Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to Nilanjana's exclusive English lessons. This video is based on the new syllabus of ICSE 2025. So in this video, I'm going to give you the explanation of Act 1, Scene 1 of Julius Caesar. This is going to be extremely helpful for students those who are promoted to grade 9th in 2023 and 24 and those who will be giving the ICSE exam in 2025. So for you all, for my grade 9 students those who are exposed to a completely new text this time, this video is going to be very helpful for you because I'm going to explain to you everything line by line and trust me, you don't need to go for any guidebook. You don't need to Google and get the explanation. Everything will be given to you only if I get a little bit of support from your end. That's the only motivation. So let's dive in. I don't want to waste further any kind of time. Let's dive in and start with the explanation. In the first scene, we have characters Flavius, Marullus and certain commoners. So these people, they are the the commoners especially, they are the poor people of Rome and they have gathered here because they want to welcome Caesar. All right. So now what is the reason they want to welcome Caesar is because there's a Caesar's victory in the war. They are basically trying to celebrate the victory of Caesar and he has won a few military conquests and now it's the time for him to return. So that's the reason these people have all gathered over here and they are waiting for him to return. In the meantime Flavius and Marullus who are the tribunes of the Roman army. Now tribunes of the Roman army means you can call them as officers of the Roman army. They are like more like the protector of the people. Now these two, you know, they don't like Caesar's growing popularity. Now the tribunes namely Flavius and Marullus, they come and rebuke these commoners and telling them that you are wasting your time by waiting over here. It's time for you to go and get back to your work. So the first line what Flavius tells is hence idle creatures get you home. Idle creatures means your people are really lazy. So therefore get you home. Don't wait here. Just leave this place immediately. You all are idle creatures because you are not doing your work and just sitting idle. Is this a holiday? What? No, you're not. Being mechanical you ought not walk upon a laboring day without the sign of your profession. So what he is trying to say is that you cannot just wait over here because this is not a holiday. Being mechanical all of you are working class people. So being mechanical you should not waste your time upon a laboring day. Today is a working day and how come you all are wasting your time without the sign of your profession like you all are professionals. And just after some time we will understand that what kind of profession they belong to. So he said that there is no sign of your profession. You all are not carrying anything. Like for example a carpenter will you know carry his ruler. Similarly a cobbler will have all his instruments with him. So but you all have nothing. Then he asked speak what trade art thou? What trade art thou means? What profession do you belong to? Now here among the commoners we have a carpenter and he tells why sir a carpenter. So my ruler tells where is thy leather apron and thy rule? What dost thou with thy best apron on? You sir, what trade are you? So my rulers in a very angry manner, he's holding these people and he's telling that okay if you are the carpenter, where is your leather apron? Of course when you are in the work mode you need to have your tools, your instruments, your you know your dress with you. You can't be in your holiday attire. And where is your rule? The word rule refers to the ruler which carpenter uses to measure his things. And he said that if you are a carpenter, how come you are here with your best apron on? Now best apron on what does this mean? It means that why are you in your best holiday attire? Like there is a difference when people you know are there in a work mode and there's a difference when the people are relaxing. You can understand from the way they have dressed up and that is what he tells them. Cobbler, truly sir in respect of a fine workman I am but as you would say a cobbler. Now if you see the carpenter answers in a very straightforward manner. Why sir a carp? Immediately he answers but the cobbler he has a different style of answering. You know he has a little roundabout way of answering the question and he also speaks in puns which we will understand a little later. So he said okay if you talk about a fine workman then I am nothing but a cobbler. Marullus, but what trade art thou? Answer me directly. So Marullus gets all the more angry and agitated and he tells okay so what trade are you? Give me the exact profession. What kind of profession do you belong to? And give me a direct answer. So the cobbler tells a trade sir that I hope I may use with a safe conscience which is indeed a mender of bad souls. So here he is answering in puns. Now what is the meaning of the word pun? You must have done in your lower grades. Pun is a figure of speech which means there's a double meaning. So he tells I'm a mender of bad souls. Bad souls over here also refers to I'm a mender of worn out souls. So what are worn out souls? Souls which are not good. There are people those who are not having a clear conscience. So I am a mender of those souls. So the word soul and the word s-o-u-l-e-s. So a cobbler you know he works with souls. The souls of shoes. But he tries to put a pun and say that I also meant souls. So the soul in the other way around. So Flavius again gets angry and he tells that what trade? Give me your profession. Thou knave. Thou knave means you fool. What is the profession that you belong to? Thou naughty knave. What trade? Cobbler. Nay I beseech you sir be not out with me. Yet if you be out sir I can mend you. So again the cobbler answers in puns and he says that no sir I beseech you. I request you do not be angry with me. Be not out with me. Do not be angry with me. Yet if you be out I can mend you. So he tells that okay I can also mend you. So if you are angry or if you need any help I can also mend you. So this literally gets Marullus all the more angry. So he said what meanest thou by that? What do you exactly mean by that? Mend me thou saucy fellow. So you are such a rude and you know cheeky fellow. You are going to mend me. So cobbler immediately tries to cover up and say why sir? Cobble you. So he just trying to say that you know what I was just trying to say that I would cobble you. Means I would in case if you need any help I can mend your shoes. But we understand that he was actually speaking in double meaning. Flavius thou what a cobbler art thou? So are you a cobbler? Isn't it? Now thou you know the meaning of thou means in Shakespearean English it is you. So we are all dealing with the Shakespearean English or we can also call it archaic English. And many throughout the text you will find many such instances. Cobbler truly sir all that I live by is with the owl. I meddle with no tradesman matters nor women's matters. But with all I am indeed sir a surgeon to old shoes. When they are in great danger I recover them. As proper men as ever trod upon neat's leather have gone upon my handiwork. So what he says over here is that I just work with my tool, my instrument which is the owl. And I do not meddle with no tradesman's matters. Means I do not interfere in anything else. I'm doing my work and I that's what I engage myself to. Neither I interfere with any women's matters. Means I am a very you know strict person as far as my profession goes. I only concentrate on my work nothing else. I am a surgeon to old shoes. So I'm a surgeon like a surgeon what he does he you know he tries to recover patients from any kind of ailment. Similarly my work is I'm a surgeon to old shoes. So if there are old shoes and it needs to be repaired I do the work. If they are in great danger so if they are they are worn out I recover them. I mend them. I do them proper. As proper men as ever trod upon neat's leather have gone upon my handiwork. So as long as good men as I have ever worn shoes. Now neat's leather refers to shoes and they have all walked on my handiwork. Means what he tries to say is if there are any good men around who have worn proper shoes they all have worn shoes which I have created for them. It's upon my handiwork. I have created I have mended those shoes of all the good men. Flavius but wherefore art not in thy shop today? So he's asking why aren't you in your shop today if you are talking about your profession you should be in your shop. Why does thou lead these men about the streets? So what is the reason that you are gathering all these men? Now there are a group of men in the streets as I have said in the beginning. So why how come you are leading all these men over here? What is the reason you all have gathered over here? Pablo truly sir to wear out their shoes to get myself into more work. Now he's a very funny fellow and he has also a good sense of humor. So he's telling them that yeah I have gathered all these men is because if they walk around a lot of course their shoes would be worn out and if their shoes are worn out I can get more work. So he's trying to crack a joke over here. But indeed sir we make holiday to see Caesar and to rejoice in his triumph. Now as I have said in the beginning that Caesar is returning victorious and that is the reason the commoners are waiting for to catch a glimpse of him and basically welcome him. So then he gives out the true statement that yes this is the reason we are waiting here because we have taken a holiday from our work because we want to see Caesar and he also want to rejoice. We want to celebrate his victory. So Marullus he gets very angry over here and he tells wherefore rejoice? What is the reason you all are rejoicing? What conquest brings him home? What kind of conquest he has brought for Rome? What tributaries follow him to Rome to grace and captive bonds his chariot wheels? So he's telling that what kind of captured rulers has he brought home? Is he bringing any captured rulers over here? So if you remember in the olden days when kings used to win a war it was a custom for them more or less to bring some prisoners of war. So he's telling over here is he bringing any captured rulers with him? Is he bringing anything any kind of victory to Rome? Are they following him to Rome to grace and captive bonds his chariot wheels? So is he bringing any prisoners of war with him chained to the wheels of his chariot? No. So then how come you all are waiting over here? You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things. So he again rebukes them and he is very angry with them. So he tells that you all are blocks, stones and senseless things. Now blocks means heartless. Again stones also means people who do not have emotions and you all are also senseless. Senseless means you all don't have any logic behind the actions that you all do. You all are absolutely devoid of any kind of sense. Why? Because you all are hard heart. You all don't have any emotion. You cruel men of Rome. You all are very cruel. Why? Knew you not Pompey? So now who was Pompey? Pompey was a ruler whom Caesar had defeated earlier. Okay. So Pompey is also a Roman leader whom Caesar has defeated. So here he's telling that how come you all have forgotten Pompey? Because many a time and oft, oft means often, many a time and often have you climbed up to walls and battlements, to towers and windows. So you all have climbed two walls and you all have gathered around the towers and windows. Why? Because you all wanted to catch a glimpse of Pompey. You all have even climbed to chimney tops. During the times when Pompey used to return from any kind of victory, you all used to do this with your infants in your arms. Means it was so important for you to gather and celebrate Pompey's victory that you all just even took the newborn babies in your arms and you all used to, you know, climb the chimney tops, gather around the windows, in the towers and there have sat the lifelong day, the entire day you all have waited with patient expectation. You all have waited patiently. Why? To see great Pompey pass the streets of Rome. So you all have done all this and when you saw his chariot but appear, so when Pompey used to finally appear after waiting for the entire day, when you all used to get the glimpse of Pompey, have you not made an universal shout? That time all of you shouted together. Greeted, shouted over here refers to a universal cry of appreciation, of praise. Together all of you did that and it was so loud that even Tiber trembled beneath, underneath her arms. Now Tiber is a river, okay? So the way you all shouted, even Tiber echoed your voice. That was the kind of you know, love and respect you all used to show for Pompey. The way you all have shouted, even Tiber trembled beneath her banks. You know, the river shook from the sound echoing within its banks to hear the replication of your sounds made in her concave show. So as I have said that it used to echo the sound of your voice within the banks. And now, what are you all doing now? Do you now put on your best attire? So now you all have dressed up in the best dress, best attire and do you now call out a holiday? So now you have declared yourself a holiday. What is the reason? And do you now strew flowers in his way that comes in triumph over Pompey's blood? So you people are so ungrateful because now you all have gathered here, you all have dressed up in your best attire, you all have you know strewn flowers in the way of Caesar. Why? Because you all want to welcome him. And why you want to welcome him? Because Caesar now is returning from a war. And what kind of war is he returning? He has just defeated Pompey's son. The war that Caesar is returning from, it is believed to be a war against Pompey's son. So basically it's a triumph over Pompey's blood. Now Pompey's blood refers to Pompey's son. And you all are so ungrateful that all that you have done for Pompey now, you are rejoicing because he has won the conquest against his son. Be gone. Just get lost from here. Just leave this place. Run to your houses. Fall upon your knees. Pray to the gods to intermit the plague that needs must light on this ingratitude. So he is so angry and is basically trying to emotionally hurt them. And he tells that it's time for you to get back to your houses. Fall upon your knees. Fall upon your knees means you all have to pray. Pray to God to atone your sins. Because God will be very angry with you all. And just tell him that to spare the terrible punishment that all of you will get due to this ingratitude. So this is what the commoners are rebuked with. Flavius, go go good countrymen and for this fault assemble all the poor men of your sort. So Flavius tells that just go from here and assemble all the commoners like y'all whichever whoever commoners you see who all are you know loitering around to welcome Caesar. Just gather them and leave the place. Draw them to Tiber banks. Draw them. Assemble them in the banks of the river Tiber and weep your tears into the channel. So it's time for y'all to cry and atone your sins. Because it's highly you know an example of ingratitude that you all are doing right now. And y'all should cry so weep so profoundly that till the lowest stream do kiss the most exalted shores of all. Weep your tears into the channel. Cry so you all have to cry out and pray for your sins. That basically the water starts overflowing. The waters of the river Tiber would start overflowing. Do kiss the most exalted shores of all means the lowest stream would start overflowing with your tears. All the commoners exit. Now hearing all this review finally these people exit because probably they realize that it was wrong for them to wait over here and welcome Caesar just because just a few days back they used to welcome Pompey in the same manner. So it's highly wrong for them to welcome Caesar. So they immediately leave the place. So here what do we understand from the mindset of the commoners? Now I want all of you to put a comment over here and give me the answer because this is a very important question. Of course I will share my answer and I will share my answer later on but I want you all to know that from the behavior of the commoners what is the observation from your part that what kind of a mindset they have? Okay so we move on. Yeah next after this. See whether their basest metal be not moved. Now basest metal over here refers to the the unrefined coarse men, the rough men of Rome, the poor men. These people are unrefined and coarse. All right so see whether their basest metal be not moved. They vanish tongue-tied in their guiltiness. Tongue-tied means they're absolutely quiet. They couldn't even utter a word. They just disappeared. They vanished because they were filled with guilt. So basest metal refers to their conscience. These unrefined poor men of Rome we need to see that. They need to be moved emotionally. Then after this Flavius tells that bow you down that way towards the capital. Now what is the capital? Basically the capital we can say that it is the heart of the Roman political life. This is a place where all the political affairs of the states are carried out. The heart of the Roman political life. So he said that you can go down towards the capital and I'm going to go the other way. Now what is the reason? Because now here they have some agenda. They're telling that disrobe the images if you do find decked with ornaments. So whatever images you find of Caesar which has been decorated, please go and just disrobe, cancel all the ornaments. Because we cannot allow this victory of Caesar to be popularized in Rome. May we do so? You know it is the feast of Lupercal. Now that day it was also the feast of Lupercal. Now what is the feast of Lupercal? It's an annual festival. Feast of Lupercal refers to an annual festival where it's basically a festival of fertility. So it's an annual festival of fertility. So it's actually also a public holiday in Rome. And this festival is mainly celebrated in honor of the god Lupercal. It is no matter. Let no images be hung with Caesar's trophy. So Flavius tells that no, not a matter at all. Even though it's a feast of Lupercal, let us go ahead with our plan. We should not allow any Caesar's monuments, statues to be decorated. I will about and drive away the vulgar from the street. So if I see any vulgar, vulgar here refers to the commoners. As I said, unrefined, coarse, rough men of Rome, the poor people. I will drive them away. So do you too. Even you do the same. Where you perceive them thick. So wherever you find them gathering, wherever you find them to be, you know, assembling. So just try to remove them from there. Now very important last four lines. These growing feathers plucked from Caesar's wing will make him fly an ordinary pitch. The growing feathers plucked from Caesar's wing means Caesar is gaining a lot of support these days. As we see the commoners are gathering, people are trying to welcome him. So he's getting a lot of popularity. So we need to remove this popularity. We need to boycott this popularity. So if we can pluck the feathers of his growing support, then it will make him an ordinary man. They are actually jealous of Caesar. They're actually not at all happy with Caesar's growing popularity. Who else, if otherwise we are not doing it, what would happen? Who else would soar above the view of men? He is going to become very powerful and he will be beyond the reach of common men, ordinary men. He will be not like us. He will be far away from us in his popularity and keep us all in survival fearfulness. So this is the fear in the mind of the people of Rome and that's the reason they will start a conspiracy, which we will understand in the next few scenes. How they are hatching a plot and how they're going to hatch a plot to basically bring down his popularity. And you know of course it's very interesting. So what we understand from here in this act one scene one is that people are jealous of Caesar's popularity, especially the Roman people, the Roman officers, not the common people. And they will hatch a plot, they will gather and they are trying to make sure that Caesar's popularity is diminished immediately. Otherwise what is the fear in their mind? Why are they doing it? See this happens with us also in our life. Somebody who becomes a little popular, somebody who's a little different from others, people get jealous and out of jealousy they try to bring that person down. So bringing somebody down is very you know there in a common human nature and this is the same thing what these people are trying to do. Now those who have understood this part that's great but then before this I also want you to say that you need to know the background. I have shared a video where I have explained the summary, the background in short, where the key themes, what is the motive behind all these things that they are doing. I have shared that video so make sure you watch the background which will be clear for you. So I'll be coming again with the next scene but yes if you have any doubts you can always message in the comment and go through the play line by line. Thank you and if you think this comment this content is helping you please do subscribe to the channel and share it with somebody. It's new syllabus, many of you may be having difficulty, even teachers might need help. So yes if you are a teacher or a student make sure that you subscribe so that you know I get motivated to make further videos like this because there are a lot of videos, act one, scene one, scene two, act a lot of videos in line. So a little bit of motivation from your part will actually give me that boost. Thank you everyone. Goodbye.