Please choose one of the following prompts to discuss in a well-developed, well-structured, 2-3 page essay. Be sure to use the text for support, and speak only in third person. Essays will be collected on Monday.
After you have completed your essay, post a brief synopsis of your paper for others to post comments.
Please respond to at least two of your peers' posts.
Prompts:
1) Some have said that the focus of Othello is not the title character, as is the case with Shakespeare's other great tragedies, Macbeth, King Lear, and Hamlet. Is Othello simply too one-dimensional to be considered a great tragic hero? Does his seemingly unrealistic gullibility lessen our interest in him and his suffering?
2) Why does Othello not investigate Iago's accusations? Why does Othello not seek his own proof of Desdemona's betrayal?
3) Samuel Taylor Coleridge once wrote that Iago's soliloquies are the "motive-hunting of motiveless malignity." Is this an accurate observation? Does Iago have a motive or motives for his hatred of Othello?
4) Examine the role of jealousy, love, and/or betrayal in the play. You may want to pick one character (Iago or Othello perhaps?) and focus on one issue.
**check out this funny Othello Rap**
Copy and paste the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC-f0drvdmM
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
If you are concerned about "not" having the text, visit "No Fear Shakespeare" and you will find the text we used in class.
ReplyDelete--Mrs. Thomas
For question 4) Iago was to blame for all discrepancy's between Othello and Desdemona. He used everyone in his way to get what he wanted and betrayed his friends, associates, and wife to get his job done. Desdemona’s innocents were played with and Othello’s mind was tricked to thinking she cheated on him because of Iago's lies. He lied through his teeth and went nowhere to succeed in doing so. Othello and Desdemona's relationship, as a whole, was put at high risk because of Iago's actions and falsehood.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Destiny:
ReplyDeleteIago's skillfully-crafted deceptions seemed to coincide with the actions and conversations of those around him conveniently. He played to his advantage by taking everything the other characters said out of context and making it seem like they were talking about someone else. I feel especially bad for Cassio. He seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time throughout the entire play.
In answering the first prompt my paper basically states that Othello is not the focus of the tragedy (Iago is) because he is not only and unreasltic and ridiculous character, he is not what he is made out to be. In other words, he is initially portrayed as a strong leader and devoted husband but as the play progresses he disproves both descriptions by his obnoxious words and actions.
ReplyDeleteI answered the 4th prompt. In my essay I discussed the fact that Iago was the cause for all of the conflict. He was the reason for the betrayal and jealousy of all of the characters. I chose Iago as my basis and focused on the issues of hatred and betrayal. I think that was the main role that he played throughout the play. The deaths were because of him. The hurt and pain came from his plot line and manipulation. He was the mastermind behind all of the lies and pain. He cheated everyone and tricked them into thinking he was an honest man.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Destiny:
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with what you said. That was pretty much what I stated in my essay. I think that Iago used everyone as well. He wanted to get what he wanted and be victorious. Your right, Desdemona and Othello's relationship was ruined and put at risk because of Iago. Othello's mind was tricked, along with everyone else.
In response to Destiny:
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with what you said. That is pretty much what I stated throughout my essay as well. Othello and Desdemona's relationship was ruined and put at risk because of Iago's actions. Your right, Iago did trick Othello into thinking something that was totally untrue. Through his lies he did these things.
In response to Liz:
ReplyDeleteThat was an interesting thought. I agree with what you said. Your right, I got that vibe from Iago too. He does seem like the focus of the tragedy. He certainly is not what he is made out to be. He brainwashes everyone, even the reader, to think that he is a strong, honest leader. He is not, and that is obvious by the end of the play.
uh oh! all my responses are getting messed up!
ReplyDeleteSorry everyone! I responded twice to Destiny...my bad!
ReplyDeleteIn lieu of prompt #1, it is quite obvious that Othello should not be a “great tragic hero” among the ranks of those characters such as Macbeth, King Lear, and Hamlet on the premise that Othello’s character is too unidimensional to be considered a great tragic hero. Othello’s actions were far from heroic; in fact, they were unnecessary, cowardly, and borne of utter gullibility. Othello is, by Shakespeare’s standards, a static character, especially juxtaposed with Iago. It was the actions of Iago that carried the play forward. Therefore, Othello’s demise is not inherently a tragedy, and rather, it was the death of a coward and a fool.
ReplyDeleteResponse 4)
ReplyDeleteIago's hatred and jealousy are what cause Othello's story to be tragic. He manipulates and controls those around him to accomplish his goal of ruining Othello and Cassio. By lying and deceiving others, he achieves what he sets out to, and destroys the life of Othello.
In response to Alie (response to prompt #1)
ReplyDeleteI agree, Iago is what causes the plot of the play to move forward. He is the one that causes the tragedy. Othello's role in the play was actually very small in comparison, somewhat making Iago the main character.
Iago cunningly is able to carry out his plan of displacing Othello of his position as general by playing with Othello's emotions, and deceiving him into thinking that Desdemona is cheating on him with Cassio. This then puts him into a jealous rage, and his judgment is clouded. He loses his trust in everyone without any reason except for the poisoning Iago has done to his brain. His jealousy gets the best of him and causes him to doubt the love of his life, and soon it eats him up so much that he cannot live with the pain. He decides that he would much rather live without her than live with the unbearable pain he feels when he thinks of her with another man.
ReplyDeleteIago cunningly is able to carry out his plan of displacing Othello of his position as general by playing with Othello's emotions, and deceiving him into thinking that Desdemona is cheating on him with Cassio. This then puts him into a jealous rage, and his judgment is clouded. He loses his trust in everyone without any reason except for the poisoning Iago has done to his brain. His jealousy gets the best of him and causes him to doubt the love of his life, and soon it eats him up so much that he cannot live with the pain. He decides that he would much rather live without her than live with the unbearable pain he feels when he thinks of her with another man.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Alie:
ReplyDeleteI agree with you one hundred percent! That is pretty much what I said too. I also stated that he was a static character, even though he seems to change; I said that he is a static character with a facade that does not last throughout the play.
In response to Liz:
ReplyDeleteI think you're right about the facade. Now I'm just trying to decide whether Shakespeare made Othello like that on purpose, or whether this was just not one of his better plays...everyone says he's a genius but that doesn't mean he doesn't have any flawed works.
In response to Liz/Audrey/Destiny:
ReplyDeleteI like how you all agreed. I agree with you and I think, while you all said it with your own style, you all made the same point clearly.
Audrey my responses were getting messed up too; don't worry about it.
Also, did anyone watch the rap? I thought it was funny.
In response to Alie:
ReplyDeleteI think Shakespeare did it on purpose. Iago is a really interesting character and while he is totally evil, he pretty much is the play. When we saw the play last night the actor who played him did so in a way that made him seem funny. In a psycho sort of way.
Iago’s jealousy ruined all the lives around him. He hated Othello for supposedly cheating with his wife, appointing Cassio for lieutenant above him, and Desdemona’s perfect nature. He was insanely jealous of the Moor and consequently, Iago kills his wife, the friend he used, Roderigo, is killed, Othello kills Desdemona and himself, and Cassio becomes governor of all of Cyprus. Because of his plotting and successfulness to ruining so many lives, he is assumingly tortured for the rest of his life and eventually killed. Iago hopefully learned that revenge and jealously can only result in terrible things worse than death.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Liz Fred:
ReplyDeleteI think Iago disproved his honest and strong leadership qualities also because he was so consumed with jealously that he had to seek revenge and plot to ruin everyone’s lives. He used his gifts of being smart and trustful to his advantage in a negative way. He becomes nothing more than a jealous betrayer.
In response to Liz R:
ReplyDeleteOthello is the perfect example of someone that trusts everyone, and in his ignorance that all men are trusting, he is betrayed and his life ruined by someone that he trusted the most, Iago. He even trusted Iago over his wife and everyone else’s judgments combined. Iago took advantage of his trusting and used Othello to ruin Othello. Iago is the type of person that everyone should be wary of, but are the hardest to suspect.
Prompt #2) I essay about this prompt is mostly about the fact that Othello trusted Iago so much that it was much to far fetched to imagine that Iago would be lying. It was much more believable that his wife was deceiving him, because she had already deceived her father when she married him. Also, the fact that Iago kept putting doubt into Othello's mind did not help the situation. Othello would have rather believe Iago then to confront his wife without proof that she could simply lie about and avoid. This is why Othello does not seek more proof about his wifes betrayal.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Alie:
ReplyDeleteI agree with you completely. Othello is a very static character and does not deserve the title of a tragic hero. If anyone should obtain the title of tragic hero it should be Iago, because he is the one that carries the plot of the play upon his actions.
In response to Audrey:
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, and your idea kind of goes along with mine. Iago was able to trick everyone because of his title as an honest man, and that is what made the play interesting.
I understand that rap a lot better now that I've read the story. I watched The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged last year in preparation for Brothers Grimm, but I didn't know what the Othello Rap was saying until now. =)
ReplyDeleteMy paper is in response to question number 1. The reason why Othello is not seen as the main character is because he is so easily tricked and decieved by Iago. People think that Iago is the main character because he is the "deceiver" which in most stories is often the person who is more interesting and the one that people take a interest to more easily. Since Othello is so easily tricked and betrayed, people reading tend to think that he is more or less of an idiot who is gullible all the time. But, people don't realize that they would be just as easily tricked and blinded by love as much as Othello was.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Tyler-
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said, and how he was able to believe Iago more easily than his own wife, and that it was awful how he would rather just believe the lies than just confront his wife, and believe her.
Response 2- The ridiculous gullibility of Othello, combined with the way Iago was able to play on all of the right emotions of Othello are what make him believe Iago's claims with no proof.The fact that Desdemona also deceived her father in her marriage to Othello, also helped him to believe Iago's claims. He does no investigating of his own because he believes that Iago is a good friend who would never mislead him, and he let Iago's claims take root and it grew into certainty in his mind despite his lack of evidence.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Tyler:
ReplyDeleteI actually agree to a lot of what your essay and prompt is about. Othello is more prone to believing something like this because of what happened with the "sneaking around" and the deceiving aspect of his own marriage. I also think that he was blinded by love and doubt.
In response to Tyler
ReplyDeleteI agree with you when you said Othello didn't want to confront his wife because he thought she would simply lie and avoid his accusations. This is probably what Iago was thinking would happen and it helped him to ultimately deceive Othello.
In Response to Heather-
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you, although I never really thought of it that way. Although some people may argue that Iago is the main character,because he is the master mind behind the whole plan, I still think that Othello is the most important chracter, because through him we are able to see the destructive powers of jealousy, and the awful things it can cause a person to do.
in response to Tina:
ReplyDeleteI agree with your response to Liz. The fact that Othello could trust one man so much instead of someone who he was deeply intimate with is absolutely absurd. He is most definetly the sort of man that trusts everyone until he finds out that they have betrayed him, unfortunately, the trust that he had this time caused terrible troubles and pain that could have been prevented.
I agree with that haha. I was just trying to describe how many people see Iago that way instead of Othello through which the whole story develops and happens.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Liz R
ReplyDeleteI agree with you when you said that Iago poisoned Othello's mind and his judgement was clouded. If Othello's judgment hadn't been clouded no one would have died, and everything would have been just fine. It was his Iago who caused all of the sadness and death, but if Othello had kept sound judgement he would have realized that Iago was lying and Iago would have gotten what he deserved minus all of the tragic events that occurred.
In response to Tyler Roberts
ReplyDeleteI agree that it was easier to believe Iago. He has know Othello longer, and the fact that Desdemona recently lied to her father didn't help her position at all.
Response 4) I believe that all three Love, Jealously, and Betrayal all go together. If there was not love there, they would have no reason to be jealous of anyone. If you were not jealous of someone, you would not feel the need to betray someone. Obviously Iago was jealous of Othello so he set up the plan to ruin him, and Othello would not have murdered Desdemona if she would not have been supposedly cheating on him.
ReplyDeleteIn Response to Mark
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Mark. Jealously can be the main foundation for how many of us act, even today. He was willing to betray the one he worked for because he was jealous of him. If he were not jealous of him, he would not have had to act this way, and deceive everyone like he did.
I responded to the second prompt. Basically I said that Othello never investigated his own proof to Iago's accusations because of the amount of trust he had for Iago. It is obvious that Othello has known Iago for a long time and he puts his full trust into thinking Iago is completely trustworthy. He doesn't doubt Iago because he has no reason to think Iago is lying, and when Iago starts showing him the physical proof Othello is crushed and does not see a point into investigating further because for him it has already been proven.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Joel. I agree completely they are all connected and alot of times one ends up causing the other to happen. It was well put to say that. You can examples of that all over the place in our world.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Matt. I agree with what you said. I like your point on Iago playing on certain emotions of Othello to cause him to believe in the lie. Although, I'm not sure if I agree that Desdemona decieving her father was a reason to help Othello believe she was decieving him. I agree with the fact that they are so close that Otheloo has little reason to doubt as well.
ReplyDeleteIn Response to Matt
ReplyDeleteI agree with all of your reasons. I did not think about some of them. Othello was pretty dumb and gullible if he gave into all of that without even thinking about it. If he would have looked into it more, he probably would not have killed Desdemona.
I responded to the 2nd prompt, and said that Othello didn't investigate the accusations too closely because he trusted Iago and thought he was an honest man, found it plauisble that Desdemona decieved him just as she decieved her father, and Iago presented physical evidence (handkerchief)suggesting that Desdemona had been unfaithful. Any time Othello started doubting the accusations, Iago would say just the right things to fill him with jealousy and rage.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Tina: i agree with your post. Iago's jealousy is the cause of basically the death of all the main characters. His selfishness was the driving force in the play and through his plots he ruined everyone's lives.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Tyler
ReplyDeleteI agree and pretty mush said the same thing as you. But I also mentioned the role the handkerchief played and kind of was the last straw. Othello trusted Iago, just as everyone else did. Everyone was fooled by Iago's clever scheme.
In response to Liz Rodriguez: I completely agree that othello's brain was poisoned against Desdemona by Iago's lies. Othello was very foolish to not check up on the facts and make sure she was cheating before he killed her and regretted it. His decision to kill her without being certain of her cheating on him ended up turning everyone against him and forcing him to kill himself, where if he had just found out for himself, they all would have lived.
ReplyDeleteTo everybody..
ReplyDeleteAlthough Othello believed Iago and thought he was honest, so did everyone else in the play. Othello wasn't really that gullible; Iag just said the right things and manipulated him. He tried to defend his wofe at first.
Also, I think one of the people to blame for the murders in this play is Emilia. She basically sealed the deal when she gave her husband the handkerchief. She didn't mention it to anybody else until it was too late because she didn't want to be confronted about stealing it in the first place.
In response to prompt 1) In my paper I talk about how the reason the play is titled Othello is because that is who the story is about. Even though Iago is essentially the main character, he is not what the plot is about. I imagine being a young Venetian in the time of this happening and hearing about what happened and hearing, "Othello killed his wife" not hearing, "Some guy named Iago tricked Othello into killing his wife." Like, everybody knows Tiger Woods and Jesse James cheated on their wives but nobody really knows or cares who with.
ReplyDeleteI would not consider Othello to be a hero but rather just a victim. He got played and didn't do much besides exactly what he was supposed to. Obviously the villan is Iago but the true hero "ine" in Emilia because she is the character that confronts the villan. Personally I question the motives of the author when analyzing Othello as a character. I think according to Shakespeare, Othello being black and Othello being one-dimensional and nieve are related. The story could have gone on exactly the same and Othello could have been white. There would have been no real change plot wise. So I honestly wish I could sit down with WS and question him on whether it was a racial statement or a story dynamic.
In response to Nate's response: I disagree. I do not believe Emilia is to blame for the murders. Emilia is who gives the plot twist in the end. She was just being a good and loyal wife when she went to get the handkerchief. She had no knowledge of her husbands motives and most likely trusted him for whatever he was to do with it. When she figures out what he did with it she calls him on it. She pays the price but cleans her own reputation in doing so.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Dave: One general theme I have gotten from Shakespeare's plays would be the desire for the throne. In Hamlet, Hamlet's uncle murder's his father and marrie's his mother so he can become king. In Macbeth, Macbeth poisons his king so he may assend to the throne. And now this. Iago's most complicated devious plan to be able to govern Venice. Basically, I think Othello is an idiot for not suspecting people close to him of heinous activity because it obviously happened a lot back in the day of Shakespeare otherwise he would not write about it so much.
ReplyDeleteShakespeare’s Othello is a play of many emotions. Hatred, love, betrayal and jealousy only name a few. Jealousy, however, is one of the most important. Othello’s mind is poisoned by jealousy, and it leads, both directly and indirectly, to the deaths of Desdemona, Roderigo, Emilia, and himself among others. Jealousy is truly the fatal flaw of many of the character in the play. Throughout his work, Othello, William Shakespeare shows jealously in many of his characters. It is this strong emotion that plants a seed leading to devastating consequences and turns to anger, hatred and overwhelming obsession. In the play Othello, many of the characters fall victim to jealousy, causing them to commit acts outside of their normal personalities. Iago, Roderigo and Othello all display jealousy throughout the play, each facing an end that is much the same.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Tina:
I like that you wrote about jealousy. It really does have very negative effects on everyone in the play. All the characters are effected by it in some way or another. Iago manipulates more than just Othello using jealousy to get at his victims. Eventually though, the truth comes out and results in destructive consequences for each of the characters.
In response to Nathan:
Again Iago is found to be the guilty man. It is beacuse of his actions of revenge that many lost their lives. In part it is somewhat Othello's fault that Desdemona and himself died. He found love but went against his trust of Desdemona and found her guilty of something that Iago fabricated. His loss is of his own making for not investigating the matter further.
The symbolic frame might be particularly relevant in the age old
ReplyDeletepassive student loans style and condemn unconventional strategies.
With this one mandatory tracking tool, you can take into
account that its activities should be geared towards the consumer, vanilla Student Loans relies on logic alone, which is important
to separate fact from fiction. Is it fast and easy, so give it atry!
Stacy has set up an Experiential student loans Committee to provide best practice and research.
Also visit my website - Student Loans for People with Bad Credit