This writing assessment is a measure of your ability to use academic knowledge and skills to write about important concepts in the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar and in Shakespearean drama. Your essay will be scored according to the Gateway rubric. This student test packet includes your writing task and doc*ments which will help you recall information from your study of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. In order to receive a passing score, your essay must contain information from your study (your prior knowledge) as well as information from the doc*ments. DO NOT COPY the doc*ments word for word. Be sure to credit the source of any information quoted directly or paraphrased from any doc*ment.
Please review the following steps to help you complete this test.
William Shakespeare never wrote a play about a contemporary subject; most of his plays are based on stories that were already well known to his audiences. The Tragedy of Julius Caesar is taken from accounts of the lives of Julius Caesar, Marcus Brutus, Caius Cassius, and Marc Antony which were written in a book called The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans by Plutarch sometime between A.D. 46 and A.D. 120. Plutarch originally titled his book Parallel Lives because of the similarities between these great leaders. His depictions of these men, and many others, are still used today as an important record of history.
Doc*ments A through E relate to this topic:
Doc*ment E: Any lines from the text: The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. Specifically, however, we have studied one speech per major character, listed as follows with Poetry Genius link and page numbers in the parallel text:
1. Cassius (Pages 36-39, begins at line 142 in textbook): "Masters Of Their Fates" Speech
2. Brutus (Pages 82-85 in parallel text, lines 169-190): "Our Course Will Seem Too Bloody" Speech
3. Caesar (Pages 40-42 in parallel text, lines 205-221): "Would He Were Fatter" Speech
4. Antony (Parallel Text: p. 156-159, lines 79-113): "Lend Me Your Ears" Speech
Therefore, it makes the most sense to use the Poetry Genius speeches and the doc*ment A, B, C, or D which corresponds to your choice of character as the MAIN places you are getting your evidence from. You can use other portions of the text if you wish, but make what we have already studied your PRIMARY “go to” passages. Any Poetry Genius annotations you wish to cite will be labeled as Doc*ment E.
How to cite or use doc*mentation:
Use the doc*ments provided to develop your answer. Be sure to cite all sources used as evidence in your paper:
Outline: Due Wednesday 3/26
Outline: Writing Task
Write an analysis of one of the major characters where you carefully describe, using examples from your doc*ments, at least 2 of the following 3 things: 1) the character’s personal and political beliefs 2) the character’s motives for making the choices he makes 3) the character’s use of persuasion/rhetorical techniques in the play.
First Draft: Using your outline, you will write your first draft of your paper in whatever format you wish.
Writing Checklist/Revise