English Assessment Term 4 Year 9

Question 1

What did individuals traditionally rely on to determine their fate?

Answer 1

Individuals traditionally relied on the certainties of Medieval Providentialism.

Question 2

What new idea challenged Medieval Providentialism?

Answer 2

Humanist ideals encouraged individuals to exercise their own free will.

Question 3

What theme does Shakespeare explore in Julius Caesar?

Answer 3

The ideological struggle from Medieval to Renaissance values.

Question 4

What is Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar advocating for?

Answer 4

A mediation between extreme agency and reliance on traditional authority.

Question 5

What historical context influenced Julius Caesar?

Answer 5

Late Elizabethan era tensions and anxieties over the imminent death of a monarch.

Question 6

How does Shakespeare use Cassius to reflect Renaissance values?

Answer 6

Cassius, a Machiavellian archetype, embodies ambition and individualism.

Question 7

How does Cassius describe Caesar in relation to his own power?

Answer 7

Cassius describes Caesar “like a colossus,” towering over “petty men.”

Question 8

What literary technique is used to show Cassius’s discontent with Caesar?

Answer 8

A simile comparing Caesar to a “colossus” who diminishes other men.

Question 9

What is Cassius’ rhetorical question to Brutus, and what does it reveal?

Answer 9

Why should his name be sounded more than yours?” This reveals Cassius’s manipulation of Brutus.

Question 10

What does Cassius mean by “men at some time are masters of their own fate”?

Answer 10

He rejects Divine fate, instead advocating for personal agency, a key Renaissance value.

Question 11

How does Brutus’s inner struggle reflect Renaissance values?

Answer 11

His admission of being “at war with himself” reflects the uncertainty of free will.

Question 12

What does Brutus mean by the phrase “with himself at war”?

Answer 12

It shows his internal conflict between loyalty to Caesar and his personal ideals.

Question 13

What biblical allusion does Brutus use to describe Caesar, and why?

Answer 13

He calls Caesar a “serpent’s egg,” suggesting he could become a tyrant if given too much power.

Question 14

How does Brutus’ “I have not slept” soliloquy reveal his inner turmoil?

Answer 14

It shows his guilt and self-reproach for plotting against Caesar.

Question 15

What warning does Shakespeare give through Brutus’s guilt and indecision?

Answer 15

A warning against the Renaissance individualism that interferes with Divine Providence.

Question 16

How does Caesar describe his constancy and authority?

Answer 16

He says, “I am as constant as the Northern Star.”

Question 17

What does Caesar’s “Northern Star” speech reveal about his character?

Answer 17

His hubris and inflexibility, suggesting dangers in unchecked authority.

Question 18

What does Caesar’s betrayal by Brutus symbolise in terms of values?

Answer 18

A departure from loyalty and honor, replaced by individualism and ambition.

Question 19

What famous phrase does Caesar say to Brutus, and what does it signify?

Answer 19

“Et tu, Brute?” It signifies Caesar’s shock and resignation to his fate.

Question 20

How does “then fall, Caesar” conclude the tension between fate and free will?

Answer 20

It symbolises the tragic end of the monarchical stability and acceptance of human frailty.

Question 21

What shift does Shakespeare depict after Caesar’s fall?

Answer 21

The emergence of a society trying to balance liberty with social hierarchy.

Question 22

How does Brutus describe the transition in values?

Answer 22

He uses the metaphor “there is a tide in the affairs of man.”

Question 23

What is the meaning of Brutus’s “tide in the affairs of man” metaphor?

Answer 23

It reflects the need for personal responsibility tempered by monarchical stability.

Question 24

What does Shakespeare suggest about Renaissance Humanism?

Answer 24

He critiques its selfish ideals, advocating for moderation and responsibility.

Question 25

How does the play ultimately view individualism and monarchy?

Answer 25

As needing mediation between Brutus’s idealism and Cassius’s self-interest.