Performance Assessment Passage

This passage is mainly a scene that takes place during Caesar's return to the feast of Lupercal. Cassius and Brutus are engaged in conversation, and Cassius attempts to convince Brutus to turn and side with the Conspirators against Caesar. This is a significant passage because it introduces Cassius' cunning and manipulative ways with other people. It's also significant because it shows and solidifies the Conspirators' strength, because with Brutus as their leader they're alot stronger and more organized and the chance of killing Caesar increases.

Our passage takes place in Act 1 Scene 2 lines 75-175
BRUTUS

What means this shouting? I do fear, the people
Choose Caesar for their king.

CASSIUS

Ay, do you fear it?
Then must I think you would not have it so.

BRUTUS

I would not, Cassius; yet I love him well.
But wherefore do you hold me here so long?
What is it that you would impart to me?
If it be aught toward the general good,
Set honour in one eye and death i' the other,
And I will look on both indifferently,
For let the gods so speed me as I love
The name of honour more than I fear death.

CASSIUS

I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus,
As well as I do know your outward favour.
Well, honour is the subject of my story.
I cannot tell what you and other men
Think of this life; but, for my single self,
I had as lief not be as live to be
In awe of such a thing as I myself.
I was born free as Caesar; so were you:
We both have fed as well, and we can both
Endure the winter's cold as well as he:
For once, upon a raw and gusty day,
The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores,
Caesar said to me 'Darest thou, Cassius, now
Leap in with me into this angry flood,
And swim to yonder point?' Upon the word,
Accoutred as I was, I plunged in
And bade him follow; so indeed he did.
The torrent roar'd, and we did buffet it
With lusty sinews, throwing it aside
And stemming it with hearts of controversy;
But ere we could arrive the point proposed,
Caesar cried 'Help me, Cassius, or I sink!'
I, as Aeneas, our great ancestor,
Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder
The old Anchises bear, so from the waves of Tiber
Did I the tired Caesar. And this man
Is now become a god, and Cassius is
A wretched creature and must bend his body,
If Caesar carelessly but nod on him.
He had a fever when he was in Spain,
And when the fit was on him, I did mark
How he did shake: 'tis true, this god did shake;
His coward lips did from their colour fly,
And that same eye whose bend doth awe the world
Did lose his lustre: I did hear him groan:
Ay, and that tongue of his that bade the Romans
Mark him and write his speeches in their books,
Alas, it cried 'Give me some drink, Titinius,'
As a sick girl. Ye gods, it doth amaze me
A man of such a feeble temper should
So get the start of the majestic world
And bear the palm alone.

Shout. Flourish

BRUTUS

Another general shout!
I do believe that these applauses are
For some new honours that are heap'd on Caesar.

CASSIUS

Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus, and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs and peep about
To find ourselves dishonourable graves.
Men at some time are masters of their fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
Brutus and Caesar: what should be in that 'Caesar'?
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;
Weigh them, it is as heavy; conjure with 'em,
Brutus will start a spirit as soon as Caesar.
Now, in the names of all the gods at once,
Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed,
That he is grown so great? Age, thou art shamed!
Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods!
When went there by an age, since the great flood,
But it was famed with more than with one man?
When could they say till now, that talk'd of Rome,
That her wide walls encompass'd but one man?
Now is it Rome indeed and room enough,
When there is in it but one only man.
O, you and I have heard our fathers say,
There was a Brutus once that would have brook'd
The eternal devil to keep his state in Rome
As easily as a king.

BRUTUS

That you do love me, I am nothing jealous;
What you would work me to, I have some aim:
How I have thought of this and of these times,
I shall recount hereafter; for this present,
I would not, so with love I might entreat you,
Be any further moved. What you have said
I will consider; what you have to say
I will with patience hear, and find a time
Both meet to hear and answer such high things.
Till then, my noble friend, chew upon this:
Brutus had rather be a villager
Than to repute himself a son of Rome
Under these hard conditions as this time
Is like to lay upon us.

CASSIUS

I am glad that my weak words
Have struck but thus much show of fire from Brutus.

BRUTUS

The games are done and Caesar is returning.

CASSIUS

As they pass by, pluck Casca by the sleeve;
And he will, after his sour fashion, tell you
What hath proceeded worthy note to-day

Tim Challis is my partner.

The Power of the Void

1) If I could, I would name this story 'The Brutal Box', because throughout the whole story you're engulfed in a story of a lottery, and a story of a box. As I finished the story, I realized that the box was a tool that led to a brutal ending of one who had a black dot on his envelope. It creates a void because you honestly wouldn't expect a death at the end of a story of a lottery.

2) I knew there was going to be a dark ending toward the story, because the people's reactions to the black dot on the envelope hinted that it was a dark consequence. However, despite that fact, I had never expected death to be the actual result.

3) It created a deep void within me, and an urge to rip open the envelope and read it. But after a while I was able to get rid of the void, and I had the ability to wait till 5pm.

4) I honestly knew that it was the end of the story, mainly because the story was too empty to have been finished. The result of the black dot didn't end yet, which hinted me that it was the end of the story. Yes, I followed the instructions till 5pm, although it was hard at first because of the long void.

5) I thought the result of the black box and the black spot was pretty brutal. I never expected Mrs Hutchinson to get beat to death with a stone.

6) The void was released from me, after all the waiting till 5pm. I guess it was a good feeling because you get rid of all the suspense that's within you.

7) No. As I said before, I never expected death to occur. It was unbelievably surprising.

8) Honestly, the best way to get the most accurate prediction is to re-read the reactions extracted from all of the people toward the black dot. The restless reactions may or may not make you predict death as the final result.

9) It affected the story in many ways. It gave you this whole suspense within you, and made you restless to find out the end, and then the author releases you of all this suspense by giving you the end. Honestly the whole process is a fun feeling.

10) A. The fact that there's no title gives no clues of what the story is about. It creates a void and it gets you wondering what the story is about.

B. It immediately got you asking yourself questions, and thinking that the story was too empty to have been finished. It may or may not cause you to create your own ending to the story, and you open up your mind to all these possibilities.

C. This gets you to go on with the story, and to be hooked. It also causes you to see if your predictions were correct.

D. Gets you to ask questions about the end, or what lies inside the paper itself.

E. It builds all these voids and intensity, and it gets you asking questions of what's going to happen at the end, and once you finally read the ending you get an instant relief.

F. I had a restless feeling of opening the mystery paper before 5pm. It was pretty frustrating because you had to wait for so long.