Remember Me...

What see'st thou else In the dark backward and abysm of time?

We hear echos of previous plays in The Tempest... of words said, echos of things that have happened, loves lost. In class we asked the question, 'How do we get to things that are lost?' And, we deduced that nothing is ever lost, and if something is lost, it is only for a second... but still remains in our brains. Anamnesis or the act of remembering things from the past is a term we mentioned... the fact that our brains hold the complexities of the universe is profound. Even things we do not know yet, we have the ability to obtain and learn... All of our memories are stored in our internal hard drives... in the dark abysms of time.. all we need to do is pull them out and remember them. We need to remember our family, friends, tragedies, and happy times....  I long to be remembered by friends and family... for smiles and laughter.... remember me... pull out those memories from the darkness of time... relive them and remember...

Real Time is Now!

Random thought....So this saying has been said for centuries apparently... the time is now, live life to its fullest! The only time is the real time.. which is NOW! Even in the Tempest Shakespeare uses this saying... and its reverberated  through time and places to reach us now.. in fact it has become a common motto.. impressive

Words May Come and Go

Words May Come and Go

            The written word is often of the utmost importance to immortalize and romanticize the main characters and subjects of many literary works, and this can clearly be seen in many of the plays written by Shakespeare. However, one of his plays strikes me as odd in that language and verbal suggestion provoke dire consequences throwing this notion of glorifying characters to the wayside; Othello. In Othello language and the spoken word appear to be of the utmost importance to create evil and bring the characters and the story to a disastrous end. Within the play, Iago is portrayed as the antagonist and one of Shakespeare’s most evil villains by mere intellect and wit of words. Language proves to be Iago’s most important tool. His use of language, and manipulation through the use of spoken words has a pronounced impact on the characters and their psyches. Words have the power to bring a man to his knees and put an evil ploy in motion. Iago manipulates Othello and all of the characters around him, thus sending the play towards tragedy. The Moor naively believes in the good in each person and therefore never sees that his comrade and dear friend would ever turn against him. Manipulation through language and Othello’s blindness create the play as we know it, and within the play a tragic affair of irony, wit, and verbal betrayal.

            Iago longs for the power that Othello possesses and therefore becomes an ingenious manipulator, turning peoples’ weaknesses against them to try and obtain this power. Iago appears to be a “courteous and knee-crooking knave" but he is always scheming and plotting his next move against the people around him. He must make Othello believe that he is a loyal friend and right hand man, “keep yet their hearts attending on themselves," [1.1.51]. Othello even goes so far to call “Honest Iago” a good man, which is true irony because his character is anything but honest and good willed. Iago uses his friends’ desires against them; this is the case with Roderigo, a suitor who is desperately in love with Desdemona. Iago is aware of these longings and uses them to his advantage knowing Roderigo will do anything to protect Desdemona and therefore, “Thus do I ever make my fool my purse" [1.3.370]. Iago uses his deceit to trick his foolish friend and in doing so benefits from great sums of money and jewelry from Roderigo, which furthers his evil plan for power.

            Iago is also brilliant with wit and spontaneity. When Michael Cassio (a man promoted by Othello and a true friend) grabs Desdemona’s hand innocently Iago jumps at the opportunity to turn the situation into one of pure and evil trickery, "With as little a web as this will I ensnare as great a fly as Cassio" [2.1.167]. The use of this ploy sets in motion the insecurity that Othello feels and thus starts the self-destruction of the Moor. Othello’s greatest tragedy is his naiveté of human nature. As a character who predominately deals with prejudice because of his skin color and his role in society, he has too strong a belief and loyalty in people, especially in Iago. Because of his pride, Othello never sees the evil lurking around him. Iago, Othello’s friend and fellow soldier secretly has other plans for Othello, “…though I do hate him as I do hell (pains,) yet, for necessity of present life, I must show out a flag and sign of love” [1.1.144]. Iago pretends to like Othello for the sole purpose of destroying him. Iago believes that Othello slept with his wife Emilia, and will stop it nothing to devastate the Moor, “…Doth, like a poisonous mineral, gnaw my inwards, and nothing can or shall content my soul till I am evened with him, wife for wife” [2.1. 281]. These lines show the level of hate that plainly plants itself inside Iago’s mind, heart, and intentions; a pure villain.

            Iago devises a manipulative plan to implant madness and insecurity into Othello against his true love Desdemona, one of the few honest and virtuous characters that surrounds him. Blind to the evils of man and the greed he possesses, Othello never sees the scheme posed by his comrade until madness has overcome him. Throughout the play, bits and pieces of Iago’s masterpiece fall together, and he becomes closer with Othello warning him of the jealousies of man, when in turn he himself is the jealous and paranoid one, “…O, beware my lord, of jealousy! It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on. That cuckold lives in bliss…Who dotes, yet doubts; suspects, yet (strongly) loves” [3.3. 166]. Iago warns Othello to beware of jealousy towards his wife, saying it will destroy him, and although Othello begins to fall under Iago’s spell, he claims his wife is virtuous still. He also vows to never become jealous, “…Think’st thou I’d make a life of jealousy, to follow still the changes of the moon with fresh suspicions? No” [3.3.177]. Othello claims to never become that which ultimately destroys him, ironically because Iago planted an evil seed of doubt in the Moor’s mind. This makes Iago one of the most “perfect” villains in that he never truly does anything to the characters, he simply plants ideas in their minds, and they build up the destructive ideals that consume them all. Iago is never implicated by his ‘actions’; he merely uses himself as an implementation to his treachery and trickery.

Iago convinces Emilia, unwittingly, to participate in his deadly scheme: “…What handkerchief? Why, that the Moor first gave Desdemona, that which so often you did bid me steal…” [3.3.308]. Not knowing the consequences of this action, Iago makes Emilia an accomplice to her mistresses’ death. Emilia does not realize until the end of the play that she may know of her husbands misdoings, “…I will be hang’d if some eternal villain, some cogging, coezing slave, to get some office, have not devised this slander. I will be hang’d” [4.2.126]. This truth that Emilia uncovers threatens Iago’s plan and he looks to silence her with death. Only a man of pure evil with a self-serving agenda could involve innocent people in a plan to further his power. Thus, only a man of pure evil could plan to kill his wife when she stands in the way of his scheming. Richard White, a researcher who wrote Studies in Shakespeare states, “Iago is troubled with no scruples, absolutely none. He has intellectual perceptions of right and wrong, but he is utterly without the moral sense. He has but one guide of conduct, self-interest” (White 275). Iago has no reason to ruin lives, except for what he believes happened between Othello and Emilia. It is ironic that Iago has no proof of his wife’s infidelity yet he believes it without a doubt and he destructively puts the same grain of thought into Othello’s head with Desdemona.

            At the end of the play, Othello truly becomes the evil beast society portrays him to be which switches his role with Iago since he is now a murderer. He becomes wild with madness and jealousy, “…Ay let her rot and perish and be damned tonight, for she shall not live, my heart is turned to stone…” [4.1.183]. Othello goes into seizures of rage and hate all because Iago mislead and influenced him. “O” is ultimately blind to the evils that his soldier has against him, and Iago intelligently betrays Othello with each word he speaks, and each move he makes. Othello looks to him as a brother, as he rightfully should, but because of this trust he possesses, he is naïve to the alternate self-serving plans that people often have. White mentions of this traitor, “There is no mistaking Shakespeare's intention in the delineation of this character. He meant him for a most attractive, popular, good-natured, charming, selfish, cold-blooded and utterly unscrupulous scoundrel” (White 277). Iago is not the “honest Iago” people believe him to be, but rather proves to be one of Shakespeare’s greatest villains, using only manipulative words. Unlike many of the plays we’ve read, language and words spoken by Iago vilify and reinforce the negative rather than immortalize and romanticize. He is a true villain that lets the players in his game make all the wrong moves and tragically self-destruct.

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. The tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice. W. Swan Sonnenschein & co. 1883. Print.

White, Richard Grant. Studies in Shakespeare. New York: AMS, 1973. Print.

Mars and Cleo?

I found the comparisons of Antony and Cleopatra to Mars and Venus fascinating.. the idea of love and war trying to coexist and the natural world dissolving into oblivion because of the lovers.. so they therefore try to make space for themselves..."new heaven, new earth" and all other space is poetry (Act 1 Scene 3). Complete opposites in all sense.. its ironic they even fall in love, or is it a comfort... is Antony merely comfortable in the confines of the Egyptian palace... Everything that Cleo stands for is unfamiliar to Antony so is it true love? or a new and exciting game? It appears to be just a power struggle between the two.. and not a love story that should be remembered and immortalized...

The Underdog..

In class we discussed how the worst characters, or the fools always had the best lines in the play. For example, Lysander on page 260 Line 140 talks of lightning, and these lines are extremely important and fundamental in the play... they signify lightning lighting up things, so that we may see how things truly are for just a moment.. and then things return to darkness... Or even the character Bottom gets substantial lines...Edgar from King Lear has the most important speech on page 1600...why does William give the best lines to the most unlikely  characters? Perhaps he enjoyed bringing that element of surprise to his audience, it was another element of a play within a play.. perhaps he was an underdog during his time and understand the importance of an opportunity for redemption. He worked with this sense of 'Stichomythia' or the underdogs one liners that continued to get better in meaning with each passing generation..

What do we need... versus What do we want..

I dont think there is a simple answer to this question... it can vary from person to person... and things we believe we need could just be things we want... we need food, air, water, etc. One could argue that we dont need love, and that we just want it. But I think we need love. It is human nature to be surrounded by people, we need that companionship, and we were made to couple off and create future generations. We were not made to be alone. I think we need laughter to keep our souls young. We need to smile to exercise our 52 facial muscles. We need to feel emotions; we need to cry and experience tragedy...because as discussed in class... tragedy or sadness always returns to laughter...anything and everything can be argued for a needful thing... only each person knows what the truly needful thing is in their life.

Othello

I was intrigued with the idea that Shakespeare wrote sonnets which then immortalized the subjects of his sonnets. The written word then appears to be of the utmost importance, and it can clearly be seen with the amount of works William wrote. But, there is one play that strikes me as odd; Othello. In Othello language, or the spoken word appears to be of the utmost importance and brings the characters and the play to a tragic  end. Yes, words are still words, and can still immortalize his plays, but it is just fascinating to me that Iago's use of language and manipulation through the use of spoken words has a much greater impact in effecting the characters and their mentalities. Othello, was a great general and man, and in the end because of evil words of doubt and treachery, he becomes a monster and murderer, which is a change in his person. He has no proof of infidelity, yet because Iago's words are so dense and immense, it is just enough to turn Othello mad.. Language the most influential, useful, necessary, destructive, morbid tool we have... language is the greatest gift we are given.. and Iago realizes this and uses it for evil. He is never implicated from his actions... he merely uses himself, or implements himself to obtain to goal desires.

“…Ay let her rot and perish and be damned tonight, for she shall not live, my heart is turned to stone…” [4.1.183]. 

Much Ado..

The idea of Deceit
Claudio and Don Pedro are deceived into thinking that Hero has lost her virtue by sleeping with another man. Beatrice and Benedick are tricked, or deceived into thinking that each one loves the other which leads to a real romance within this trickery. There is even deceit in the staged death of Hero after she is shamed at her own wedding for a crime she did not commit. Leonato publishes an announcement that Hero has died in order to answer the question of who wronged her name and virtue.

Also the idea of ‘song’ being important to the drama. Page 381 “The Song”. It even discusses the idea of men being deceivers. This notion of song and dance being important to the plays is echoed throughout many of Shakespeare’s works. In Much Ado, songs are played during pivotal moments during the play:
DON PEDRO

   Come, shall we hear this music?

CLAUDIO

   Yea, my good lord. How still the evening is,
   As hush'd on purpose to grace harmony!
Act 2 Scene 3

This music and song comes right before the men talk of Beatrice’s ‘love’ for Benedick. its as though music leads the way for crucial mood changes in the scenes. these songs are entertainment for both the characters as well as the audience. Balthasar also has a song in Act 2.3 in which he talks about the treachery of men, “...the fraud of men was ever so...” (Line 71). Through the art of entertainment the characters are allowed to say as they feel in a cathartic manner that does not lead to repercussions. At the end of the play, after all has been put right, Benedick addresses the group saying, “Come, come we are friends. Let’s have a dance ere we are married, that we may lighten our own hearts and our wives’ heels” Act V.4 Lines 15-17. When all is said and done, song dance, and thus entertainment proves to be an escape from the follies of the world.

Virtue and Virginity: Hero is wrongfully accused of shaming her family by losing her virtue and virginity before her marriage to Claudio, and to a man that is not her fiance. on the day of her wedding, Claudio and Pedro scorn Hero publicly calling her a, “rotten orange” (IV.i.30). At the news of his daughters ‘dishonor’ even Leonato chimes in and says, “the wide sea / Hath . . . / . . . salt too little which may season give / To her foul tainted flesh!” (IV.i.139–142). Family honor and Hero’s virtue is so important that at the news of her disgrace, Leonato threatens to kill his own daughter.

Benedick as the fool, or jester of the play: Benedick falls for the ploy that ultimately makes him fall in love with Beatrice. At a masked ball one night, Beatrice is dancing with Benedick unknowingly and speaking of him saying, “...Why, he is the prince’s jester, a very dull fool”  Line 131 Act 2.1. At first it appears that Beatrice’s words are of mere wit and slander, but these words prove seemingly true. but, at his defense, Beatrice too falls for the same trickery that her ladies incite upon her, so does that make her a fool as well?