hello my dear children I hope you have already seen the summary video in which I told you what really happens as far as Julia Caesar is concerned now let's get started with act one scene one which really sets the tone and you get a lot of idea about what really happens in this particular very political play political is an important keyword as far as this particular play is concerned so make sure you use this particular word in many of your an answers especially when you're talking about any of the major themes in Julius Caesar now before we get to the actual line by line explanation let me also tell you one thing I will be going a little slow deliberately otherwise I'm used to speaking fast because this is a complicated play and I do not want you to kind of uh not understand things in a hurry though our notes are extremely detailed okay so you wouldn't have any issue but I would want you to listen to the videos in order to be able to understand the different nuances okay so let's get started but before that I will tell you what really happens and a few things about the political background of juliia Caesar that you need to be aware of okay so what happens in act one scene one is that two officials and these officials in that time at that time were called tribunes this is another word which you should use in your answers okay they order the commoners because many of the commoners they find are out on the streets rejoicing because they want to celebrate the return of Julius Caesar to Rome and these people who are opposed to Julius Caesar they say they ask the commoners to get back to work because they had taken a day off as I said to rejoice in Caesar's Triumph the tribunes try to play down this is significant they try to play Down the significance of Caesar's Victory saying that what did he really do and there's an entire passage about that the two officials they highlight the political turmoil what what do those two officials really signify they signify the political turmoil which was taking place in Rome at that point in time the insecurity and the jealousy that they felt at the rise of Julius Caesar so even before Julius Caesar actually enters the play in act one scene2 we get to know a lot of information about Julius Caesar through these two tribunes that what is the feeling the tribunes on one side and the commoners on one side so you get a very clear idea here is a leader who is very popular among the masses but his own kind of official dumb does not really like him too much they do not approve of his meteoric rise because they are feeling insecure they are feeling threatened I hope this is clear now let's move ahead now I want you to also understand the political context and listen to this carefully okay Queen Elizabeth you don't need to take down any notes all this is there in the notes so there is really nothing to worry okay uh Queen Elizabeth at the time that Shakespeare wrote this play Queen Elizabeth 1 was the Queen of England and she ra she ruled till 16003 okay now the English at that point in time were concerned with the consolidation of power in other parts of Europe France Spain Etc so there was that kind of an apprehension which was there in England at that point in time and through this play Julius Caesar Shakespeare has sted because Shakespeare essentially staged his place for a royal audience and the upper class of England at that time so through this play he wanted and talking about a different era he wanted to highlight the same kind of fears and apprehensions okay so Julius Caesar ref his concern to flavus and marus the two tribunes that I spoke about disapprove of juliia Caesar's meteoric rise so a very similar kind of a sentiment is what is being expressed I'm not saying all this you need to write in the answers but if you know the background it makes your job of understanding and appreciating and enjoying the play that much more okay let's move ahead now this is the most important part and I don't think you will find this in many places this has been done with a lot of research okay a lot of effort has been put in to get you the story in a nutshell Because unless you know the background it becomes very difficult for you to understand the summary is one thing but this this part that I'm going to now talk about is extremely important Caesar versus pompe pompe both of them were Roman generals Raj as some people seem to call them they are not Raja they are Roman generals and politicians you can say say pompy in fact after Alexander the Great he was called pompy the great so he was kind of known for his military Acumen and who was known as a very powerful military General Caesar Advanced his military might and occupied new provinces this is Caesar this is pompe okay and occupied new provinces coins were minted to celebrate his victories if you can see I hope this is clear you can see Caesar out here you can see Caesar out here so so these were coins so you can imagine if a coin is minted in honor of someone's Victory you can understand how important that person would be in the overall scheme of things so this was as far as Caesar was concerned pompy was the other military General there is one more person called cras but he does not really figure in this place in that sense he's not important for you but in the overall historical context of what happened between 58 BC and 44 BC you need to know okay so Caesar pompe and crus these were the three you know the triade they were the three powerful Roman generals I mean he was more of a financial uh muscle you know financially very powerful they entered into an alliance pom because remember Rome was a republic at that time it was not an Empire it was not a dictatorship it was a republic okay so pompy in order to as part of this Alliance he married even though he was was older than Caesar he married Caesar's daughter Julia okay but she died in 54 BC at child birth during child birth she passed away okay so there was also a personal relationship between Caesar and pompe in the overall like they used to do even in India right during the mugal rule rajput rule people would marry between Kingdoms in order to kind of have some kind of a political Alliance right now Caesar and Paul PPE they fell out subsequent to Julia's death Etc now that they were no longer related in any way they had a Fallout pompe defeated Caesar but later on Caesar defeats pompy in 48 BC the first battle that takes place pompe defeats Caesar but subsequently Caesar takes his revenge and defeats pompe in 48 BC pompe is subsequently killed okay in 45 um BC Caesar defeats pompy's Sons and he declares himself as a dictator okay this is what really happened in the reality okay I'm talking about this happening in reality in the play obviously Shakespeare has changed a few things but this is the backdrop of this particular thing 44 BC is when uh uh Caesar is killed on the 15th of March assassinated on the 15th of March 44 BC okay so this is as far as the backdrop of this play is concerned I hope you have understood the historical story if you understand that it becomes that much more easy for you to understand what is happening within the play okay now let's get ahead and move to the play I hope you are able to see the script pretty clearly okay let me just check on the camera if the script is clear it's a little small in any case you would have your book with you so it should not be such a problem I can increase it even more okay I can do it up to this size the scene is taking place in on a street in Rome okay in a street in Rome uh and that's when flavas and marus and certain commoners enter the scene now marus in many editions it is also spelled as me e r a or m e r e so both of them will be acceptable that should not be a problem flavas hence home you Idol creatures get you home is this a holiday what know you not being mechanical you ought not walk upon a laboring day without the sign of your profession speak what trade are thou trade means occupation so flavas is saying hence go you know home go home go away home okay go away is what is meant by hence okay everything is in the notes don't worry but listen to the video so that you able to understand Go Away Home you idle creatures you lazy creatures get you home you know go home is this a holiday he's saying why are you loitering around is this a holiday right don't you know that as workers being mechanical means as workers because they are of different professions cobbler Carpenter or any other profession so as workers you should not move around on a working day without wearing your work clothes you ought not you should not walk upon a working day laboring day means during a work day it's not a holiday it's a working day without the sign of your profession without the sign of your profession means without wearing your work clothes understood speak what occupation are you employed in I hope this first paragraph first passage is clear the first commoner says why sir I am a carpenter I am a carpenter sir okay so marus asks him where is thy leather d means in Shakespearean language your where is your leather Aon and your ruler okay for a carpenter you need to have the scale right in order to take measurements right so he's saying where is your leather apron and your ruler what what do you do with the best appil on what are you doing wearing your finest clothes you know he's obviously dressed for the occasion because he wants to celebrate the return of juliia Caesar to Rome right so he's he has come wearing his best clothes so he's saying what are you doing with your best apparel apparel means clothes right you want me to write it down out here I could do that but everything is there in the notes as well use sir what trait are you now he's asking another person what are you I mean what is your occupation the second CER says truly sir in respect of a fine Workman I am but as you would say a cobbler now this is an interesting part so the other person says in terms of being a skilled Workman a fine Workman means in terms of being a skilled uh person I am a cobbler now um there used to be a poem no my daughter used to saying cobbler cobbler men my shoes Stitch it up and Stitch it down something like that I remember her doing this okay so he says I'm just a cobbler as you would put it now uh maras doesn't understand he says but what is your occupation answer me directly the second comma that is the cobbler says an occupation that I hope I may use with a safe conscience which is indeed sir a m of bad souls okay he says which is a mendor of a of bad Souls let me just write it down out here so that it's easier for you to understand okay this particular word now that's what leads to confusion so he says an occupation that I hope I can practice with a clear conscience without any guilt I am a mendor of bad Souls now Souls is punning on it or at least that's how marus and flavious understand it as because he's saying because in terms of pronunciation soul and soul sound the same right so he's saying a mender means I repair bad Souls from his point of view he's saying the right thing right so he's saying that I repair bad Souls whichever shoes have got bad Souls I repair them but this person thinks he's talking about souls so he's saying you know someone who is a bad person I do something about him to ensure that he becomes a good person so that is what leads to the confusion what trade thou na thou naughty na what trade so marilus is getting annoyed okay you can understand that from his tone so he's saying what trade you Rogue Nave means a rogue you know someone who is a rascal a scoundrel kind of a person so he says a rascal Rogue or a good for nothing it could also mean a dishonest kind of a person um um the word Nave okay the word Nave could mean that so there are this three four five synonyms that I put in the notes also okay so he says you mischievous Rascal what is your occupation nay I beseech you I beg of you beseech means beg of you be not with me yet if you be out sir I can mend you so what the cobbler is saying is that I beg you sir do not be angry do not be out means do not be out means do not be angry do not be angry with me but if you have shoes that are worn out you know if you have be out now again you see after the soul word now he is punning on the word out so he says but if your shoes are worn out I can mend you but he's saying men you so that is again going to create confusion what is the pun this time he's punning on the word out to convey different meanings and one place if you he's talking about him and saying that don't be angry the second time he's talking about his shoes and he's saying that if your shoes are worn out I can mend you so again creating confusion so Mara says yet again what mean you by that men me thou s Saucy fellow so he's saying that you rude fellow Saucy means rude here so he says what do you mean by that you will mend me so marus is getting more and more angry at the cobbler at the second commoner is referred to as the second commoner his occupation as his his is that of a cobbler why sir cobbler you so he's saying that I'll cobble you now Cobble means Cobble the word Cobble means a small round Stone which is used to cover the road surface okay so he's referring to that so so Flavia says you are a cobbler right ar ar are you truly sir honest ly sir all that I live by is with the all I meddle with no tradesmen's matters nor women's it will go ahead so he's saying honestly sir I make my living by making use of an awl now awl all is a small pointed tool which is used to pierce holes in leather it's a small tool almost like a sharp edged one which is used to make like belt different kind of tool but at that time it used to be called the awl all I hope I'm pronouncing it correctly okay uh he says I do not meddle in any tradesman's matter or any women's matters right or any women's business but with all I am indeed sir a surgeon to old shoes so that's how he describes himself this is an interesting key phrase please make note of it so he says I am like a surge to mend old shoes because that's what cobblers do they work on the old shoes the so of the shoe in order to repair it and give it a fresh look so that they can be worn Again by the user right so he says I'm Like a Surgeon to M old shoes when they are in bad shape they are in great danger means when they are in bad shape I recover them I ensure that I repair them and make them user friendly they can be worn again I can mend them as proper men as ever Trot upon Meats leather have gone upon my handiworks so he says in this city of Rome there are many noble men who have ever walked on top quality leather needs leather top quality leather which is the hide of an ox okay which is considered the highest quality of leather they have worn shoes which have gone through my handiwork that is I have worked on those shoes which these people have walked on I hope you have understood uh it also shows that this particular paragraph shows that the cobbler is rather proud of uh his quality of work and his talent as a cobbler okay what does flavus say now but wherefore are not in thy shop today but why are you not there in your shop today why do you thou lead these men about the streets why are you leading these people around the streets why are you doing that okay so he wants to know that the second commoner the cobbler says truly sir to wear out their shoes so that they the more they walk sh you know that their shoes will get more worn out to get myself more work which will translate into what it will mean more work the more they get kind of worn out right they will need repair and what they will do they will come to this cobbler which will mean more work for him and making more money but indeed sir but that's more like in just but indeed sir we make holiday to see Caesar and to rejoice in his Triumph so he says but the real reason is that we have taken the day off to see Julius Caesar and to celebrate his return celebrate his victory in the battle marus where for rejoice what Conquest brings he home now this is what highlights the jealousy and the insecurity of marilus and flavus which is reflecting the general sentiment of many people out in Rome the many other nobl men later on we'll find a Casas or a CasCal Brutus to a limited extent okay so marilus is saying why Rejoice what foreign lands Conquest means what foreign lands has he is he bringing home has he kind of conquered any foreign lands that he has added to the kitty of the Roman Republic okay which Rome can now rule over what tributaries follow him to Rome now uh conquered rulers are chained what conquered rulers are chained to Chariot we and follow him okay um tributaries essentially meant that the conquered rulers they brought tributes of money that they would have to pay money otherwise they would be chained to the wheels of The Chariot to graze in captive bonds his chariot wheels you know so has he brought any rulers who have been chained to his chariot wheels and who therefore will now have to pay money in order to secure their release okay you blocks you Stones you worse than senseless things so he's now beginning to abuse them and it shows his anger he shows his annoyance so he's saying you Blockheads you unfeeling men Stones means stones have no feelings so he's saying that you have no feelings which is a little ironic because these people actually have feelings of feeling good for Julius Caesar you worse than stupid things you worse than stupid things senseless things oh you hard Hearts you cruel men of Rome which is again very ironic because all these words can can actually be used for marus and flavas saying that they are the ones who are Stony hearted hard-hearted and pretty much cruel men of Rome because they are not celebrating the return of Julius Caesar and celebrating his victory so he says that you are hard-hearted cruel men of Rome but his reasoning for that is different he says have you not pompe have you not known of pompe so they are more aligned to Pompei who had already died by the time this particular incident takes place many a time and often have you climbed up to the walls and battlements because in the past haven't you climbed up to the walls or the battlements what are battlements battlements are the low wall around a castle again a wall but specifically around a castle so many of times you would have climbed up on walls or on battlements okay Towers windows and to chimney tops so you know it shows the desperation to see who pompe so Haven you seen Pompei like that and now you are celebrating pompei's rival juliia Caesar's celebration so he's accusing them of Innocence not being loyal as far as pompe is concerned who of course is no more but his two sons have been now been defeated by Julius Caesar okay so you would climb up to chimney tops with your babies in your arms and there have sat the livelong day that is you have sat there the whole day with patient expectation with expectation to see the Great pompe because as I said pompe was called pompe the Great pretty much like Alexander the Great right pass the streets of Rome so from there you would wait for him to pass the streets of Rome for that one site and when you saw his Chariot but appear when you saw his Chariot appearing have you not made an Universal shout haven't you kind of you know um shouted um all day you know together Universal shout means shouted together so loudly that River Tiber Tiber is the name of the river which passes by Rome okay trembled underneath her Banks you know the shout would be so loud that the river would actually tremble underneath her Banks made uh sorry to hear the replication of your sounds made in her concave shorts so basically saying that because of the echo of your loud shout the universal shout key phrase U so replication essentially means the reverberation of the sound the echo of the sound because of which the banks of the river Tiber would also kind of shake so River Tiber was a source of both drinking water for the Romans okay also it was a trade and Transportation Route in that sense a pretty important uh River as far as Rome is concerned so uh so the more such instances Shakespeare puts in it makes it that much more realistic so the idea is to kind of put in lot of these kind of geographical um factors uh Elements which you know it gives a sense of real is m to the play that okay Shakespeare has done his research he knows River Tiber is there in Rome so that's a source of water that's a source of transportation so that's an important integral part of Rome's life so he brings in all these elements and that's what makes Shakespeare so realistic with respect to the Rome of that day okay even though he's written this play is written while Shakespeare is in England I mean basically from England statford upon A1 okay I've been there and do do you now put on your best attire and do you now call out a holiday it's a great holiday spot Stratford Upon A when you go on a tour you see Shakespeare's house his wife's house there's a bust of gurudev rabindra tagor also in Stratford upon A1 so it's a pretty great place some very interesting stories the guides there tell you okay uh so do you now put on your best dress okay where is it so do you now put on your best dress attire means dress do you now call out a holiday do you now choose to take a holiday call out means take a holiday and do you I mean choose to means C uh call out means choose to take a holiday and do you now strw flows in his way and do you now you know put flows in his way uh that comes in triumph over Pomp's blood Pomp's blood means Pomp's son who is come after defeating pompei's Sons he has come okay be gone run to your houses get out go back to your houses fall upon your knees pray to the gods to intermit the plague that needs must light on this ingratitude so he's accusing them of being uh ungrateful so he's saying that go and pray to the gods fall onto your knees pray to the gods that is to spare you to intermit intermit means to spare you okay uh from the terrible punishment plague means haah in Hindi uh I'm getting confused from the plague you know plague was something which was like an epidemic kind of a disease which would come so he's saying spare you from this horrible disease right the punishment in this particular case plague is being used in the reference to a punishment not necessarily a medical condition that is certain to come down on you for such ingratitude for being so ungrateful to who pompe that you guys celebrated pompe so if this pass message comes you need to kind of contrast it so these are the same commoners who would celebrate pompe but now they have shifted sides even though Caesar has actually defeated pompe sons in battle I hope you're able to understand with the help of the story that I told you before you are able to correlate right okay flavas go go good countrymen and for this fault assemble all the poor men of your sort draw them to Tiber Banks and beep your tears into the channel till the lowest stream to kiss the most most exalted shes of all so what is flavas saying so flavus is saying go go good countrymen he's also supporting maras and saying go go good countrymen for this mistake what you should do is that gather all the poor men like you poor men so it shows a certain class divide you know they call them poor people okay so call gather all the poor men like you of your sort like you okay get them to the banks of river Tiber and weep into the Waters of river Tiber till it overflows into the channel till the lowest stream okay till it overflows and the lowest stream kisses the most elevated Shore you know so he's kind of being rather poetic so he's saying the lowest stream it kisses the most exalted shore of all you know it could R to the bank or the uppermost stream the elevated Shore so he basically wants it to overflow as a result of what the tears of all these commoners who he says should repent for the mistake that they have made okay let's move ahead all the commoners exit the scene now only flavus and marus are there on the stage see whether their basist metal be not moved they vanish tongue tied in their guiltiness go you down that way towards the capital now what does it seems he's saying that see to it Flavia says see uh See to it that their base Natures have been moved basically saying that you know base means something which is very reprehensible something which is of a low quality right so that their base Natures have been moved so basically saying this poor men have no gratitude they have no quality so they have off a very low class that's what he's kind of looking down upon them so he's saying they're so guilty they are so guilty that they actually vanished from this particular scene Tongue Tied without speaking a word in their defense they did not try to kind of argue or convince us that what they are doing is right so they are so guilty which is why they left without actually speaking a word he says you go towards that way towards the capital now capital is where the Temple of Jupiter was located on the Capital Hill the Temple of Jupiter on the Capital Hill where the state business of Rome was undertaken and I will go this way to strip the statues I will go this way disrup the images to strip the stat statues if you find them decked with ceremonies whose statues are these These are the statues images means statues if they have been decorated in honor of Julius Caesar okay and while I do it you should also be doing the same so that's what they say that they should go and strip if there are any kind of decoration on any of the statues if if they have been decorated in honor of the return of Julia Caesar they should go both of them should go and strip those images those statues Mara says may we do so you know it is the Feast of lupercal now what is happening on this particular day also is the fact that he says should we really do that or can we really do that because today is also the uh Feast of lupercal now lupercal is a pastoral that is an agriculture related Festival of ancient Rome okay which was held in the month of February because February was known as the month of purification so this was a festival which was associated with Purity and it was to promote fertility and to purify the city and this was in honor of God lupercus okay it was in honor of God lupercus to purify the city and to promote uh fertility so in that sense and we will know about that more in the second scene okay flavas it is no matter let no images be hung with Caesar's trophy so he says it does not matter so do what I am telling you let no statues be decorated in honor of juliia Caesar I will go around and remove the commoners the vulgar people drive away the vulgar from the street so the vulgar refers to the commoner so yet again earlier he says basist now he's talking of them as vulgar that these vulgar people I will drive them away from the street so that the streets are deserted which does not quite happen in scene two so they are unsuccessful in their mission to that extent and you should also do the same where you perceive them thick wherever you perceive them thick means wherever you see a crowd of those people thick means a crowd of those people wherever you see them please remove them okay these growing feathers plucked from Caesar's Wing will make them fly an ordinary pitch so he's saying by removing these symbols of Caesar's power we will bring him down to an ordinary height pitch means height okay fly an ordinary pitch ordinary pitch so he cannot fly very high because that's what they fear that he is flying very high let's bring him down to the ground who else would soar above the view of men and keep us all in survive fearfulness these two lines the last two lines indicate the political insecurity of flavas and marilus representing a large number of Roman noblemen and Senators so he's saying the otherwise if you don't do this he will soar to such a height okay of power that we will have to be scared of him okay we will have to be scared of him fearfulness survive means we will have to Bor down to him we will have to be survive we will be inferior to him we will almost be like servants to Julius Caesar so survive fearfulness so that is what they do and they exit in different directions I hope MAA you have understood whatever I have explained in absolute great detail I don't think I have left out any word which you have not understood the notes are there now the next reading you should do along with your textbook and the notes and any Shakespeare in play much more than a Merchant of Venice a Julia Caesar will need multiple readings and I say multiple readings it really means multiple readings so the more times you read you will understand it but in the overall context I think this explanation would do really well for you to understand the play the overall background the context of the play and that will really help you write your answers with of course will follow in due course of time thank you very much for watching T bye-bye