Othello - Iago at the end of Act III

"Damn her, lewd minx! Oh, damn her, damn her!

Come, go with me apart. I will withdraw

To furnish me with some swift means of death

For the fair devil. Now art thou my lieutenant." (III iii 285)

This is the turning point in the play. Iago has just tipped the first domino in his master plan and is watching as they all come crashing down, falling right into place. He has finally been appointed to lieutenant, the job that he has wanted from the beginning of "Othello". I do not like Iago, but I cannot help but to admire the way he manipulated the situation in his favor. In this one act, he got revenge on Cassio, placed doubt and jealousy into Othello's mind, and then got himself the position he always wanted. He is an extremely bright and quick-thinking character. As I was reading the parts of the story that I should dislike Iago for, I couldn't help but smile at his clever, witty ways. I think this is mostly because of the fact that the story is told from his perspective. This would be totally different if it were told from one of the protagonists' point of views.

Othello - theme

Question:

What themes does the play represent?

Answer:

I think a common theme of "Othello" would be the cliche, you can't judge a book by its cover. This is demonstrated very early in the play. Othello is quickly described as being a Moor and therefor less of a person because of the color of his skin. "What a full fortune does the Thick-lips owe

If he can carry’t thus!" (I i 66) However, as the play progresses, Othello is considered a brave warrior of Venice and the Duke looks to him for military guidance and leadership. This shows that Othello is not all that he appears to be. Perhaps the biggest example of the theme would be Iago. This character appears to be a genuine companion, often being called "honest" and "a good friend". This is far from the truth due to the fact that Iago is deceiving every person he is in contact with in order to spin his web of deceit a bit more. For example, he tricks Roderigo into paying him for splitting up Othello and Desdemona, but in reality, Iago needs this to happen anyways.

Othello - characters

Question:

"Identify the protagonist(s) and antagonist(s). Are there any foil characters? What dramatic functions are served by the various minor characters? Do they shed light on the actions or motives of the major characters? Do they advance the plot by eliciting actions by others? Do they embody ideas or feelings that illuminate the major characters or the movement of the plot?"

Answer:

The protagonists in "Othello" are the characters of Othello, Cassio, and Roderigo. Roderigo- even though he is trying to go against Cassio and Othello- would be considered a protagonist because he does those things under the influence of Iago's deception. Which brings me to the antagonist, Iago. He is against pretty much every other character in the play and is solely focused on bringing down others in order for personal gain and revenge.

Roderigo could be considered a foil character to Iago because Roderigo values love the most and Iago manipulates those who are around him to accomplish goals that will only benefit himself. Also, he treats his wife like dirt saying, "Sir, would she give you so much of her lips as her tongue she oft bestows on me, you'll have enough" (II i 109). For this same reason, Cassio is a foil character to Iago as well. Cassio greets Desdemona by saying, "Grettings my lady, and may God always be with you" (II i 90). He then proceeds to embrace and kiss her.

In Act I, the Duke - a minor character- shows Othello's integrity and leadership by calling him to help with the war and believing his statement about his marriage to Desdemona. He says to Barbantio, "Your son-in-law is far more fair than black" (I iii 286). This shows that Othello is an honestly good man. Emilia shows that Iago is not a good husband based on the conversation they had with Desdemona about women in general and the compliments (or lack thereof) that Iago would give them.

Popular Mechanics

"But he would not let go. He felt the baby slipping of of his hands and he pulled back very hard. In this manner, the issue was decided."

Alright, this was creepy and sad. But I did not really understand why we read it. I saw no significance. I know I say that quite a bit, but for this story, it is actually true. So I'm glad that we are going over this one in class. The part I did not like in this story was obviously the ending. I think it is an awful thought to think that two people would be so angry with one another that they tore their own baby apart... literally. I'm sure this is not the first time this has happened. Maybe people haven't actually ripped their baby apart, but I'm sure deaths of small infants have to do with parents who get into angry fights. I honestly don't really know what else to say on this story because I don't see any literary techniques except the lack of quotation marks in the dialogue.

You're Ugly, Too

"Evan had abandoned the moon mask and dolled herself up as a hausfrau, in curlers and an apron, a decision she now regretted." p. 363

Something that caught my eye in this short story was the costumes that some people were wearing. In some ways, I think they kind of symbolized particular things in their lives. For example, Evan was a housemaid and she was going to be married soon. I think that that could foreshadow possibly what she will be doing with her life. The man who was dressed as a naked lady stood out. He just got divorced and so he lacked having a woman in his life, so he compensated with the costume. The man who was a cross dresser might have really wanted to be a woman. (OK, that one is a weak one) Finally, Zoe went as a bone head. I think this describes her so well. First, she makes her costume as a joke. This is kind of how she has lived her whole life: as one giant joke. Second, the bone head symbolizes the kind of person she is. She doesn't really get things as well as others and is sort of dense. She does not understand social situations as well as most people do and is extremely awkward. So the bone head embodies who she is as a character.

The Drunkard

"'Twill be all over the road,' whimpered Father. 'Never again, never again, not if I live to be a thousand!' To this day I don't know whether he was forswearing me or the drink." p. 350

The biggest thing for me from this short story was the irony. The obvious irony was when the son got drunk. This whole time the father had been getting drunk while other people had to take care of him. However, this time around, the son stole the father's alcohol in hopes that he would not get drunk. Contrary to his (the son's) belief was that HE ended up getting drunk. This worked out in his favor though. The father saw a mirror image to what he was like when he is drunk and he was the one taking care of his son now. This turned his point of view around and eventually aided in him quitting the alcohol.

Another irony that someone in my small group mentioned was that maybe there was some sort of parallel between the funeral and the alcoholic tendencies. The mother was hinting at the father drinking himself to death. The irony comes to play when he was getting drunk at funerals. I thought that was kind of interesting and I'm not really sure if that's an actual irony of the story or not.

The Lottery

"The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green." p. 263

In this story, we were told to focus on its point of view. The point of view in this story was different than the other stories for the most part. It was third person objective point of view. The narrator had no personal attachment to the story and I think that sort of paralleled with the characters. Once they knew who was going to be stoned each year, they let their feelings and connections quickly diminish as their brutality and barbaric nature took place. Another thing about the narrator's importance was that they allowed the townspeople to tell the story. And since it did not focus on one character, a wider picture was given to show how widespread this tradition was to the townsfolk. While reading, there were not hints or anything really given to foreshadow the ending like most stories that involve a narrator being a character within the story. This was important and kind of gave a surprise ending.

Also, I thought it was kind of ironic how the lady stoned was late and almost did not show up. What if she hadn't been in attendance at this annual sacrifice?