Sunday 13 August 2017

What are some literary devices in Act V of Julius Caesar?

Shakespeare uses allusion, simile, metaphor, personification and foreshadowing in Act V of Julius Caesar. An allusion is a reference to a person, place, event, literary work or work of art. In Scene 1, during the parley (conference between enemies) Cassius alludes to the "Hybla bees," comparing their sweet honey to the words of Antony. The bees, from the town of Hybla in Sicily, were well known for their honey.


Also during the parley, Antony uses...

Shakespeare uses allusion, simile, metaphor, personification and foreshadowing in Act V of Julius Caesar. An allusion is a reference to a person, place, event, literary work or work of art. In Scene 1, during the parley (conference between enemies) Cassius alludes to the "Hybla bees," comparing their sweet honey to the words of Antony. The bees, from the town of Hybla in Sicily, were well known for their honey.


Also during the parley, Antony uses similes to describe those who killed Caesar. A simile is a comparison of two unlike things using like or as. He compares them to grinning apes, obedient "hounds" and a mongrel dog (cur):



Villains, you did not so when your vile daggers
Hacked one another in the sides of Caesar.
You showed your teeth like apes and fawned like
hounds
And bowed like bondmen, kissing Caesar’s feet,
Whilst damnèd Casca, like a cur, behind
Struck Caesar on the neck. O you flatterers!



Like a simile, a metaphor is a comparison of two unlike things, but does not use like or as. In Scene 3, after Cassius commits suicide, Titinius compares Cassius to a setting sun. His comparison likens Cassius's demise to that of the Roman Republic for which the conspirators fought:




But Cassius is no more. O setting sun,
As in thy red rays thou dost sink to night,
So in his red blood Cassius’ day is set.
The sun of Rome is set. Our day is gone;
Clouds, dews, and dangers come. Our deeds are
done.





Personification occurs when a nonhuman subject is given human characteristics. Messala uses personification when he refers to Cassius's mistaken idea that his army had already lost the battle. This "Error" is personified as a "Melancholy child" conceived by Cassius, who is said to be its mother:




O hateful error, melancholy’s child,
Why dost thou show to the apt thoughts of men
The things that are not? O error, soon conceived,
Thou never com’st unto a happy birth
But kill’st the mother that engendered thee!





Finally, Shakespeare foreshadows Brutus's death in Scene 4 with the words of Lucilius, who has been taken prisoner by Antony. Foreshadowing occurs when clues are given to suggest what may take place next. Lucilius accurately predicts that Brutus will not be taken alive by the forces of Antony and Octavius:




Safe, Antony, Brutus is safe enough.
I dare assure thee that no enemy
Shall ever take alive the noble Brutus.





Brutus does commit suicide in the final scene of the Act just before his enemies arrive.




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