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.

Othello - Initials Thoughts

Today we read the opening of Othello and with little prior knowledge of the text, I am struggling to understand the meaning.

However from what I have read so far, I have interpreted it that Iago is pretending to be put on a disguise to benefit himself as he tells Roderigo "For daws to peck at: I am not what I am"

The Great Gatsby - Chapter Eight - Gatsby's Death

The Great Gatsby - Daisy Buchanan

In this passage Nick describes his first meeting with Tom and Daisy since he has moved to West Egg. While approaching he comments on Toms "Two shining arrogant eyes", eyes is a common motif in the Great Gatsby and often used to symbolize God and power which is further emphasized when Nick "could see a great pack of muscle shifting when his shoulder moved under his thin coat", Fitzgerald often associates Tom's powerful presence with his stocky and well-built body. Not only does the way Tom dresses and his possessions symbolize his wealth, status and power, but he literally embodies all of those ideas as his body becomes a symbol of empowerment.

Nick then turns his attention to Daisy by referring to her as "The other girl...[that] made an attempt to rise". Daisy, throughout the novel is often described as a "girl", striping her of her age and maturity which is in contrast to Tom's oozing presence of status and strength. The description that she "made an attempt to rise" further shows how Daisy has little mobility in her and Tom's relationship as she can only "attempt to rise" and is unable to stand and speak for herself.

Daisy embraces Nick and "[holds his] hand for a moment,looking up into [his] face, promising that there was no one in the world that she so much wanted to see". The greeting by Daisy appears to be over dramatic, as she is trying hard to show her gladness that she, in the end, lacks sincerity.

Daisy is portrayed as Gatsby's muse (muse: the source of an artist's inspiration). It is discovered later in the book that Gatsby's real name was James Gatz but he changed it because he wanted to pursue a new, better life than his current one. To Gatsby, if he could get a girl like Daisy, he could finally tell himself that he has 'made it' and become the upper-class, high status man he has always desired.

The Great Gatsby - Chapter Seven

By Daisy inviting Gatsby to her's and Toms house for lunch, she is taking a great risk at her husband finding out about their romance and Tom uses the fact of Gatsby's criminal history to humiliate Gatsby in front of Daisy, suspecting that there is more going on than what can be seen on the surface.

Gatsby did not "ever really believed in [Daisy's child] existence before" until he sees the child in front of him, this suggests how Gatsby has been clasping onto the Daisy that he knew way-back-when and not considering how Daisy has changed over the period of time. This idea of fantasy is extended further on in the passage when Daisy tells her daughter "You dream, you. You absolute little dream." Having a daughter had always been a dream of Daisy's and through the way Daisy acts towards her, Daisy still believes she is a dream - a daughter that is only there when Daisy desired one.

How Daisy acts towards the child, is somewhat similar to what is witnessed with Nora in A Doll's House. Daisy seems to treat her daughter as she is not real. She coos over her as though she is a doll, like an accessory to Daisy, something to show of the life she has made, and seems to have no real bond with her daughter as she is almost entirely in the care of the nanny, this is emphasized when the child is said to respond "shyly", showing how uncomfortable Daisy's own daughter feels around her. Daisy, in this passage, is shown to be immature and selfish, and essentially portrayed as a child herself - not really fit to be a mother.

Daisy seems to be putting on an act to show how deeply she cherishes her daughter by stating "Come to your mother that loves you.", it is like she is not only reminding the child that she is in fact her "mother", but also that she "loves [her]", but also reminding herself of these facts.