at the end of scene 1 so you can return to it.)
The play opens when Marullus and Flavius see a cobbler on the street and wonder why he is not working. The cobbler explains that he is taking a holiday because it is the Feast of Lupercal; he wants to watch Caesar's procession through the town. The two, Marullus and Flavius, aren't happy because they are not celebrating the defeat of Pompey, the previous ruler.
Scene 2 begins with Caesar encountering a Soothsayer, or a fortuneteller, in the streets.
Hear Act 1, Scene 2 (Pause this recording at the end of scene 2 so you can return to it.)
The soothsayer warns Caesar to "Beware the ides of March." Ides refers to the middle of the month, so the day is March 15th. In the Roman calendar, March (Martius) was the first month of the year; therefore, the holidays surrounding this time would be like a new year celebration.
Brutus and Cassius talk alone, having fears that Caesar is being crowned king. Cassius uses his words carefully to convince Brutus that Caesar should not be honored more than Brutus.
"Why should that name be sounded more than yours?
Write them together, yours is as fair a name;
Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well..."
Notice the flow of Cassius' speech. The iambic pentameter makes it easier to read and speak. Caesar can tell something is strange about Cassius. He even says so to Antony,
"Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look.
He thinks too much. Such men are dangerous."
Casca sees Cicero and tells him the strange occurrences of the night: a slave with a burning yet uninjured hand, a lion loose in the streets, and an owl hooting in the daytime. Cicero dismisses it and leaves. Cassius arrives and tells Casca that there is reason for these strange occurrences: Caesar. Casca shakes on it and takes letters to plant where Brutus will find them.
You learned in earlier units that authors use imagery language that appeals to the senses in their writing to evoke many emotions. Sensory details are important because the reader can actually see what is being described. Shakespeare is no different. He uses imagery to help the audience visualize his scenes even without the use of props or backdrops.
The Five Senses
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hearing |
touch |
taste |
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eye |
nose |
By using imagery, authors can use a multitude of figures of speechtypes of figurative language that are not literal and mean someting more than they seem to say (like metaphorunrhymed but uses a regular pattern of rhythm, or meter, simileA comparison of two unlike objects using the connecting words "like" or "as." An example: Life is like a box of chocolates., and personificationInanimate objects are given human characteristics. An example: The sky smiled a rainbow of color) to help the readers see the world that they are describing. When you read Shakespeare's words, think of the text as pictures in your mind.
Let's look at the text to see examples of imagery.
Act I, scene i
Flavius:
I'll about
And drive away the vulgar from the streets;
So do you too, where you perceive them think.
These growing feathers plucked from Caesar's wing
Will make him fly an ordinary pitch,
Who else would soar above the view of men
And keep us all in servile fearfulness.
Flavius is not particularly fond of Caesar. He is comparing this to a menacing bird of prey circling above the Romans to keep them in their place. This image makes Caesar appear to be a tyrant and a threat to the people.
Imagery is used in the play to describe characters, create mood, or suggest an idea. Shakespeare is using the voice of some characters to create a dislike for Caesar.
Act I, scene iii
Cassius:
I know he would not be a wolf
But that he sees the Roman are but sheep....
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