Answer TWO of the following:
Q1: Is Othello completely steeled to kill Desdemona in Act 5, scene 2, or does he still have doubts and misgivings? Carefully read his "It is the cause it is the cause, my soul" speech as he enters the stage. What is he telling us here, especially since it's a monologue, and addressed to himself--and by extension, to the audience?
Q2: In one of the most dramatic (though to some, comic) moments in the play, Emilia repeats the words "My husband?" four times when she learns of Iago's involvement in her mistress's death. How did you read this? How should an actress portray this? Is this total surprise/revelation? Is it disguise (if she suspected all along, and is covering her tracks)? Or is it some mixture of knowing and not knowing?
Q3: Most tragedies end in catharsis, which the Oxford English Dictionary defines as "The purification of the emotions by vicarious experience, esp. through the drama (in reference to Aristotle's Poetics)." Does Shakespeare allow the audience a sense of release and catharsis by the play's end? How might Iago's refusal to repent or even to explain his actions frustrate this? Or is that also part of Shakespeare's dramatic plan?
Q4: Some critics have complained that Othello's plot is based on a very loose, improbable series of events that happen all too quickly. So what about the resolution? Is Othello convinced too quickly of his wife's innocence--and Iago's betrayal? Does it make sense to us? Why does Scene 2 resolve everything so quickly?
1. To me, based on the footnotes, it appears that he doesn’t want to kill his wife, but is sure about the deed. According to my reading of the footnotes, when he says, “It is the cause, it is the cause,” in line 1 of Act 5, Scene 2, on page 103, I read this as he sees this as some required form of justice that has to been served rather he wants to or not. He seems rather disconnected from the action he is about to take, reflecting possible character traits of one who has been in the armed forces as he has. While I myself do not agree with this belief by any means, this possible scene could play into the reason individuals refuse to play Othello, because here the character could be seen as a “racist stereotype of a black man, full of wild moods and sensuous appetites” as referred to in question 3, on the blog for Act 3. To me, this specific moment reflects the moral of the play, which is that pride and jealousy are deadly means that can affect even the noblest of characters.
ReplyDelete2. Resulting in our class discussions about the character of Emilia, I read this particular moment as Emilia’s realization that her husband will never change. Emilia finally sees her husband in the light of what he has done, despite her love for him. The reason why I state this claim is because after the dialogue with her and Othello, from page 109 to when Iago stabs her on page 112, line 243, Emilia is telling everyone that enters, being Montano, Gratiano, Iago, and others (page 109, line 172) about her husband’s monstrous plan with him in the room. I think with Emilia’s previous dialogue with Desdemona on page 98, she knew what he was cable of, but didn’t think that his pride and jealously would take him this far. Like most tragedies, she realizes that magnitude of her passive knowledge after it was too late.
Q2A: As I’ve stood in the class, I believe that Emilia knows her husband is a vile man but loves him. I am not completely 100% sure that she knows of his plan’s with Othello and Desdemona but she sure understands something is going on. Emilia is not a dumb woman. It is clear as day from the very beginning – she held her tongue not from fright or worry but from a courage to stand her ground in her thoughts without letting anyone else in on her mischief. She loves Desdemona and does not want her to die yet at the same time, is accepting of it as an outcome for she is not innocent. The way I read “my husband?” in the play is an act, hehe, of sorts. I read it as a question, then a surprise, then a statement, then an exclamation – as if she’s pretending to realize he could do it for the first time but in actuality, knew.
ReplyDeleteQ4A: I do not believe that this play is too loose. It is exactly what it needs to be. In fact, Othello is my favorite Shakespearean work of all. It is the most exciting and enveloping story of them all and I think that the quickness of the play is what adds to the feeling of ‘losing your senses’ as Othello does. The pace of it seems to follow his mind’s awareness of everything and I appreciate that in a work. He might be convinced too quickly of his wife’s innocence, perhaps, but I do not agree with that. He knew all along his wife was pure but allowed Iago to taint his mind and in a blind rage, as he was, he could not see her as she is. Naturally, after killing her, he was able to view her as she was and not the cloudy image Iago put on her. This, to me, is natural. The entire play’s quickness is natural to me. It made complete sense to me!
1. In this scene, it seems that Othello is dead set on killing his wife, but he is uncomfortable with the idea of murdering Desdamona so he rationalizes by making it a noble sacrifice. “Yet she must die, else she’ll betray more men.” Othello describes Desdamona’s death by a use of obvious metaphors such as contrasting her death with the putting out and rekindling of a torch as well as comparing her to a plucked rose that withers and will not grow again. This is pretty redundant, but I read this passage as Othello coming to terms with what he’s about to do and sort of psyching himself up. Another interesting part of this speech is the line, “Be thus when thou art dead, and I will kill thee / And love thee after…” This almost sounds necrophilial, but what I think he means is that he desired a woman who was fair, quiet, and loyal just as the sleeping Desdamona before him. Instead, he received nothing but false trouble in her and will love her more as a the dead, quiet version of herself.
ReplyDelete3. The end of Othello was fairly unsatisfying, especially because of the lack of a grand end of Iago. He gave no explanation for his devious biddings, and instead of being doomed to a tragic death, he is merely taken to prison and tortured behind closed doors. This also leaves his motives open to interpretation among the others in the play as well as the audience. Was he simply a greedy man who hated everyone and wanted everyone to follow him to their demise? Or was there something much more complex that drove him? The most resolution Shakespeare offers us is the final speech from Othello. “Speak of me as I am…Of one that loved not wisely but too well; / Of one not easily jealous but, being wrought, / Perplexed in the extreme…” This short passage shows that Othello realizes that he was wrong in his actions. The whole play shows Othello becoming more and more like Iago, but here we see Othello regain his self as he desires to be known for who he was as opposed to Iago never being who he truly was.
Q2
ReplyDeleteMy interpretation of this scene was a mixture of shock and fainted humor from Emilia. She reads it in a shocked tone where she couldn't belive that Othello would trust Iago in this matter and the Iago would stoop to such a low level. Each time she asks the question, there is more surprise and realization in her delivery.
Q1
It didn't feel like Othello truly wanted to commit this murder. He continues to justify himself and reason out why it must be done. He had a desire to keep her innocent but believed that to do so, he must end her life. But I believe that he continued to discuss this with himself in an attempt to convince himself that it was the right thing because he did not truly wish to kill her.
Dana Welch
ReplyDeleteQ2.
When Emilia repeats herself saying "my husband" she is somewhat already knowing that it was all her husbands fault but she can't believe that she didn't see it coming and blames herself for not stopping it, even if she really couldn't have.
Q3.
Iago's refusal to speak seems to tidy up the ending in a way and even though it probably wasn't the best way to go about ending the play, it does set up a sort of quick solution to what to do with Iago. It makes the characters focus on the problems at hand and not have to delve into what I ago would try to say or do to defend himself. He really doesn't even try to. I wonder why, but think maybe it's because he already has given up and knows what is going to happen to him. Personally I would have liked it better if he had tried to get away, or defend himself because it would have made a more interesting ending.
Dana Welch
ReplyDeleteQ2.
When Emilia repeats herself saying "my husband" she is somewhat already knowing that it was all her husbands fault but she can't believe that she didn't see it coming and blames herself for not stopping it, even if she really couldn't have.
Q3.
Iago's refusal to speak seems to tidy up the ending in a way and even though it probably wasn't the best way to go about ending the play, it does set up a sort of quick solution to what to do with Iago. It makes the characters focus on the problems at hand and not have to delve into what I ago would try to say or do to defend himself. He really doesn't even try to. I wonder why, but think maybe it's because he already has given up and knows what is going to happen to him. Personally I would have liked it better if he had tried to get away, or defend himself because it would have made a more interesting ending.
Q1: Othello doesn’t seem to be a hundred percent with the idea to kill Desdemona; and this monologue seems to be his pep-talk to go through with it. I think that while Othello is planning to go through with the plan based on his black and white views of justice and morality, he has this part of him that knows Desdemona is innocent but refuses to believe it because he has seen Iago’s “truth”. Othello is basically saying, “I will have to kill the version of her that I know as the truth now, and then I will be able to love the innocent version of Desdemona that I once knew again”.
ReplyDeleteQ3: This makes me think of how I disliked the ending to Allegiant by Veronica Roth (which I disliked for more reasons than just the ending alone). When an ending seems to be an unhappy or unjust ending it can make the audience feel cheated out of the time they spent with the story and its twists and turns. When the villain gets away without immediate punishment, it can leave the audience with unresolved emotions. I on the other hand, find this ending to fitting because the whole play revolves around everything not being or being as it seems. So, for the ending to end up not being exactly what the audience had presumed it would be, is pretty interesting. In this way, Iago isn’t the only person who is playing on the naivety of others, but Shakespeare is doing the same thing to his audience.
Question 1) I believe, as we discussed in class, that Othello is talking to himself and the audience as a way of justifying his action. Here he is about to kill an innocent woman, he must have a good reason to do so. Othello is wanting himself, and on another level the audience, to know he is doing this for the greater good of mankind. He is saving others from the hurt and saving Desdemona from herself. By her repenting and dying pure he is allowing her to enter the kingdom of heaven. He is also doing this to preserve the “right” relationship they once shared instead of the one tainted with lies and deceit. The act, and the speech, is to make Othello, as well as the audience, feel better about the “murder.”
ReplyDeleteQuestion 2) I believe this goes back to the battered wife syndrome I have mentioned on other discussion post. Perhaps in Emilia’s mind her husband and Iago are two different people. Iago is the man who lies, cheats, and abuses people, but her husband is the man who she married (he must have had some good qualities to attract Emilia in the first place.) She keeps these two men separate because that is the only way she can hang onto what she loves most. When Othello referred to her husband as the one who committed the horrendous acts it shattered that wall that once kept the two personas separate. She realized that her husband is the awful man Iago.
1.) In this scene, Othello still wants to kill Desdemona, but it seems as if he is having only some doubts. It's almost like he has to pump himself up for it. In his own mind, he's telling himself that it's for the greater good. That if he doesn't do it, she'll cheat on someone else. He's trying to make a case as to why he's doing what he's doing, and why he thinks its a good thing.
ReplyDelete2.) I read it as if she was cursing him. She kept repeating it in a way that she couldn't believe, but she was also really upset that he stooped this low to prove a point. I think she portrayed it well, but if there was more context to show how sarcastic and upset she was, it would have been more helpful. I think, behind her facade, she knew that he was up to no good. But Iago told her nothing, so she had no right to know what he was up to. This was almost like closure for her, knowing exactly what type of person Iago was, and it helped put the pieces together in her own mind.