📚AP English Literature
FRQ 2 – Prose Fiction Analysis
Practice FRQ 1 of 19
2. The following excerpt is from William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, believed to have been written in 1599. In this passage, Mark Antony addresses the Roman public following the assassination of Julius Caesar.
Read the passage carefully. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze how Shakespeare uses literary elements and techniques to portray the complex nature of Antony's persuasion.
In your response you should do the following:
- Respond to the prompt with a thesis that presents a defensible interpretation.
- Select and use evidence to support your line of reasoning.
- Explain how the evidence supports your line of reasoning.
- Use appropriate grammar and punctuation in communicating your argument.
Par.
1
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
2
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
3
The evil that men do lives after them;
4
The good is oft interred with their bones;
5
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
6
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
7
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
8
And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it.
9
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest–
10
For Brutus is an honourable man;
11
So are they all, all honourable men–
12
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.
13
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
14
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
15
And Brutus is an honourable man.
