Following the Blood

 

July 2006

 

Mosie Kessler-Zacharias teaches English at Friends Academy in Locust Valley, New York.

 

Plays/Scenes Covered

Julius Caesar 3.1

 

NCTE Standards Addressed

3, 6.

 

What’s On for Today and Why

Students will understand Marc Antony’s mastery of manipulation by looking at how he manages stage direction and tableau, audience, and props in the assassination scene. They will do a close reading of symbol—blood— by seeing it physically in action. By stripping the scene down to its physical movements (in stage and implied stage directions), students will get a preview of Marc Antony’s oratory power and managerial style for dealing with the crowd. By extension, students will understand that though dialogue-driven, a powerful scene depends on series of still images to achieve its full impact.

 

This lesson takes up to two class periods.

 

What to do:

 

  1. Blood types – Write BLOOD on the blackboard or project the word using an overhead. Ask students to brainstorm the various associations they have with the word. Encourage them to think widely; hopefully, they will generate a spectrum of terms: life source, heritage, family, wreckage etc.

 

  1. Red tape – Split the class in half. Give each half of the class a yard of red tape. (You can also use regular masking tape and red markers.) Have them copy the terms for blood onto the tape and tell them that the tape will signify blood. (If you are feeling really adventuresome, you can use stage blood; there are plenty of recipes for home concoctions online. Just warn students to wear clothing they don’t mind staining.)

 

  1. Dumb show – Give students the attached handout and ask them to block and rehearse a dumb show (acting out the stage directions, which are mostly directly from Shakespeare’s text, without dialogue). One student should read the dumb show aloud while the others act it out. Have students place the whole yard of tape on the student playing Caesar wherever the students think he is stabbed.  Each time the directions hint at blood or a transfer of blood, have students tear off a piece of red tape and attach it to the appropriate spot on the next person.

 

Caesar Dumb Show Handout.

 

[N.B. Students are likely to struggle with the number of undifferentiated characters onstage. Encourage each one to think of why his/her character is involved in the conspiracy and to what extent. You may need to jump in and help with this.]

 

  1. Follow the blood – Have the two groups play their dumb shows for each other, showing where blood originates and moves to throughout the scene. (Supply students with a fresh yard of tape for performances if necessary.)

 

  1. Ask – What do students notice about the scene based on this bloody version? Encourage them especially to watch what happens with Trebonius, how and why he leaves and how Marc Antony manages to smear him with the conspirators’ blood. Ask them why Shakespeare has Antony go out of his way to bloody Trebonius and what effect this has on our understanding of Antony’s power and savvy.

 

  1. If time permits, ask students which form of blood (of the variations—heritage, wreckage etc.—they brainstormed at the beginning of the period) Caesar sheds, which form is spread throughout the scene, which Trebonius ends up with on his hands, and which ends up on Antony as he carries out the corpse.

 

Homework: Have students read the attached script for 3.1. with blood highlighted. (You may need to cut and paste this into Word to see highlighting.)


            Caesar 3.1 Handout.

 

  1. The next day – Have some students act out 3.1. while the rest direct using the attached script.

 

  1. Layering on the language – Ask students to consider how hearing and seeing the scene is augmented by understanding where the blood goes. What does Shakespeare accomplish by having such a strong visual corollary to the action onstage?

 

  1. Predictions – If time permits, have students hypothesize about Antony’s role in the next scene, given his mastery of stage direction and subtle finger-pointing.

 

What You Need

New Folger edition of Julius Caesar.

A roll of red masking tape (or normal masking tape and red markers).

 

How Did It Go?

This lesson will have gone well if students understand that Marc Antony smears Trebonius’ clean hand with the conspirators’ blood in order to show visually what he can not say—that all the conspirators are responsible, regardless of their proximity to the stabbing, and that he is on to them and in charge of how the whole event will be perceived publicly. This lesson should also get students thinking about implied stage directions, props as symbols, and drama as not just aural but also a visual medium.