"God buy you, take mine office. O wretched fool That lov’st to make thine honesty a vice! O monstrous world! Take note, take note, O world, To be direct and honest is not safe."
Iago is possibly the greatest villain of all time. Not only is he a manipulative liar, but I find myself rooting for him in his plan! In some grotesquely skewed way, I view Iago as the protagonist. He is a passionate soldier, angered at being passed over for a promotion he deserved. Othello was correct in Act III when he said that Iago understands human behavior. He reads motives and emotions so well that he can accomplish anything he wants to, outsmarting even his General. This made me think: is Iago perhaps a better leader than Othello? He is certainly smarter and more driven. He has military experience, and is cunning and sly. It is my opinion that if he ends up taking over the army, he will be extremely successful. But before that can happen, he must kill off his opponents....
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Othello: Suspense
"Hell and night must bring this monstrous birth to the world's light." I.iii.83-84
Shakespeare's plays were anything but complex. As we have discussed in class, they are simple in stage action and props. No backdrops are used. Therefore, one might think that creating suspense would be difficult to do, right? Not entirely. Nowadays, when we go out to movies, the suspense is so obvious that we can see a climatic moment coming from miles away. In this play, it is a slower pace that builds up over time. This is mostly created through Iago's soliloquies at the end of scenes and acts. The audience discovers his plan bit by bit, always before he plays it out. That way the audience always knows something that the characters of the play do not, creating some suspense. This play sure is a nail-biter!
Shakespeare's plays were anything but complex. As we have discussed in class, they are simple in stage action and props. No backdrops are used. Therefore, one might think that creating suspense would be difficult to do, right? Not entirely. Nowadays, when we go out to movies, the suspense is so obvious that we can see a climatic moment coming from miles away. In this play, it is a slower pace that builds up over time. This is mostly created through Iago's soliloquies at the end of scenes and acts. The audience discovers his plan bit by bit, always before he plays it out. That way the audience always knows something that the characters of the play do not, creating some suspense. This play sure is a nail-biter!
Othello: Protagonist and Antagonist
"Thus do I ever make my fool my purse" I.iii.362
In the first act, it is quite obvious that the protagonist is Othello himself. He is a general, at odds with the Turkish army, while the whole world is against him. Not only is there mutiny in his army (though he is unaware), but his wife, and particularly those around him, are rooting for their marriage to fail. He seems to be fighting every aspect of his life, though he is doing so with incredible success. The antagonist is Iago. He is doing everything he can to achieve his own selfish gains. He is a manipulator and user, and destroys the lives of those around him simply to get to where he wants to be. He particularly takes advantage of Roderigo, preying on his love for Desdemona. Roderigo is a foil character in that his innocence and manipulable personality contrast with Iago's evil soul.
In the first act, it is quite obvious that the protagonist is Othello himself. He is a general, at odds with the Turkish army, while the whole world is against him. Not only is there mutiny in his army (though he is unaware), but his wife, and particularly those around him, are rooting for their marriage to fail. He seems to be fighting every aspect of his life, though he is doing so with incredible success. The antagonist is Iago. He is doing everything he can to achieve his own selfish gains. He is a manipulator and user, and destroys the lives of those around him simply to get to where he wants to be. He particularly takes advantage of Roderigo, preying on his love for Desdemona. Roderigo is a foil character in that his innocence and manipulable personality contrast with Iago's evil soul.
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