Mother Courage: Scene I - Initial Thoughts

In the play 'Mother Courage', Brecht expresses his view of society which can be demonstrated with a Marxist Paradigm where the elite are few in number but hold economic power and therefore hold the control in society. Next is the bourgeoisie which are the middle class and hold some economic power. Lastly, are the proletariats: the workers who hold little to no power and serve the aspirations of the elite and are enslaved.

Mother Courage is associated with the common people and is a very paradoxical character as there are many readings of her character.

She can be seen as:

- The archetype of mother vs. the hard-hearted mother full of selfishness

- Wise yet foolish

- The voice of judgement yet petty and unethical

An example of this is how she is against war and of her sons being taken away as soldiers, however it is the war that she is living off. Without the war, she would not have a form of income.

Her children are introduced in this scene and all of them are from different fathers showing how war has effected her life as she is peripatetic and moves with war, which fragments her life as she, along with her children seem to have no place of origin and seem to be drifting along behind the war.

Othello - Notes on Watching Play

Act 1

• When confronting council the sides are divided on stage with the council in between.
• Iago is standing silently behind Othello. Shows that he is backing Othello as he is on Othello's "side", however, standing silently behind Othello portrays his deceitfulness
• Roderigo stands with Brabantio
• Iago dressed with blacks and leathers - shows his dark, dangerous side
• The set is very simple
• Brabantio was cast as of equal build to Othello to show that he can match Othello physically if needed. Makes Brabantio's anger more effective.

Othello - Act 2, Scene 1 - Cassio and Cyprus

Points to note from previous lesson...

• The importance of the hankerchef - The hankerchef given to Desdemona symbolizes Othello's love to her. Iago uses this to 'prove' to Othello that Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio as Othello sees him handing Desdemona back the hankerchef. The story of the hankerchef suggests is more powerful than the truth.
• Story telling is an important theme in Othello - The story Iago tells Othello consumes him and prevents him from seeking the truth. / Othello asks Iago to get poison for Desdemona but ironically Iago has already poisoned Othello's mind.
• The motif of poison is present - It is the roots of Iagos powers (story vs. physical truth)

Act 2, Scene 1

The setting has changed to Cyprus in this act. The weather is stormy - "A fuller blast ne'er shook our battlements" (line 6). Everything that seems to follow the change of scene to Cyprus is framed by the wildness of the natural world. The weather becomes an objective correlative to what is happening between relationships of people on stage.

The storm makes the end of the peaceful part of the play and is a sign that Iago's meddling is about to really begin.

The character, Michael Cassio, was not of great importance in Act I, but however, in Act II, the audience can really start to understand what type of man Cassio is. Cassio has a very polished, courtly way of speaking and is seen to be very smooth with the ladies. He calls Desdemona "divine", however he is very respectful towards her and wishes Othello and Desdemona much joy together. This creates much irony, as he does not hold any love for Desdemona, only respect, he is still charged with having an affair with her, when in reality, he would be one of the only men that would not pursue her.

It is Cassio's courtly manner that makes him Othello's lieutenant as Othello admires his responsibility as a Venetian and a soldier.

Othello - Shakespeare's Desdemona Essay

Shakespeare creates Desdemona to be a very complex character as he is very careful to how she is portrayed throughout the play.

Desdemona is shown to be a character of beauty and truth however it is shown that she is capable of betrayal as she betrayed her fathers trust but eloping with Othello. This also shows her independent streak as she is prepared to stand up to any battle or controversy to follow her heart. Her independence is also shown later in Othello's utterance (around line 145), he suggests that Desdemona initiated the courtship as "she'd come again, and with a greedy ear Devour my discourse" demonstrating her determination to be with Othello.

In Desdemona's first appearance on stage, she strengthens the image of their love that Othello has presented. Along with Othello and Brabantio, she does not shy away from talking passionately and confidently in front of the senators.

She also contradicts her fathers previous statement of herself as being "A maiden never bold, of spirit so still and quiet" when she wishes not be left behind as a "moth of peace", meaning that she believes she is strong enough to face Othello's military life

Shakespeare shows Desdemona to have a full range of human feelings and capacities but ensures she does not fail in feeling and propriety. Desdeoma's liveliness, assertiveness and sensuality are corroborated in her marrying Othello. The crucial fact of her marriage is not that she elopes but that she, a white woman, weds a black man and that is what Brabantio is most disgusted with.

Othello - Act 1 Scene 2

Othello - Analysis of Characters

Othello

- the plays protagonist

- Highly respected general of the Venice Armed Forces

- A North African "a Moor" so he is seen as an outsider to the people of Venice, however, powerful and respected among the people

- Has a free and open nature and possesses Christian values

Desdemona

- Daughter of Venetian Senator Brabantio and secretly married to Othello as Brabantio does not approve of her marrying a "moor"

Iago

- the villain of the play

- Manipulative, bold and daring

- Is two-faced and related to the Greek God Jaenus as Iago announces "I am not what I am"

- Extremely jealous and controlling character

- Revolutionary attitudes as he is not a follower of the Christian beliefs at that time.

Shakespearean Tragedy Research

Shakespeare's most admired tragedies were written between 1601 and 1608, one of which was Othello.

There are many factors in a Shakespearean play that are common throughout all of his tragedies. These include:

- The protagonist must be an admirable but flawed character, with the audience able to understand and sympathize with the character. The protagonists are always capable of both good and evil.

- The love tragedies ("heart tragedies) (Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Antony and Cleopatra) involve a pair of lovers unable to be together due to fate or society. The main characters do not control their own destiny but are controlled which either leads to death or permanent seperation.

- The "head" tragedies feature a fatally-flawed protagonist fully capable of free will who unfortunately has his good traits overcome by his ego. The hero is always faced with opportunities of redemption , but never able to take them and often leading to death.

****NOTES FROM ESSAY - SHAKESPEAREAN TRAGEDY

Shakespeare emphasizes that tragedy imitiates characters [ethe], passions [pathe], and deeds or experience [praxis]

• Ethe: the characteristic moral qualities of a man - the permanent dispositions of the mind which reveal a certain condition of the will
• Pathe: The ever-changing feelings and emotions
• Praxis: The actions that are inwardly conceived and then rendered objectively on stage

- The management of a good plot concerns the relationship between peripetia (climax) and anagnorisis (the recognition of what brings this about). These two aspects of the plot should be close together and appear naturally

- Shakespearean tragedy is pre-eminently the story of one person (hero/heroine). The story leads up and includes the death of the protagonist

- The calamities of tragedy do not simply happen, nor are they sent by the gods; they proceed mainly from actions, and those actions of men.