Saturday, December 24, 2011

What are some of the omens that occurred in Act I of "Julius Caesar?"

 In ActI Sc3 a terrified Casca rushes into the street with a drawn sword just as an eathquake is taking place,"all the sway of earth/Shakes like a thing unfirm." Cicero asks him why he is so frightened and upset. Casca atonce tells him all the bizarre and scary incidents that have taken place:

1."A tempest dropping fire," it seemed as though fire dropped straight out of the sky and was being fanned by stormy winds.

2. An ordinary slave's hand caught fire and it burned so brightly, "like twenty torches joined," but yet the slave's hand was not scorched.

3. On his  way to the temple of Jupiter (the Capitol) Casca met a lion on the street, but it so uncharacteristically did not harm him at all.

4. Casca next met "a hundred ghastly women," who told him that they saw men on fire walking up and down the streets.

5. Lastly, Casca says that on the previous  day at noon the owl was heard "hooting and shrieking" at the market place.

Casca is convinced that all these strange events  are bad omens and that  something evil is going to happen in Rome.

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