Thursday, January 27, 2011

Roderigo and Emilia

This is going to sound like a strange thing to write a whole blog about, but I am really glad Roderigo finally grew up in the end. He had annoyed me the whole play, always saying: "I want Desdemona but I don't have her" and "All my money's gone!" The truth is that I probably wouldn't have minded as much if he died then say, EMILIA(I mean, what the heck?). However, he finally wised up and realized what a manipulator Iago was and then he dies. I was really sad. I also didn't like that Emilia died. I though she was a very sympathetic character who was loyal, a little dense, but loved Desdemona. That she had to deal with Iago made everything worse in my mind and I think she never truly got an opportunity at anything. It made me really angry that Iago killed her even though he knew it was all over. It showed how evil and callous he is, to kill his own wife even though it is all over.

#7 Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime

I don't think the audience ever know for sure how much time passed throughout this play, but I would personally suggest that it occurred over 7-10 days. Shakespeare needed a length of time that would not appear to long and cumbersome to his audience and one that was long enough to encompass all of the action he wanted in the play. Othello needed enough time to get to Cyprus and Iago needed time to plan and scheme, although, personally, I believe it came very easily to him. The would come the manipulation and the paranoia which is characteristic of any good Shakespearean tragedy (oh joy). The element of time primarily gives the audience a timeline to follow. However, it also gives them the ability to get excited, scared, worried, and frustrated. Although the play would be relatively short, the audience would have experienced a wide array of emotions by the end. Also, I think the time of the play allowed the audience to become attached to the "good" characters. I think that if everything had happened to fast, then nobody would understand Othello. Also, it allowed the audience to see the true characteristics of the characters.

#2 Oh the Horror!

This play is a tragedy because the hero has a tragic flaw that leads him to dis demise. Othello's tragic flaw is his gullible nature and too-trusting nature. Othello was led astray by Iago's stories and manipulations which ultimately caused all the death in the play. He let himself believe that the love of his life, Desdemona, was cheating on him. I think the action of the play is extremely important to determine the classification of the play because there are so many aspects to Othello. The tragedy comes from the fact that Iago has been manipulating the majority of the characters throughout the entire play. Without this action, the play would not make sense and would not be a tragedy. Finally, the action mostly occurred in the last act and I think that was because it was the end result of the manipulation throughout the fist four acts.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Othello #4 Suspense

Suspense is created in the play by Iago because he is very open with the audience about his plan and his thoughts. The audience has the advantage of knowing his inner thoughts and plans, as well as the interactions among characters and Iago's predictions of the actions of other characters. In this case the audience know everything because they are not interacting with the characters, rather, they are just watching. The suspense is mostly derived from whether or not Iago's plan will work out and whether his predictions of the character's reaction will play out to be true. The audience has the most information as the play proceeds we hear Iago's thoughts, we see the private interactions, and we see the action unfold. Iago is the second most informed because he is the character running the show with the other characters as his puppets in his game. I think the next most informed would probably be Roderigo because even though he is duped by Iago the whole play, Iago needs to use somebody and he needs to trust somebody with at least some of his plan. I think the least informed character is the title character, Othello, because everything is happening because of him and he is the one who was supposed to come out hurt in the end.

Othello #5 Themes

I think the themes of Othello are jealousy, revenge, and racism. Each of theses themes play a huge role in furthering the plot and adding to the dramatic experience. The villain, Iago, is portrayed as a brilliant, but horrible and devious man who runs the whole show in my opinion. He is plagued by all of the themes, but especially revenge. The themes add to the dramatic experience by adding a reason for the chaos that occurs and leads the audience to the action. It increases the pleasure of the theatrical experience because it adds mystery and suspense to the story, as well as giving the audience a tragic hero to root for and a vengeful villain to despise. In human concerns, it is didactic because even though the villain "wins" since the hero dies, the play portrays the anguish and pain that revenge and jealousy can provide. Also, it is didactic in the racism theme because it shows how much an honorable man like Othello can be hated for his color and how much harm that prejudice can cause. Therefore, the play is didactic because it plays out the harmful circumstances that can arise from jealousy, revenge, and racism.

Iago Is an Eeeeeeevil Man

So, I have come to the conclusion that Iago has to be one of the most villainous characters that I have ever read about. He is a horrible person who justifies his actions by saying that because he is witty, it makes it all okay. From reading the play, I understand him to think that just because he is a "smart" person, it is okay to take advantage of those, according to him, to fall for his act. Also, I understand that Iago is angry because he was not promoted, and somebody with no experience was promoted ahead of him, but most people would get over it or discuss the act with their superiors. Iago, instead, decided to act on his anger and jealousy to dispose Cassio of his position and ruin his reputation. However, even further, Iago decided to drive it home by turning Othello against Cassio and his wife, Desdemona. Ultimately, Iago's plan ends in the death of Othello and Desdemona. Therefore, I think I have enough reason to conclude that Iago is an awful man who succumbed to the pressures of anger and jealousy, but did not stop until his lack of promotion was fully "avenged" in his mind with the death of Othello.