THE ADDER AND THE LADDER
Figurative language as a form of persuasion in Julius Caesar

Tim Clark, Contoocook Valley Regional High School, Peterborough, NH

PLAY/SCENES COVERED: Julius Caesar, Act 2, Scene 1, lines 10-36

NCTE STANDARDS COVERED: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 11, 12

WHAT’S ON FOR TODAY AND WHY: Julius Caesar is a play about, among many
other things, techniques of persuasion. In Brutus’ first soliloquy, he
sets about to persuade himself why Caesar must be killed. At the same
time, he is rehearsing arguments to use on others after the
assassination takes place. One of his techniques is to use figurative
language to associate ambition (the “ladder”) and poison (the “adder”).
By reading, speaking, and analyzing the use of figurative language in
this soliloquy, students will gain a deeper understanding of Brutus as a
character and, perhaps, a new sense of skepticism about the devices
people use to persuade us to do things we might not otherwise
contemplate. This lesson can be done in one class period.

WHAT TO DO:
1. Distribute copies of the soliloquy. Clear desks to the sides of the
room so that the students can stand in a circle. Begin with a choral
reading of the soliloquy. Ask one student to begin reading the soliloquy
out loud until she or he encounters a period, exclamation point,
question mark, colon, or semicolon. At that point, the next student
should continue to the next major punctuation mark, and so on until the
soliloquy is over or all students have read, whichever comes last. Check
for comprehension of vocabulary.
2. Now divide the class into two lines, facing each other. Have them
alternate reading the soliloquy out loud, stopping at major punctuation
marks as before, but increasing the volume as they go, until by the last
line, they are shouting.
3. Ask students to discuss what Brutus is saying. Does he have
conflicting feelings about assassinating Caesar? If so, what evidence of
conflict is in the lines? For example, does he consider any arguments
against the murder? Where are they?
4. Have students return to their desks and, in small groups (no more
than four) look for figurative language in the soliloquy. Give them no
more than two minutes to find one example of Brutus comparing Caesar to
someone or something else.
5. Have one student from each group report on findings. There may be
some surprises (which would be good!), but the findings will probably
come down to the man on the ladder, and the poisonous adder “that craves
wary walking.” Give the groups another two minutes to answer this
question: which of the two images (the adder or the ladder) best
describes Caesar’s actions as we know them from the first act of the
play?
6. Have a different member of each group report on findings. The teacher
or facilitator might record the findings in four columns on the board:
the adder, the man on the ladder, both, or neither.
7. As a class, discuss each possibility. How does the use of two images,
the adder and the ladder, affect the way each is seen by the reader or
heard by the listener? Does a “climber-upper” seem threatening by
himself? What happens when you link him to a poisonous serpent? If the
class has read or discussed the story of Adam and Eve, you might ask if
there’s anything interesting about the fact that Brutus is walking in
his orchard, talking about serpents and thinking about breaking an oath.
The class might also consider the question of how to recognize a future
threat (“a serpent’s egg”) and eliminate it before it becomes dangerous.
What are the risks in such an approach?

WHAT YOU NEED: The play, or copies of the soliloquy

HOW DID IT GO? Listen in on the small group work and review the class
discussion. Did students see or hear the way Brutus was using figurative
language to build a case for killing Caesar, in spite of the lack of
hard evidence? Were they able to apply the lesson to their own lives and
times?