We finally know!

"I exchanged my land-sledge for one fashioned for the inequalities of the Frozen Ocean..." (pg. 153)

This is the point in the story where he finally gets to the present where he had just bought the dog-sled so he could further pursue the creature. After 2 frame-stories, and journies lasting for years, we finally have an understanding of how Victor came to be in the middle of the ocean. When I came to this part, I realized how effective the foreshadowing was in the beginning of the novel. In the pages before 153, I kept waiting in anticipation to get to the part with the dog-sleds becuase I was just really curious from the beginning how such a thing would eventually happen. The use of the foreshadow kept me engaged in the novel all the way to the end. Also, not only was it the foreshadowing, but it was simply that I was mainloy reading to figure out how such an obscure even occured. If instead, the author had foreshadowed some uninteresting event, the reader would not have been so engaged as I was in the novel.

In agony...again

"I lay for two months on the point of death: my ravings, as I afterwards heard, were frightful..." (pg. 130)

Throughout the novel, Victor is rarely a healthy being. Some occurence is frequently making him ill and depressed. Frequently being ill and depressed due to some new occurence really evoded me to be very sympathetic towards Victor. Someting different was constantly happening to him due mainly to the evil deeds of the monster. After a while, even I start to really imagine the physical toll placed on Victor. As a reader, I actually got more engaged in the novel. Normally I would think that I would get tired of such a thing happening and eventually lose sympathy for the character. But the way the creature causes the pain of Victor in different ways every time kept me feeling sympathetic towards him. It also really emphasizes how good the creature is at mentally and emotionally torturing someone.

Let me just tear it up right in front of you...

"I thought with a sensation of madness on my promise of creating another like to him, and trembling with passion, tore to pieces the thing on which I was engaged." (pg 121)

While I was reading through the novel, I really did expect Victor to go through his promise and create the female monster for the creature. I imagined that he would force himself to go through with it due to the repercussions if he failed to do so. However, one thing that I simply never expected him to do was to think twice about what he was doing. After this, I never would have imagined that even if he did think twice, that he would stop working on it due to what might happen to his family and friends. Afer this, I never would have imagined him tearing up the female creature right in front of the creatures eyes. To me, this was just really situationally ironic. However, this happening did make a few deep impacts. For example, it truly revealed how much Victor was against the making of the female creature. Sure he could have secretly disposed of it later. But tearing it up "with passion" truly reveals his emotions at that moment he saw the creature and did not want to create the female version.

Over and Over again

"...which was one of the first of spring, cheered even me by the loveliness of its sunshine and the balminess of the air." (pg 100)

This is just one of the numerous examples of a motif used throughout the novel. The motif is that winter always brings misery to the character, whether it be the creature or Victor. Something in the winter always brings unhappiness to the main characters. However, once spring rolls around, life is restored to nature and the character magically get happy once again. Not once in the novel does this recurring idea fail to take place. From this motif, many things can be obtained. I think that it contributes to a theme of the novel. The theme is that throughout life, there will always be tough times in our lives. However, we will get back on our feet and move forward again. To me this sounded like a possible theme occurring from this motif, even if it does sound pretty cliche and corny... However, the relationship between the seasons and the emotions of the characters is interesting. During the winter, nature is lifeless just as the characters are lifeless and down. However, once spring comes, life starts to spring from the earth (no pun intended) and the character become lively and happy once again.

From good to evil

"I will revenge my injuries: if I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear, and chiefly towards you my arch-enemy, because my creator, do I swear inextinguishable hatred." (pg. 104)

This quote represents the dynamic character of the creature very well. When the creature was created, it had no sense of emotion or anything. He had to learn that from others around him, and in the novel he learns the good side of humanity and how to be compassionate from the cottagers. However, when he is then exposed to the rejection and the anger of humanity, he learns this as well and very quickly changes into an evil creature. This change is emphasized even more when Victor refuses to create a female for the creature causing the creature to seek even greater revenge because he knows he will only ever be rejected. This change in character emphasizes the evil and intolerance of humanity. Through a change of a dynamic character, the author is capable of showing us how evil humanity is instead of just telling the reader. This method has a greater impact on the reader and the theme of the story.

One or the other

"On you it rests, whether I quit forever the neighbourhood of man and lead a harmless life, or become the scourge of your fellow creatures, and the author of your own speedy ruin" (pg 70) This is when Victor has his first real encounter with the monster he created. I think it is interesting that the creature that we have come to know in any Frankenstein sort of movie has always been that of intolerable evil and disgust. While this creature may be disgusting, he is not necessarily evil. The only reason that the creature is evil is because of how he is miserable. He seeks only compassion from his creator, but Victor abondoned him making him miserable and into the fiend that he is. So the creature gives Victor the choice of either accepting him and allowing the creature to be loving. Or, instead, he can reject the creature once again and he will turn into the fiend that we stereotypically view as the creature. In my opinion, accepting the creature is the only way that Victor can fully recover from his depressed state of mind. If he does this, then he should realize that he can save others from death if the creature is indeed the one who murdered William.

Allusions

"It was as the ass and the lap-dog, yet surely the gentle ass whose intentions were affectionate..." (pg. 81) This is just one example of the numerous allusions used throughout the story. However, there is a problem with some of these allusions. Since this novel was written almost 200 years ago, I do not recognize most of the allusions presented. All of them even have a footnote, but I am still left without really knowing the allusion for many. Becuase of this, the function of these allusions are lost and they sort of become meaningless and useless. However, it would be a different story if I understood most of them thoroughly. If I did, then they would be more useful to the novel. Allusions allow the author to explain what he wants to say with few words. This gives the reader a good sense of what he is trying to get across. By using the allusion, we have to think about what the author is saying by that allusion therefore amplifying what the author is trying to get across because were are having to think about it. I understood the allusion provided at the top because the footnote was thorough in its meaning, and this allowed to to better understand what the author was trying to say without her having to be too wordy.

Much to learn....

"I seemed to have lost all soul or sensation but for this one pursuit" (pg. 33) This is one line that demonstrated Victors obsession over creating life. From this line, one, out of numerous, theme is shown. Victor allows his passion to take over his life as he spends day and night for months upon months working on creating his monster. This show us the dangers of an obsession. Victor always upheld a passion for the sciences throughout his childhood and teenage years and then when he entered college. While he had this passion, he was happy in what he was doing and enjoyed it thoroughly. However, as soon as he became obsessed with his passion, he turns into a lifeless being. This shows how we have to control these desires to have obsessions becuase they are unhealthy. However, when he finally created his monster, he cannot accept what he has done and he abandons it resulting in the possible murder of William. This is another example of a theme present in the novel. We must accept responsibility for our actions. Anything that comes from a result of us is our responsibility and we must control it unlike Victor's actions after creating the monster.

How does it happen?!

"...a being which hhad the shape of a man, but apparently of gigantic stature, sat in the sledge, and guided the dogs." (pg. 8) Foreshadowing is a great tool used by authors to keep the reader intrigued. Some foreshadowing may be obvious as they take place in a dream or are revealed in other forms. However, this foreshadow is quite different than others examples I have read. This is very vague and almost seems as if it is meaningless when we first read it. However, we then see Victor come on board the ship shortly afterwards and this gives us the idea that the creature could have been that man on the sled earlier and Victor was chasing him. This leads the reader, and definitely lead me, to think how could the story progress to such an absurd setting and situation. The use of this foreshadow causes the reader to become curious and motivates them, as it did me, to read further into the novel and figure out what happens. This is a great method of keeping the novel interesting and flowing. Without tools such as this, novels would not be as interesting and authors would have a harder time keeping the reader concentrated and interested in the novel.

So Many Stories!

"Strange and harrowing must be his story, frightful the strom which embraced the gallant vessel on its course and wrecked it -- thus! (pg 14) This is the last line of the letter IV where Robert Walton introduces the Frankenstein's story. Now sure, this novel could have done without the frame story. However, the impact of the several themes would not be as strong. Because of this, the frame stories are what improve how the themes of the novel are delivered. For instance, in the letters, we find that Robert Walton is an explorer who is determined to go into the unknown and discover great things. He is determined to do this and it affects his life in negative ways. Then when we hear about Frankenstein's obsession, we relate that to the obsession of Robert Walton's. Through this comparison, we think twice about the theme being made about how obsessing over a passion is bad for us. This may not be the only function of a frame story, but it certainly amplifies our attention to the themes of the novel.

Regretfully kind of true

"You want it to happen to the other person" (pg. 292) This is the quote from Julia when she explains that by saving themselves by wanting the other person to go through the pain, they really mean what they say. At first when I read this, I thought nah...they love each other. They were just willing to say anything at the time but they didn't really mean it. But as I thought about it and Julia explained it, it actually does make sense. At that moment of horror, selfishness oversomes your body and at that moment, you would rather have what is being done to you to another person. I think the realization of this shows the epitome of humanity's selfishness in the novel. This is the point in the story where no love or care for others is felt by either Julia or Winston and they have become the inhuman beings that the Party desires. Julia and Winston had now betrayed everything in their lives thus leaving them with nothing else but obedience to the Party.

I still don't understand why...

"A world of fear and treachery and torment, a world of trampling and being trampled upon, a world which will grow not less but more merciless as it refines itself." (pg. 267) As I read through O'Briens explanations about the motives of the party and how the party wishes the future world to be like, I still have trouble wrapping my mind arounnd how anybody could want such a thing. The description of the what the Party desires the future world to consist of seems so inhumane that people of the Inner party such as O'Brien must have truly lost their humanity. This is the only rational thing I can think of that would cause anybody to want a world like this. The Inner Party have lost their human emotions and other related things therefore making such a thing acceptable. The people of the Party have just turned into robots that have lost touch with humanity. An interesting thing is that the proles are described in this novel as the animals, but they are more human than what the people of the party have become. To me it is just crazy that the twisted logic that O'Brien explaned to Winston could develop so fully.

Disappointment

"He loved Big Brother" (pg 298) Throughout the entire book, I always imagined Winston as being the hero of the novel. He is the one who stuck out and internally opposed and hated the party. He even went to far as to sneak off with Julia as much as he could. I had the idea that he would somehow outwardly revolt against the party and continue being strong in his own thoughts and beliefs. However, the last four words of the novel (the quote above) reversed my opinion about Winston and I saw him as an antihero. Yes, I think its harsh to say that he lacked courage after all that he was put through by O'Brien (who I really don't like), but he certainly is no hero by the end of the novel. This disappointment in the Party's triumph over Winston really emphasized the fact of hopelessness in the novel. When I read these last four words, I just felt as that if Winston was not strong enough to withstand the tortures of his conversion, then nobody would be able to. My image of Winston as a hero is what really made the end much more dramatic for me.

"Write it down and I'll sign it-- anything! Not room 101!" (page 236) After this quote, we are never told what room 101 acutally is. This then causes the reader to constantly wonder and anticipate what will be in that room. This quote represents only a small portion of suspense the author uses throughout the entire second half of the book. Once Winston joins the "Brotherhood" (or he thought he joined it), I got the feeling that somehow they were now going to overturn the Party. But shortly afterwards, he is caught by the thought police, and the rest of the book is his conversion from humanity to a heartless member of the party. However, the suspense is created because throughout the whole second portion of the novel, I thought somehow Winston would triumph and not just be like all the other people who went through the conversion process. So I keep thinking this throughout the novel, but then I reach the end and see that the Party had won. Although he says he "won the victory over himself", he truly lost it and allowed the party to triumph over him. The suspense created throughout the whole second half of the book, however, causes the impact of this ending to be multiplied. We see his defeat and it really almost hurt to read how he had become. The suspense of the story is what made me feel this way at the end of the novel.

Every Thought

"And the people under the sky were aso very much the same--everywhere, all over the world, undereds or thousands of millions of people just like this, people ignorant of one another's existence, held apart by walls of hatred and lies..." (pg 220) Stream of consciousness is what the majority of the book is composes of. Apart of the dialoge and the descriptions of what Winston and those around him are doing, the book is just all his inner thoughts just like the quote provided. Everyone has those times when we just sit around and think deeply upon an issue. It's through this thinking process that we can actually figure things out that we wouldn't have been able to do without the deep thinking. Through stream of consiousness in the novel, the narrator makes it natural to dwelve deeper and deeper into certain subjects. Through this, we get numerous themes from the book. However, we don't only get new themes from the novel, but we can better understand what the author is trying to get across in the novel. If it was just the author telling us this directly, it would be very dry and dull, but by using Winston's thoughts, the audience then pays more attention to the deep thought given on a certain matter which has a greater effect on the novel as a whole.

Changing the Past

"Who controls the past control the future: who controls the present, controls the past." (pg 34)

This quote represents another major theme in the novel. Before reading about Winston's job, I had the vague idea after reading this quote that maybe time travel was being used. Since this is a novel about the future, I thought maybe the Party had invented a time machine in which they were continually going back and changing the past, in which they change whatever they want in order to control the future. Also by controlling the present and having control of this time machine, they then are the ones in control of the past. At the time, this is the only thing I thought this quote could have possibly meant. However, the real meaning of this quote is much more realistic and, in my opinion, much more realistic. Instead, the Party controls the past by changing any sort of media that occurred in the past and changing it to suit the desires of the Party and of Big Brother better. This is very interesting because it only requires people who will "swallow" anything that is thrown at them, and the Party has controlled the people enough that a vast majority of them will. People except those like Winston who takes part in this, but doesn't swallow everything the Party throws at him. While this may be because of his nature, I also think it is in part because of his job. He must realize what the Party does, so whenever he hears something on the news, he will be inclined to secretly question it. Controlling the past and future in this way is a very interesting method that has never crossed my mind before.

None left to Remember

"Why should one feel it to be intolerable unless one had some kind of ancesteral memory that things had once been different?" (pg 60)

This is a very interesting quote that also incorporates a major theme in this story. Most of the people living in the time period of this book were born after the Revolution, and since much of the history has been wiped out by the Party, no one knows what is was like before the Revolution. Because of this, most people are just going to swallow everything the Party tells them too (unlike Winston) and will have no problem with how life is. People are not necessarily happy, but they just have a neutral feeling to the way of things and simply follow any duty they have. So as time passes, it is easier and easier for the Party to control the people in any way they desire because in time, none will have any recollection of childhood memories of either before of during the Revolution. But one thing will also happen, as Party member who took part in the Revolution die off, the next generation will take their place But with each generation, their beliefs and feeling about the Party may no be as strong as the generations before them, so I believe that after some time, change and another revolution to a more normal society would probably occur from the inside because ideals will change over time with each passing generation.

We already know!

"We shall meet where there is no darkness" (pg. 25)

So far throughout the first part of the novel, much foreshadowing has occurred. The quote given is from a dream Winston had of O'Brien and he says this. On page 179, this phrase is repeated by Winston to O'Brien because they are finally meeting like in Winston's dream. This also occurs in other parts of the story like Winston dreaming about the Golden Country and then actually seeing it with Julia. Also, the same occurs when he dreams about a naked Julia casting her clothes aside and the same thing then happens when he first makes love to her. So one thing all these foreshadows have in common is that they all take place in Winston's dreams. However, I am not exactly sure why these foreshadows exist and what function they play. One reason that I have come up with is that the author is saying that there is some type of connection between Winston's dreams and his reality. Or at the very least, the connection between the two symbolizes something. Maybe the purpose of the foreshadowing in the dreams is to say that reality barely resembles reality at all and is just a dream or an allusion. The Party has changed the past and its facts so much that what is true in the present then. Everything is about as true as a dream is true.

External

"WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH" (pg. 16)

This phrase is the slogan for the Party that is repeated much throughout the book. Also, the slogan represents much of the external conflict that occurs through the book. In this book's time period, Oceana is in constant war with other countries which explains the first third of the slogan. The second part of the slogan represents the lives of the people. Everyone in the Party lives under constant watch of the Party and the Thought Police who come and "vaporize" people. Everything that is said, facially expressed, and done is scrutinized by this higher authority, causing everyone to live in fear and hatred (the hatred part comes from the "war is peace" part of the slogan). Although a majority of the people are die hard followers of the Party and the principles of Ingsoc, they are still vaporized due to somehow being a danger to the Party. Finally, people are also led to believe series of lies that are changing constantly. With this, the Party causes people to be ignorant of the past to make themselves more powerful by which they control the past which controls the present meaning that they can make the people of the Party believe anything that it wants them to believe. This external conflict represented by the slogan is effective in either then causing the internal conflict of the nonbeliever like Winston, or brainwashing those who "swallow anything that is said".

Internal

"Your worst enemy, he reflected, was your own nervous system" (pg. 63)

This book contains numerous kinds of conflict that intertwine and become very complex. However, one major conflict is the internal conflict present in the people of the Party. Winston, as well as anyone else, must live his entire day in extreme caution. In doing so, he must make sure he controls every facial expression, every thought that could lead to a suspicious facial expression, every word that leaves his mouth, and his actions, whether big or small. As Winston reflected, your own body then becomes your worst enemy, not even the corrupt and overpowering government. This then represents enormous amounts of Internal conflict since Winston goes through his day as one who is against the party. Even though he is the one who realizes the evils and lies of the Party, he will be the one who ends up going insane. The sane ones are the ones who "swallow" everything the Party tells them. No matter how much internal and mental stress Winston must goes through, he has to keep it all in and only keep thinking about the controversial Party (in his mind) and maybe life before the Revolution. He can only rely on his self control to stay alive as long as possible.

Finding their way

One apparent theme present in both The Death of a Salesman and The Glass Menagerie is the struggle to find one own's way and to truly know your own purpose. In Glass Menagerie play, Tom has a job at the warehouse he is never satisfied with and wants to leave so he can travel on his own. But he still is left with a feeling of emptiness because of how he feels guilty for leaving Laura behind. The similar theme occur in The Death of a Salesman. However, in this play, it mainly occurs with both Biff and Willie. From the beginning, Biff has no idea what his purpose is and what he is supposed to do with himself in life. He struggles and tries to make his dad proud but never succeeds in that aspect as well. Willie, on the other hand, had certain talents and skills that he did not use in the right manner. As Biff says, "He had the wrong dreams." Willie was good at doing things with his hands like when he built on to various parts of the house like adding a garage. But Willie never realized this and chose to be a salesman. This shows that by finding out who we are early, we can set ourselves on the right direction in life.

Reality spiced up with imagination

In regards the play being either realistic or non realistic, this play was very peculiar. In many respects, the play had many realistic qualities to it. It consisted of the life of a hardworking American family trying to survive through external and internal struggles. All the characters go about in a very realistic way except for one. Willie is where the non realistic aspect of the play begins to form. While we are never told what exactly, Willie throughout the play seems to hallucinate people and events from the past. This happens quite frequently and the people from the past will appear onstage and act the past even that Willie is reminiscing. However, this is done with the other actors in the present time as well. This is where the non realistic portion of the play is portrayed. The actors from the present act like the hallucinations of Willie's are not there. By having the hallucinations and the present actors onstage at the same time is what lets the audience know that Willie is having the hallucinations randomly at the same time he is with the other characters. So the face that the characters from the different dimensions are together and act like the other is not in the same room is where the non realistic aspect is deployed.

Willie....a hero?

The question of whether or not this play is a tragedy is discussed in the study questions at the end of the play and also in the questions found on page 1119. In order for a play to be considered a tragedy, there needs to be a tragic hero. This tragic hero is then the one that dies at the end making the play a tragedy. But can Willie be considered a hero. This is a tough decision to make. On one hand, Willie has cheated on his wife, taught his children wrongly has they were growing up through their childhood years, and quite frankly treated Linda like crap. But while Willie did commit these sins, he also has one heroic trait that stick out more than anything else. He has devoted his life to travelling on the road and solely working on commission for over 30 years without break. Where he was once promised a position at the firm (which wouldn't require him to travel), he never received it and ended up spending his whole life having to leave his family for long lengths of time and go on the road and make sales. He did no do this for himself, but solely for his family. When looking at this, I think Willie is deserving of being called a tragic hero. We all have our faults, even the tragic heroes in other plays such as Romeo. While those heroes may not have their faults as emphasized as Willie's, they do have their faults. Willie made the mistakes he made because of the high demanding, low paying job he had just to barely support his family. He deserves to be called a tragic hero.

What's his problem!?

So this whole play seems to be situated around Laura and how she needs to find a husband. Even thought the two have their differences, Amanda and Tom work together to try and make this happen. Once Amanda realizes that Tom has invited Jim to have dinner with them so he can meet Laura, Amanda gets very excited and goes out of her way to fix up the apartment and make a good dinner. Well, Jim goes and has some alone time with Laura in which the two then seem to become intimate. For a moment, I really thought that the whole pairing up idea was going to work and Jim would want a relationship with her. So they then kiss and then.......he tells her how he has a girlfriend he is going to marry!! What the hell dude! Talk about messin' with her mind man! I mean, Jim did give her great advice and maybe was actually a positive influence on Laura, but he did not help the relationship between Tom and Amanda. In my opinion, he was actually the catalyst of Tom leaving for adventure. If he had only told people that he was engaged, then Tom would have never invited him and maybe someone else could have been invited by Tom. All in all.....I did not like Jim (and he thinks he is too awesome)

Physical Effects

This play does contain numerous physical effects in the play. First of all, the set is much different than a normal set. The main room in which the actors are in during the play is actually a 4 walled room. The wall facing the audience is kind of translucent so they audience and see them through their. This adds to the realistic aspect of the drama. Also, lighting is another major component to the play. For instance, during the play when Tom indirectly references his father, the portrait of his father lights up. This effect contributes to the nonrealistic aspect of the play. Also, it is said in the descriptions of the characters that the Laura's limp need not be more than suggested on the stage meaning that her limp is not visually emphasized. I took this as meaning that her limp is not really noticed by the people in her familly anymore. Tom even expresses this to Amanda by saying that they are so used to it they don't really realize it much anymore. Lastly, music is another effect used widely thoughout the play. When emotions are changing (or when an emotion is emphasized), a certain song is played to fit that emotion. All in all, physical effects were a big part of this play that contributed to both the realistic and nonrealistic aspects of the play.

Antagonist?

This play's scope of character's and setting is relatively small. The entire play is situated in the apartment by the fire escape and only 4 characters are involved. But when trying to think of who the protaganists and the antagonists are, it is a tough call. In the first 5 scenes, it almost seems like Amanda is the antagonist as she is always nagging on her children, especially Tom. Because of her he labels his own house a a coffin/grave. This would make Tom the protagonist during these scenes. However, as the play progresses, Tom tells Jim how he didn't pay the electric bill and instead put the money towards money for some other organization so that he could escape. He doesn't care about leaving his sister and mother without lights and this part really portrays his selfishness. I could be quick to label him the antagonist in this case, but maybe it was his own mother that made him this way. Maybe it was his mother that also drove her husband away as well. So after thinking about these factors as well, I would remain with my first opinion of Amanda being the protaganist. She really just nags and insults her children through the whole play and it would be so annoying to live with her!! Also, Laura and Jim are definitely foil characters because during their conversation, Jim is very outspoken and we know Laura to be very shy.

On the fly

In this play, Iago can definitely be characterized as an evil genious. First of all, he never had anything for his evil plan fully planned out. He had ideas from the start for what he could use ot poison Othello's mind, but other than that he used what he had and made things up as he went. He used any opportunity he could seize to his advanatage. For example, the handkerchief was never part of his plan to use. But he saw the opportunity to use it against Cassio and it was one of the items that solidified the false idea that Desdemona was cheating on him. While he could do this, he was also able to change his personality in the blink of an eye. There were 3 personalities Iago used. The one with Roderigo, the one with Cassio and Desdemona, and the third was with Othello. When he needed to, he could change from one to the other without hesitation.

Real life themes! (everything is better with and exclamation point)

As I ready over the question in the book regarding themes present in this play, one crossed my mind that happens to everyone. Once an idea that you don't want to believe crosses your mind, it grows like a poison and is very difficult to get rid of. This is a timeless theme present in the play. In today's world, spouses will go to extraordinary lengths just to see if their spouses are cheating on them. They may not have any solid proof whatsoever, by since the fear is growing in their mind like a poison, then anything that might faintly resemble proof will appear to them as rock solid proof. In Othello's case, this is what happened. Except for him, Iago acted as his catalyst and kept plaguing Othello's mind little by little so Othello would eventaully go crazy and believe anything that is said about Desdemona cheating on him. This theme has a VERY big effect on the dramatic experience of this play. The poison of jealousy spreads through Othello's mind causing him to start having fits and going into seizures and even striking his wife and planning her death thus rising the drama of the play.

Dramatic Suspense....again

In last weeks blog, I wrote a blog about how dramatic suspense is created in the play by having the facts never fully revealed to the readers. As I read farther into the play, I realize that as the play continues, more and more dramatic suspense is created, but for partially different reason. Dramatic suspense like last week's continues as Iago will tell us what he plans to do before one of his evil actions occasionally, but we are not certain of what his final goal is. He has already been promoted to lieutenant, but still he continues with his evil plan without fully revealing what his end goal is. By the readers not knowing this final goals, even more dramatic supense is incorporated. However, now there is another whole aspect of dramatic suspense being added not solely by what happens in the play, but because of what kind of play this is. Othello is a tragedy in which it is a play that the hero dies and usually others die throughout the play as well. However, I am now about to start Act V and nobody has died and I feel that the absolute climax is yet to come. With nobody dead yet, I feel that Act V is going to release a lot of action and emotion and having to wait and expect for this causes much dramatic suspense.

The Switch

This is a question that we had in our reading questions about Act I. It asked us to think about why Iago would change from prose to iambic pentameter. For me, I have one theory that makes sense. In Shakespeare's plays, prose is usually given to someone who is uneducated like maybe a slave. Characters who speak in iambic pentameter, on the other hand, are usually just going to be the educated ones. However, in this case, I think the reason for Iago switching is slightly different. I think whether or not he speaks in poetry is determined by who he is speaking to. In the play, Iago begins with expressing his hatred for Othello (which is how he truly feels), but when he talks to Othello, he shows respect and acts like there is no problem between them. So when he is talking to other people expressing his hatred, he talks in prose becuase he is not talking up to anybody in order to show respect. However, when he talks to Othello, he changes to prose because he is acting like a different person and maybe it seems like he is showing more respect talking in prose. The way that Iago talks reflects his attitude in the situation.

C'mon already!

Act II of the play has scenes that contain dramatic suspense. For example, when Iago, Desdemona, and Montanoa, Cassio and a few others are waiting for the return of Othello, the play is not quick to bring Othello back into the scene. Instead, people keep hearing a horn that might signify Othello's return, but for a while, we are not certain whether the horn does indeed signify this. So the audience is kept in suspense of whether or not Othello is OK. During this suspense, all the characters in the play have the same amount of knowledge concerning Othello's whereabouts as the audience does. This creates even more suspense for the audience. If one of the characters knew of his whereabouts, this would be hinted at to the audience and some of the suspense would be taken away. The audience knowing that the characters also have no idea of whether or not Othello will return greatly affects the suspense the audience will feel.

Identifying the characters

So far in the play, Othello has introduced numerous characters in Acts I and II that seem to introduce the how future conflict in the play will unfold. The protaganist of the story is definietly Othello and maybe the Duke becuase he has an important role and seems to be mostly on Othello's side during the play. The antagonist in the beginning of the play seem to be Iago (Othello's ensign), Roderigo, and Brabantio (the senator). While Roderigo and Brabantio are both against Othello, I would guess that Iago is going to be Othello's main enemy due to how he can be closest to Othello and Othello doesn't know yet that Iago is against him. One pair of foil character I could see are maybe the Duke and Brabantio the Senator. While Brabantio wants Othello punished and turns out to despise Othello, the Duke thinks much of Othello and wants nothing bad to happen to him. One minor character that affects the plot of the play would be Roderigo. He is a minor character that helps shed light on the actions of Iago. If it were just Iago talking to himself about how much he hated Othello, the reader truly get the feeling that he may plan to do something bad to Othello. But with the ability to speak to Roderigo, Iago seems even more evil and he also appears to be more likely to cause great trouble for Othello. Because of this, Roderigo embodies and emphasizs the feelings of Iago towards Othello. This is a role the minor characters have in the play.