If We Were Villains: Act 1, Scene 6 Summary & Analysis

At the end of the class, Gwendolyn tells the group that they’ll all have their turn admitting their strengths and weaknesses aloud. She dismisses them, and Oliver and James walk ahead to the Gallery, where they attend Frederick’s class on Shakespearean text. Frederick greets them and asks if they’re happy with the casting of Julius Caesar, and Oliver notices that James’s affirmative answer is tinged with disappointment. After the other students arrive, Frederick begins the class with a discussion of tragedy. He asks the group what makes Julius Caesar a tragedy rather than a history, to which Oliver suggests that the play is more personal than it is political. Frederick looks at him approvingly and affirms his answer, asking the class, “What is more important, that Caesar is assassinated or that he is assassinated by his intimate friends?”