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.