English Reflection Memorisation Flashcards
Introduce the villains in your debate. (Part 1 Introduction)
In our ‘Golden Villain’ award debate we pitched forward two of the most conniving Shakespearean villains – Claudius, who poisoned his own brother the King in his sleep and Cassius, who plotted to kill one of history’s greatest, Julius Caesar.
Portrayal of the villain who is successful in winning the award + Briefly state why you believe this character is a villain. (Part 2 Introduction)
The winner of our debate was Cassius, who will be focused on in this reflection
as he was the greatest Shakespearean villain thanks to his willingness to take risks, lack of remorse and skill at manipulation.
Briefly explain the core ideas within
Shakespeare’s play that you
represented in your performance. (Part 3 Introduction)
In our debate we portrayed key Shakespearean themes such as ambition, greed, power and jealousy amongst many other themes.
Identify the dramatic features you used to represent your interview. (Part 4 Introduction)
Throughout our debate we used dramatic features such as facial expressions, gestures and costumes to help portray the villains better.
For example, with Cassius, we added black stripes on his toga to show the evil that had swept over him.
1st paragraph - Point
The first characteristic that made Cassius the greatest villain out of Claudius and himself was his skill in manipulation.
2nd paragraph - Point
The second characteristic that made Cassius the greatest Shakespearean villain was his willingness to take risks and his lack of remorse.
2nd paragraph - Explanation - Explain how Shakespeare depicted this villain in his play.
Explain how
your questions highlighted his villainous qualities.
In Shakespeare’s’ play he makes it very clear that Cassius’ willingness to take risks is one of Cassius’ greatest qualities as he went in to commit treason of the highest order.
In our debate Judge Dean finishes with the question ‘So what makes you the greatest villain?’. To this Cassius responds saying that he ‘took risks that Claudius could’ve never conceived of, much less carried out.’
2nd paragraph - Technique
He then correlated this to a quote from Julius Caesar ‘Cowards dies many times before their deaths but the valient never taste of death but once’ which clearly lays the foundations for all of the following actions that Cassius took out, proudly saying that ‘I seized the moment and became the valiant one while Claudius was crowned the coward.’
2nd paragraph - Analysis
In our play we wanted to show the lack of emotion and remorse as well as how steadfast Cassius’ was in taking risks by making sure to make Claudius sound almost ‘upset’ by complaining in a whiny tone while Cassius always used a direct, almost angry tone.
2nd paragraph - Link
These qualities played another key role to make Cassius into the greatest Shakespearian villain, as Cassius knew the risks but didn’t back down, making the assassination possible.`
1st paragraph - Explanation - Explain how Shakespeare depicted this villain in his play.
Explain how your questions highlighted his villainous qualities.
In Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, he depicted Cassius as a great deceiver who ultimately set the scene throughout the play.
In our debate, when Cassius interjects during Claudius’ speech on how he killed his brother at the beginning, Cassius states his frustration at how ‘the Roman people just couldn’t see it.’ This response lays the foundation to Cassius’ motivation to ultimately manipulate the senate and Brutus later in the play.
1st paragraph - Technique
In the play Cassius expresses his skills at exploitation when he makes Brutus’ question his own honour and fate.
‘Men at some times are masters over their fates. The fault, dear Brutus is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.’ This causes Brutus to ask himself what his true duty to Rome was.
1st paragraph - Analysis
In our play this influenced a very important creative decision. As this was a very central part of what made Cassius such a great villain we wanted to make sure that Cassius’ manipulation of Brutus and the senate was very clear for the audience so they could grasp the true extent of Cassius’ antagonistic qualities.
1st paragraph - Link
Overall manipulation played a key role in making Cassius the greatest villain as it was key to his overall success in assassinating Julius Caesar.
Conclusion: re-state why this character is considered a villain, and the traits that make him villainous. Why is he an ideal villain for
the award? (Part 1 Conclusion)
Overall Cassius was the most deserving villain for the ‘Golden Villain’ award as he showcased his manipulative qualities, lack of remorse and willingness to take risks to a great extent, all traits that give him the qualities of ideal villain.
Conclusion: Include the challenges and benefits you experienced when working in a group. What did you learn about yourself as a learner? (Part 2 Conclusion)
While working in a group I discovered a major benefit how the work could be split up into an even workload, so that no one person was overwhelmed at any one time.
However sometimes it was difficult to find times where we could work together so it didn’t come together as cohesively as it could’ve, a clear disadvantage.
Preparing for this debate I also learnt that no matter what is thrown at you, you need to push on and continue, as my costume fell of before Claudius’ opening line, an absolute disaster.
Finally I also learnt that I work so much better and efficiently in a group that I can trust and that can work together cohesively, playing to each other strengths.
